It’s hardly just the Yankee blogs who are dismayed with the Bombers’ huge investment in starter A.J. Burnett. The Boston Globe’s Tony Massarotti dismisses the former Blue Jays hurler as one his “Five Worst Pitching Contracts” alongside Surfin’ Barry, Carlos Silva, Jason Schmidt and Kei Igawa, writing, “First of all, he has an obvious injury history. Second, he was 69-66 entering this year, which just happened to be a contract season. By the time this one is up, we’re willing to bet the Yankees will have their Matt Clement.” And while ESPN’s Rob Neyer doesn’t go as far as a certain Central Texas based hysteric in calling Burnett a thief, he does echo Howard Megdel‘s recent criticism in calling the pitcher, “not reliable, and the Yankees have pretty obviously overpaid.”
Too many dollars, too many years. If the Yankees wanted an impressive fifth starter, they probably could have spent a little less money for a slightly better pitcher. But what’s a few million dollars to the Yankees?
Of course, it’s far more than a few. Gil Meche’s $55 million pact seems altogether reasonable in light of Burnett’s windfall, but if you really wanna get dizzy, consider that a slightly more consistent version of Oliver Perez (as opposed to, say, Oliver Perez) would be worth $100 million on the open market.
Mazz is way off. Matt Clement was an All-Star his first season in Boston and only had his season derailed after being hit in the head by a line drive. Then he got injured the following year. I don’t see Burnett having such a good beginning to his first year with the Yankees. Bostonians hate Clement because of the sad faces he used to make after giving up hits with men on base. It’s not the results that matter to people like Mazz, it’s the sad faces.
Well how do the haters expect the Yanks to fill Carl Pavano’s roster spot?