Tag: A.J. Burnett

Texas Rangers Have Interest in MLB Free-Agent Pitcher A.J. Burnett

The Texas Rangers have shown some interest in MLB free-agent pitcher A.J. Burnett. This being reported by Richard Durrett of ESPN Dallas on Twitter.

Pittsburgh Pirates reporter Travis Sawchik of the Tribune-Review broke the news in a January 28 article that Burnett would indeed be returning to Major League Baseball.

After keeping the Pirates and the rest of the baseball world in wait for nearly the entirety of the offseason, veteran free agent A.J. Burnett has decided to pitch in 2014, a source close to the situation told the Tribune-Review.

Burnett’s decision to return does not mean he will limit himself to pitching for the Pirates, though Burnett indicated that was his preference last season. The 37-year-old Burnett led the National League in groundball rate and strikeout rate last season showing no signs of diminishing skills. The Phillies and Orioles also have reportedly expressed interest in Burnett.

Burnett could be a good fit for the Rangers who will start the season without veteran left-handed pitcher Derek Holland. Holland suffered a knee injury while playing with his dog, per multiple sources. According to the Rangers’ depth chart via the team website, Holland was slated to be the No. 2 starter.

Burnett certainly fits the mold of a pitcher wanting success at the hitter’s friendly Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. In 2013, Burnett had a 56.5 percent ground ball rate which was first in the NL , and he struck out 209 batters which was No. 10 in the MLB.

Other teams that have interest in Burnett include the Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles, per Sawchik on Twitter.

At 37-years old, Burnett might be a liability because of age. However, the Rangers did bring in veteran Joe Nathan two seasons ago, days before his 37th birthday. A one-year deal might be enough for Burnett to fill the roll of the No. 4 or No. 5 starter if someone like Robbie Ross or Colby Lewis doesn’t rise up during spring training. If he can replicate his stats from the previous two seasons, signing Burnett will have been a smart move by general manager Jon Daniels, if he chooses to pursue the starting pitcher.

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Would A.J. Burnett or Bronson Arroyo Be More Effective in AL East for Orioles?

It’s hard enough to find five good starting pitchers. But the high occurrence of injuries to pitchers in this day and age commonly forces teams to utilize at least eight or nine starting pitchers to get through a 162-game season.

As a result, certain characteristics have become extremely important when assembling a starting rotation. Without a good combination of consistency, durability and reliability, things can get ugly very quickly. 

And this is why pitchers like Bronson Arroyo and A.J. Burnett, even as they enter their age-37 seasons, are so valuable to a pitching staff. You pretty much know what you’re going to get—30-plus starts, ERA in the mid-3.00s, 200 innings, etc.

Most importantly, their teams know that when they take the mound every fifth day, they will have given their teams a chance to win by the time they depart after six or seven innings. 

So that’s why a team like the Baltimore Orioles, who could already throw out a pretty good starting five on Opening Day (Chris Tillman, Wei-Yin Chen, Bud Norris, Miguel Gonzalez, Kevin Gausman), are looking to add one of the two free-agent starters.

According to Eduardo A. Encina of The Baltimore Sun, the O’s are more interested in the stability that Arroyo or Burnett could bring to their rotation as opposed to the top three free-agent starters—Matt Garza, Ubaldo Jimenez and Ervin Santana—who will be paid big money for what they can potentially do, despite having careers that have had extreme highs and lows. 

Which of Arroyo or Burnett would be more effective in Baltimore? Let’s take a closer look.

 

Arroyo’s average annual totals since 2004
W L ERA GS IP H BB K HR WHIP BB/9 K/9 QS QS%
13 11 4.10 33 207 209 53 135 29 1.267 2.3 5.9 20 61%

*Via Baseball-Reference 

 

Burnett’s average annual totals since 2004
W L ERA GS IP H BB K HR WHIP BB/9 K/9 QS QS%
12 10 4.03 29 183 171 70 174 19 1.313 3.4 8.6 17 58%

*Via Baseball-Reference 

 

The 10-year comparisons show two pitchers who have had similarly successful big league careers, with the most notable differences being Burnett’s much higher strikeout rate and Arroyo’s much higher home run totals. Burnett throws much harder, and Arroyo has pitched most of his career in a hitter-friendly ballpark, so that shouldn’t come as a big surprise. 

What this 10-year average doesn’t show is the consistency level that each pitcher has displayed. Aside from Burnett’s last two seasons with the New York Yankees, in which he posted an ERA over 5.00, and Arroyo’s 2011 season, in which he posted a 5.07 ERA with a league-leading 46 homers allowed, the overall numbers aren’t much different from year to year.

During the last two seasons, however, Arroyo and Burnett have been in top form. 

  

Arroyo’s average annual totals from 2012-2013
W L ERA GS IP H BB K HR WHIP BB/9 K/9 QS QS%
13 11 3.76 32 202 204 34 126 29 1.181 1.5 5.6 20 64%

*Via Baseball-Reference 

 

Burnett’s average annual totals from 2012-2013
W L ERA GS IP H BB K HR WHIP BB/9 K/9 QS QS%
13 10 3.41 30 197 177 64 194 14 1.228 3.0 8.9 19 62%

*Via Baseball-Reference 

 

Arroyo has improved upon an already strong BB/9 rate, while Burnett has gotten particularly stingy at allowing the long ball. Both have become even more reliable, however, when it comes to quality starts (at least six innings pitched, no more than three earned runs allowed). 

Taking that a step further, Arroyo pitched at least seven innings in 14 of his 32 starts in 2013, while failing to complete six innings in only eight of his starts. He also allowed two earned runs or fewer in 17 starts, while allowing three or four earned runs in 10 starts and five earned runs or more only five times. 

Burnett (pictured) made it through seven innings in 15 of his 30 starts, while failing to complete six innings in 10 of those. He allowed two earned runs or fewer in 20 starts, while allowing three or four earned runs five times and five earned runs or more in his other five starts. 

There were only seven occasions in their combined 62 starts in 2013—four for Arroyo and three for Burnett—when either of them left the game without giving their team a pretty good chance of winning the game.

It’s hard to get much more consistent than that. It’s hard to be more reliable than that.

So which is the better fit in Baltimore?

Both have been successful in the NL Central, but what about the AL East? Burnett, despite a rough ending to his Yankees career, had three very good seasons with Toronto and one with New York. Arroyo’s first two full seasons as a starting pitcher came with Boston

Arroyo has experience and a proven track record of success pitching in one of the most homer-friendly parks in the majors. The homer-friendly confines of Camden Yards shouldn’t faze him one bit.

Burnett doesn’t give up many homers. He only gave up 11 homers in 191 innings pitched last season. But he’s allowed 10 homers in 62.1 career innings at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, while posting a 5.03 ERA. 

While that small sample size of struggles in Baltimore won’t scare the O’s away from Burnett, it could cause them to lean toward Arroyo. 

Arroyo, however, will require a two-year commitment, maybe even three, likely in the $7-10 million range, while Burnett, if he chooses to keep pitching, would likely settle for a one-year deal in the $10-15 million range. 

It’s a close call, and I don’t think the O’s would end up regretting the signing of either pitcher. But if I had to choose between, say, Arroyo at two years and $20 million, or Burnett at one year and $14 million, I’d go with Burnett. 

There’s a strong possibility that Gausman could be the ace of the 2015 staff and fellow pitching prospects Dylan Bundy, Eduardo Rodriguez and Mike Wright could all be ready for a full season in the majors. In addition, Tillman, Chen, Norris and Gonzalez would all still be under team control. Giving any free-agent pitcher more than one season seems unnecessary at this point. 

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Unexpected Moves That Could Shake Up 2013-2014 MLB Offseason

Every MLB team has an idea of how they think their offseason will play out, or at least how they would like it to, but rarely do things go according to plan during the MLB offseason.

Whether it’s a surprise player hitting the trade market and changing the market for other players at his position, a free-agent signing with an unexpected suitor, a player opting against re-signing when he’s expected to and hitting the open market or something else altogether, there is no shortage of reasons an offseason can be altered.

So here is a look at a few unexpected moves that could shake up the 2013-2014 MLB offseason.

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4 Top Prospects Ready to Replace MLB Teams’ Free-Agent Departures

From an outside perspective, Major League Baseball’s offseason can be difficult to understand. Unlike the NBA, NFL and NHL, a salary cap isn’t present to handcuff the ability of an organization to retain stars with expiring pacts.

Yet, despite the lack of a unified budget for each team, owners and front office executives have limits for each player during the hot-stove season.

Just two years ago, the St. Louis Cardinals allowed Albert Pujols to walk in free agency when the Los Angeles Angels offered him a contract well in excess of $200 million. Instead of folding the tent, St. Louis handed the first base job to a young player developed through its system named Allen Craig.

Due to Craig’s limited service time, his salary was just $495,000 in 2012. With the money allocated to a potential Pujols deal, the Cardinals gave Adam Wainwright a contract extension and signed Carlos Beltran to help fill the power void in the middle of their lineup.

This winter, expect similar decisions to be made all around baseball. When a star leaves in free agency, the door is opened for a young player within the system to become a starter and dollars to be allocated differently throughout the roster.

Here are four top prospects ready to fill the shoes of free agents on the path to departing their 2013 teams.

1. St. Louis Cardinals: Oscar Taveras in, Carlos Beltran out.

If you think St. Louis is going to eschew logic and overpay for Beltran’s age-37 season, you haven’t been paying attention to the way the Cardinals do business lately.

Despite raking on the national stage in October, Beltran’s on-base percentage, slugging, home runs and WAR all slipped considerably from 2012 to 2013. It’s hard to imagine St. Louis showing him the door if he was willing to come back at a below-market-value rate, but if the star outfielder is looking for one last lucrative deal, it won’t come from the team that has his replacement ready in the minors.

If not for injury, baseball fans would have seen Oscar Taveras in the majors in 2013. As Bleacher Report’s MLB Prospects Lead Writer Mike Rosenbaum wrote about the 21-year-old outfielder in September, Taveras will be able to replace Beltran’s bat quickly.

Per Rosenbaum: “Taveras has 25-plus-home run potential; lift to swing; ball has carry; extra-base machine. Hits same-side pitching; makes loud contact to all fields; comfortable hitting any pitch in any count.

2. Boston Red Sox: Jackie Bradley Jr. in, Jacoby Ellsbury out.

While Tavares, rated as the No. 3 prospect in baseball by Rosenbaum, is simply too talented to block by re-signing Beltran to another deal, Boston’s outfield shuffle will have more to do with philosophy than making the team better in 2014. 

As I wrote when pointing out why Ellsbury wouldn’t be a smart target for the New York Yankees, Boston’s offense with him atop the order was a much more prolific group than it was when he was injured. Although Bradley Jr. projects to be a regular player on a first-division team, he’s not going to come close to replacing the 2011 AL MVP runner-up in Ellsbury.

Boston’s front office knows this, but don’t expect it to suddenly jump back into the business of handing out contracts in excess of seven years or $100 million.

Don’t believe me? Listen to what team president Larry Lucchino had to say when appearing as a guest on WEEI in Boston.

“I don’t want to rule out anything, except that there will be a presumption against doing any very long-term deals,” Lucchino said. “I think we’ve crossed that bridge and we realized that there’s a better way to spend money, that free agency and long-term deals are not the best way to build a franchise or to succeed over time. So there is a very strong presumption against that.”

3. Atlanta Braves: Christian Bethancourt in, Brian McCann out.

Free agent Brian McCann’s impending departure from Atlanta, after nine highly successful seasons, is often tied to the Braves’ belief in power-hitting catcher Evan Gattis. While Gattis‘ breakout 2013 (21 HR, .480 SLG) is reason to shy away from overpaying McCann, it’s the presence of another promising young catcher in Atlanta that should keep fans from worrying about their future behind the plate.

When Christian Bethancourt was called up in September, after posting a .741 OPS with Double-A Mississippi, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez raved about his talent to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman.

“We think the world of [Bethancourt] defensively,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “He’s had a nice season offensively at Double-A. We’ll bring him up here and just let him get some experience.

Between Bethancourt‘s defense and emerging offense and Gattis‘ power stick, the Braves are covered when McCann departs.

4. Pittsburgh Pirates: Jameson Taillon in, A.J. Burnett out.

To be fair, the 2014 Pittsburgh Pirates’ best shot at the franchise’s first World Series title since 1979 would be with both Burnett and the 21-year-old Taillon in the rotation. If Pittsburgh could sport a quartet of Francisco Liriano, Burnett, Gerrit Cole and Taillon atop its staff, the NL Central could belong to the Bucs.

Of course, Pittsburgh can if Burnett chooses to stick around for one more season. Unlike St. Louis with Beltran, Boston with Ellsbury or Atlanta with McCann, this isn’t a case of dollars and value. After what Burnett became on the mound and in the clubhouse for the Pittsburgh organization, he would be brought back at a fair rate by Pirates management.

Yet, after 15 big league seasons, Burnett is contemplating retirement this offseason. The subject, first brought into the mainstream by Hardball Talk in March, didn’t die down as the season progressed for the 94-win Pirates.

After the conclusion of Pittsburgh’s division series loss to St. Louis, team president Frank Coonelly made it clear that the team would welcome him back during a conversation with Bill Brink of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“He’s got a decision to make, first and foremost, whether it’s time for him to spend more time with his family or whether he thinks he can go another year,” Coonelly said. “If he decides that he wants to come back, we definitely want A.J. back.”

If Burnett does depart, Taillon, a former first-round pick, will be asked to fill major shoes in the 2014 Pirates rotation. Bleacher Report’s Mike Rosenbaum projects him to be a No. 3 starter during his big league career but would likely have to reach that potential almost immediately to fill the void of Burnett.

However, if Burnett does decide to stick around for one more run at a ring in Pittsburgh, Taillon can be eased into a fourth starter role and given the chance to progress at his own pace.

Agree? Disagree? Can these prospects replace the veterans?

Comment below, follow me on Twitter or “like” my Facebook page to talk all things baseball.

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MLB’s End-of-Postseason Stock Watch for Upcoming Free Agents

Of the free agents who will be able to negotiate and sign with new teams beginning on Tuesday, November 5, several of them had an extended opportunity to increase (or decrease) their value in the postseason. 

While only a handful of innings pitched or a small sample size of at-bats normally wouldn’t move the needle very much on a veteran player’s perceived value, a player’s ability to produce in the playoffs certainly can. 

Here are 10 players whose asking price has likely risen or fallen since the end of the regular season.

 

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5 Players Who Must Prove They’re Clutch in 2013 Pennant Races

There is still plenty of baseball left to play. With the exception of the Atlanta Braves in the National League East, every division is more or less up for grabs.

But the fate of teams’ pursuit of the playoffs and World Series can sometimes depend on the performance of key players. For instance, if A.J. Burnett, who has sported a 2.73 ERA (versus park-adjusted 130 ERA+) to date, were to pitch poorly in the playoffs, his regular-season triumphs would all be for null.

Below are five players who must prove they’re clutch in the 2013 pennant races.

All statistics (through July 8) sourced from Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs.com.

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Front-Line Starting Pitchers to Reconsider Drafting for Your Fantasy Team

In this day and age where most pitchers can’t go a few years, much less one, without having some sort of elbow or shoulder trouble pop up, it’s very difficult to decide which ones are more at risk than others. 

While reading Will Carroll’s “Under the Knife” column can certainly help you determine the injury risk for many players, another factor in play is the inconsistency that can occur from year to year with many pitchers.

Who could’ve guessed that Tim Lincecum or Ricky Romero would be two of the biggest fantasy baseball busts in 2012? Both pitchers, especially Lincecum, had a track record of success and consistency.

Lincecum was in his age-28 season while Romero was only 27. Both have continued to struggle this spring, and Romero was just optioned to the minors Tuesday.

So which top-of-the-rotation pitchers should you stay away from in 2013? Who’s the next Lincecum or Romero? Here are four whom I believe should be drafted at your own risk.

 

Brett Anderson, Oakland Athletics

The typical recovery period after Tommy John surgery is 12-18 months. Once a pitcher returns, it’s common for his command to come and go, and many pitchers say it usually takes two full years before they feel like they’re back to full strength. 

In the case of Anderson, he returned to the majors approximately 13 months after undergoing the procedure. Only one of seven late-season starts would be considered bad, and he finished the year by tossing six shutout innings in a playoff win over the Tigers. 

So is Anderson the rare pitcher to make a quick recovery with no struggles upon his return? Maybe. But I don’t think he’s out of the woods just yet. The inconsistency might still come. He hasn’t been particularly sharp this spring. He allowed just two earned runs in 5.1 innings Tuesday but with just one strikeout. Veteran scout Bernie Pleskoff had this assessment of both starters in the game:

The 25-year-old also has the injury-prone tag and was already sidelined with a minor neck injury this spring. He’ll start on Opening Day for the A’s. Whether he can be consistently good or healthy for 30-plus starts is a major concern, though.

 

A.J. Burnett, Pittsburgh Pirates

Burnett’s exit from New York after back-to-back mediocre seasons in 2010 and 2011 resulted in a 16-win season for the Bucs and a 3.51 ERA, his lowest since 2005. Is it safe to assume that he’ll continue pitching well and maybe he is just more comfortable away from the bright lights of New York and the AL East?

We can’t forget that his Yankees debut in 2009 was actually pretty good (13-9, 4.04 ERA, 207 IP, 8.5 K/9), so whatever the issue was the following two seasons wasn’t a problem in year one with the team.

Don’t be surprised if the bad A.J. Burnett reappears in 2013, which would be terrible news for the Pirates as they try to avoid their 21st losing season in a row. I don’t really have anything statistically to base this on. Aside from his disastrous start on May 2 when he allowed 12 earned runs in 2.1 innings, he was consistently good the entire season.

But the Yankees weren’t exactly trying to dump him last offseason while willing to eat a lot of remaining salary because he was a reliable starter. They wanted him out of town for a reason.

 

Wade Miley, Arizona Diamondbacks

All the talk surrounding the Diamondbacks last offseason focused on top pitching prospects Trevor Bauer, Pat Corbin and Tyler Skaggs. And what about Miley? He was supposed to keep a rotation spot warm until those guys begin to arrive.

Well, none of the three stepped up to claim a spot, and it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Miley was an NL All-Star who ended up winning 16 games with a 3.33 ERA in 194.2 innings.

So why the concern in year two? After pitching more innings than he has in his career, there’s always a chance that the 26-year-old doesn’t come back as strong. He’s a candidate for the disabled list to start the season because he’s going through a “dead arm” phase, which has resulted in poor performances in two of his three spring outings.

And maybe all those scouts weren’t completely wrong and he starts pitching more like the No. 5 starter they have projected him to be. 

 

Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox

I wouldn’t steer completely away from Sale, who was sixth in the AL Cy Young voting in 2012 after winning 17 games and posting a 3.05 ERA in his first year as a starter. I’d just wait a few extra rounds to compensate for the injury risk that I consider him to be. Chances are that he doesn‘t drop that far to you, but there’s also a good chance you won’t regret it.

As much of a side note as it ended up being, the White Sox were legitimately concerned about Sale’s sore elbow that they officially moved him to the bullpen last May. After one appearance, he talked his way back into the rotation and ended up being right. He was fine the rest of the way.

The White Sox aren’t overly concerned either, considering they gave him a $32.5 million contract extension that could keep him in Chicago until at least 2017.

Now the 23-year-old lefty is back a year after nearly tripling his innings total from 2011. Just because his elbow held up through the massive innings increase of last season doesn’t mean he’s out of the danger zone that some experts would consider such a jump in workload.

There’s a reason teams put innings caps on young pitchers. The Sox did not put one on Sale, and it’ll be on them if he blows out his elbow in 2013.

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Francisco Liriano: Breaking Down His Deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates

As a fan of the two Bay Area baseball teams, most of my observed impressions of players around Major League Baseball are based on their performances against the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s.

Thus, I am biased toward new Pittsburgh Pirates starter, Francisco Liriano, who reportedly signed a two-year, $14 million contract on Friday.

On July 13th of last season, I saw him throw his best game of the season against the A’s. He went eight innings, struck out 15, walked one and allowed only four hits. Unfortunately, one of those hits was a grand slam off the bat of Jonny Gomes to give the A’s a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Despite the mistake to Gomes, Liriano’s outing was one of the most dominant performances that I witnessed all season. His fastball was in the 92-95 mph range, and he featured a nasty slider and changeup—two swing and miss secondary pitches.

Yet that July night was the high-water mark in what was otherwise another maddening season for the talented lefty. Despite having excellent fastball velocity and a wipe-out slider, Liriano was demoted to the bullpen before returning to the rotation in time for a midseason trade. He finished the season with a 5.34 ERA in 156.2 innings.

He was 14th in the league in strikeout percentage amongst starters who threw at least 140 innings, proving that he still has some of the best stuff in the game. However, his control continued to hold him back as he finished with the third-highest walk ratio.

Liriano also had a hard time getting right-handed hitters out last season. He held lefties to a .221/.310/.293 batting line, but righties slashed .251/.354/.430 off him.

Part of the reason for his platoon split is that the slider is his best offering, and that pitch is much more effective against lefties. His changeup—which he uses to attack righties—was outstanding in the start I watched against the A’s, but it was otherwise an inconsistent pitch for him last season.

Liriano also had issues pitching out of the stretch. Opponents had an OPS of .796 with men on base compared to just .699 with the bases empty.

Thus, while the Pirates are getting a pitcher with elite stuff, they’re also getting a guy who has a hard time throwing strikes, getting righties outs and pitching from the stretch.

Last winter Pittsburgh took a similar gamble on the talented but enigmatic A.J. Burnett when they acquired him from the New York Yankees. Burnett rewarded the Pirates by trimming nearly two runs off his ERA, predominantly by reducing his walk and home run rates. 

It isn’t hard to imagine Liriano having the same success in his change from the American League to the National League with the Pirates. Just two seasons ago, he ranked as one of the best pitchers in the AL when he put up a 3.62 ERA and four Wins Above Replacement (WAR).

He’s battled injuries and inconsistency since that excellent season, but he’s young enough to get the magic back. As with Burnett, Liriano’s stuff is still plenty good enough to miss bats.

The trick will be getting him to attack the strike zone the way he did two years ago and the way the Pirates got Burnett to last season. As with Burnett, this is a short-term bet on a player with excellent stuff and serious upside, but also with significant flaws.

This is a “boom or bust” deal for the Pirates, but the potential reward far exceeds the financial cost of the contract. When you haven’t made the postseason in two decades, these are the types of gambles that you have to take.

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Pittsburgh Pirates Ready for First Winning Season in Almost 20 Years

Opening Day is near and the Pittsburgh Pirates are finally making some moves to put a winning team on the field.

I was born in Pittsburgh in November of 1991. I was technically alive (though probably not conscious) when the Pirates finished the 1992 season with 96 wins and 66 losses and lost to the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series.

Since then, the Pirates have failed to win more games than they lost every season. My 17-year-old sister has never been alive for a winning season for the Pirates.

With one of the nicest ballparks in MLB, the Pirates still attract thousands of fans to home games despite poor performance on the field. Poor ownership, management and team chemistry have led to the longest winning season drought in ANY major professional league.

However, this year, the Pirates might finally hit the .500 mark. It is 2012 after all. 

Maybe this was part of the Mayans prediction.

The pitching is…not terrible. Kevin Correia was selected as an All-Star last year along with closer Joel Hanrahan.  The Pirates actually made a big splash in the offseason for the first time in a long time by acquiring A.J. Burnett, a starting pitcher in the 2009 World Series Champion New York Yankees‘ starting rotation. He is expected to be the team’s ace once he returns from an injury to his eye.

The Buccos showed a lot of potential last year. 

At the end of July, they were in first place in the NL Central and showing they could win. The season started to fall apart (as usual) after a blown call led to a Pirates’ loss to the Braves in a 19-inning game.

The Pirates are fairly young and still developing. 

Outfielders Andrew McCutchen (25), Jose Tabata (23), and Alex Presley (26), third basemen Pedro Alvarez (25), second baseman Neil Walker (26) are emerging as leaders for the Pirates and have a drive to win.

Lastly, the NL Central is a weak division. 

Albert Puljos no longer powers the Cardinals and Prince Fielder left Milwaukee—both of the NL Central’s playoff representatives in last year’s postseason. Both St. Louis and Milwaukee are still great teams, but maybe not quite as good as last season. 

A few wins here and there against the division leaders, and the Pirates might be able to pull off a winning record.

Picking the Pirates as a playoff contender is a stretch, but an above .500 season is not. 

There are 162 games in an MLB season, and for the first time in almost 20 years, the Pirates have a chance to contend (contend being the key word) for a playoff slot and finally end the depressing days for Pirates’ fans.

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MLB Trade Rumors: Good Chance NY Yankees Trade AJ Burnett to Pittsburgh Pirates

The New York Yankees have been actively searching for a way to rid themselves of AJ Burnett in the last week.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman may have found a taker in the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The other day, the Yankees were asking for right-fielder Garrett Jones in return, but according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports and WFAN, Pirates GM Neal Huntington rejected that offer, causing the two sides to go back to the drawing board on negotiations.

Right now, it’s looking like the Yankees aren’t looking for any players in return from the Pirates so much as cash and salary relief.

The Yankees want to add a left-handed bat as DH and may try to bring back Eric Chavez for bench help, but the Yankees can’t do that if they can’t dump salary.

On Friday, the Pirates looked like they would take on about $10 million of the remaining two years and $33 million, but according to Heyman, the Yankees want Pittsburgh to take on more.

The Yankees want Pittsburgh to take on at least half, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, which is where the talks stalled going into Saturday night.

And as of Saturday night, according to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News, there’s a “good chance” that the deal between the Yankees and Pirates goes down for Burnett.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports said that the Pirates are one of four teams interested in acquiring Burnett’s services, but the Pirates make the most sense to land the 35-year-old starter.

Burnett was 11-11 with a 5.15 ERA and, at times, looked completely lost on the mound in 2011. He really helped his credibility with a Game 4 ALDS win against the Detroit Tigers.

I’m actually surprised the Yankees didn’t pull the trigger on the Pittsburgh deal after the Pirates’ original $10 million offer.

I didn’t think anyone would go for that much, so I think Cashman really wants to see how far Pittsburgh is willing to go.

Most Yankee fans are dying to see this deal get done as Burnett has unquestionably worn out his welcome in New York with his underwhelming tenure and consistency.

Getting Burnett off the roster will eventually help the Yankees acquire the bats they are targeting for 2012.

And by going to Pittsburgh, Burnett can help resurrect whatever is left of his career in pitching to weaker NL lineups.

Hopefully going into next week, Burnett will be heading to spring training for the Pirates and not the Yankees.

Stay tuned, Yankees Universe.

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