Yankees starter Burnett may be headed to Pirates
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The Pirates and the New York Yankees continued to discuss a trade Friday that would send Yankees starter A.J. Burnett to Pittsburgh, according to an industry source.
The talks were moving forward as of Friday evening. First baseman/right fielder Garrett Jones, who was previously reported to be a player the Yankees wanted to acquire, was not part of the discussions, the source said.
It seems the Pirates prefer to assume more of Burnett???s salary rather than part with players from their organization. Burnett will earn $33 million over the next two seasons, the final years of a five-year, $82.5 million contract he signed before the 2009 season. The Pirates agreed to pay $10 million of the $33 million owed to Burnett, according to a CBS Sports report.
The Pirates have tried to upgrade their rotation this offseason. They offered starter Edwin Jackson one-year and three-year contracts, according to a Fox Sports report, before Jackson signed a one-year contract with the Washington Nationals.
Burnett, 35, became expendable when the Yankees traded for Michael Pineda and signed Hiroki Kuroda as a free agent. Burnett accompanies Pineda, Kuroda, CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, Freddy Garcia and Phil Hughes as prospective starters for the Yankees.
Burnett had an 11-11 record in 2011 with a 5.15 ERA and struggled in the second half of the season. He has made at least 32 starts in each of the past four seasons and has a career 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings rate.
According to Fox Sports, Burnett has a limited no-trade clause that allows him to block trades to 10 teams, but the Pirates are not on the list.
First Published February 10, 2012 9:48 pm
