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A.J. Burnett Sells His Soul

By Stephen Johns

2008_12_13burnett.jpg
A.J. Burnett, last seen pitching for your Toronto Blue Jays, is now a New York Yankee. He and the team reached a preliminary agreement on a five-year, $82.5 million contract yesterday; in doing so, Burnett became Public Enemy #1 to Toronto baseball fans for the foreseeable future.
It’s not that we didn’t know he was leaving: Burnett’s contract with Toronto allowed him to opt out after three years, so when he put up career numbers in 2008 it was a foregone conclusion he’d leave in the off-season. It’s his destination that’s upsetting. Had Burnett gone to, say, the Atlanta Braves (as he very nearly did), it wouldn’t have bothered us nearly as much. Instead, he’s going to the Yankees, a team whose roster of all-stars crystallizes the disparity between baseball’s “haves” and “have-nots” and which, incidentally, is one of the Blue Jays’ division rivals. As if to emphasize the gap between the two teams, while the Yankees were negotiating with Burnett, the Blue Jays were signing Matt Clement to a minor year deal. (Speaking of “minor,” it’ll be a minor miracle if Clement ever pitches for Toronto.) Burnett couldn’t have stuck it to the Blue Jays (and, by extension, their fans) more if he’d tried.
We know baseball’s just a game; we know it doesn’t really matter in the greater scheme of things. And we know what Burnett did—i.e., sold himself to the highest bidder—was rational. But because being a sports fan and rational thinking don’t always go hand-in-hand, you’ll have to excuse us for wishing nothing but the worst for Burnett in New York. We hope he wilts under the spotlight; we hope he reverts to the kind of form that made him and his previous, miniscule contract (five years, fifty-five million dollars) a punch line throughout the sports media. Most of all, we can’t wait till mid-May when the Yankees are in town so we can show Burnett exactly how we feel about his decision.
Because here’s the thing: sports fans care about their team, for better or for worse. That’s something we don’t think A.J. Burnett ever did during his three years in Toronto. Good riddance to mediocre mischief.
Photo by frigante from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

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Comments

  • greatcop

    I personally don’t think AJ owed much of anything to the fans of Toronto, especially when it came to deciding where to sign in the off-season, since they/we were pretty much calling for his head in 2007 when he kept getting injured and pitching like garbage. I don’t know if anyone really expects him to put up Cy Young-calibre numbers as a Yankee anyway, so hopefully he won’t be much of a factor in the AL East either way.
    On a sidenote, after reading the article in the Star yesterday about the need to trade Halladay, I feel in theory it might make sense to finally give the guy a playoff series or two, but overall I’d be too sad to fully endorse the move, so I hope he sticks with the Jays.

  • Gajarga

    “in 2007 when he kept getting injured and pitching like garbage”
    Like every year in his career before 2008? Hope the Yanks enjoy the 12 wins they get from AJ next year.

  • atomeyes99

    baseball is officially a garbage sport. why bother watching when 80% of the teams can’t afford to compete?

  • rek

    82.5 million dollars to throw a ball.

  • Stephen Johns

    The Yankees also gave C.C. Sabathia $161-million to throw a ball. That’s a quarter of a billion dollars in salaries for two players in a time of economic crisis. The mind boggles.

  • atomeyes99

    ^^of course, any good investor tries to ensure they will get a large return on investment.
    and its just a business.
    if that quarter billion dollars nets them a billion dollars’ profit over 5 years, the Steinbrenners will have the last laugh

  • nib

    sure it’s disappointing that burnett is gone, but it’s really no surprise. they’ve been predicting his opt-out since the summer. but i do agree, to see him go to the yanks is a bit upsetting. oh well, at least this way if he doesn’t do so well over there, it’ll be easy for jays fans to let him know what a bad decision he made.
    and atomeyes99, that was officially a garbage comment. why bother posting if you don’t even like baseball?

  • deutschmarco

    i remember when clement signed for big bucks with the cubs. there was talk on him coming to toronto but they passed on him. seems smart now. he’s got a lot of upside. he’s the kind of signature they should be going for, low risk, big potential. i.e. not burnett.

  • smack416

    The only player of the lot of them that deserves any degree of respect is Halladay, who took a pay cut to help the Jays pay for players like Vernon Wells and AJ Burnett; players who haven’t delivered equivalent to their pay scale.
    Yes, it’s sinful to pay $161 million to someone to throw a ball, particularly in this economy. But, given the market, I agree that Halladay should either be traded to a contender or, if they don’t replace AJ, be given a pay raise of several million to bring him in line with players of his caliber. Alternatively, they can lower the price of tickets so the fans can benefit for the selfish acts of players like Burnett and we can all thank Roy for getting underpaid by a few million in order to enjoy a mediocre team.