Free agent P A.J. Burnett, most recently of the Toronto Blue Jays (from whom he stole money for the majority of his 3 years north of the border), agreed to a 5 year, $82.5 million pact with the Yankees earlier today, a development that caused River Ave. Blues‘ Joseph P. to sigh, “we expected this was coming. That doesn™t mean we have to like it.” Was Watching has an equally unenthusiastic reaction ;
$80 million for Burnett? Add that to the $46 million for Kei Igawa and the $40 million for Carl Pavano¦and that™s $166 million spent on three pitchers where the money could have been better spent…or, look at it this way: Those three contracts would cover the cost of CC Sabathia™s deal.
As The Star’s Richard Griffin watches Burnett pack his bags, he figures Toronto ought to trade Roy Halliday (“with the loonie tanking, sponsors leaving the Jays in droves and layoffs in abundance, it would be unseemly for a major league organization like the Jays to spend the next two years begging their only superstar to give them a hometown discount because he’s so important”), a proposal Stoeten of Drunk Jays Fans finds “fucking retarded on a number of levels.”
For fuck sakes, was Griff not saying two fucking days ago that the Jays should be waiting until January, when desperation sets in for guys who have yet to be signed, and throwing what little cash they have at some veteran arms? Isn’t the market kind of playing out exactly that way? Wouldn’t it be a little fucking stupid to conclude, today, that the ’09 Jays are in entirely place and they’re absolutely going to fucking suck for the next two years?
Wait a second, so AJ now “abused the Jays with an opt-out clause even though they took him off the scrap heap and overpaid.” Seriously? Fuck off. It would be wonderful if the world were as black and white as the beer-goggles Griff sees it through, but holy shit this is some serious shit-smelling revisionist history right here. Unless “scrap heap” means the heap where you find guys who five or six teams are prepared to give $40M to.