Burnett -> Yankees

by andrewgolfsalot on Dec 12, 2008 2:03 PM PST Comment 63 comments

ESPN claims that Burnett and the Yanks have agreed to 5/82.5 with terms still being negotiated by Cashman / Burnett's agent.

That makes it $92 million (roughly) that they'll be paying A-Rod / Jeter / C.C. / Burnett in 2009. This is more than 17 teams paid players in 2008.

Will they still sign Lowe / Sheets / Pettitte? Will they go after a bat?

Also, total payroll might approach 240M this year, holy hell.

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It doesn't appear the Yankees are committed to winning.

:-/

Oh fuck you. Get out of work? Do what i do and piss your pantalones. Ain’t no one going to fuck with you when you piss your pants. -- kevin_ess, winebibber

by Wilder. on Dec 12, 2008 2:05 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I hope the Yankees never miss the playoffs again

by Jeff on Dec 12, 2008 2:07 PM PST reply actions 1 recs

2012 or so could be a real bitch for them.

by JI on Dec 12, 2008 2:11 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

The econmy should turn around by then

and they’ll have a $450 million payroll.

I like using semi-colons; they make me feel smart.

by Llewdor on Dec 12, 2008 4:58 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Hey Atlanta, how would you like a nice shiny Jarrod Washburn?

by Matthew on Dec 12, 2008 2:13 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

*St, Louis

Lord know we can run down all those FBs

by JI on Dec 12, 2008 2:18 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Extended warranty!

Mariners ----> Brewers.

by Taylor H on Dec 12, 2008 6:45 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

What about the Dodgers?

Kuroda, Kershaw, Billingsley… then what?

meet me at the mawwl... it's goin dowwn...

by oc on Dec 13, 2008 10:13 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Penny?

Mariners ----> Brewers.

by Taylor H on Dec 13, 2008 12:53 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Is a free agent.

The Dodgers declined to exercise their 2009 option.

by Teej on Dec 13, 2008 10:58 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Hal is pissed.

Apparently when he’s pissed he goes shopping!
Manny and/or Tex could be next. It’s only money after all.

"It's reassuring to know that in your life, you can have no more than 32 root canals."
-T. McCarver

by Big Jared on Dec 12, 2008 2:17 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Why not both?!

Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!

Oh fuck you. Get out of work? Do what i do and piss your pantalones. Ain’t no one going to fuck with you when you piss your pants. -- kevin_ess, winebibber

by Wilder. on Dec 12, 2008 2:20 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Retail therapy?

by Jeff on Dec 12, 2008 2:22 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Affluenza!

by katal on Dec 12, 2008 5:49 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

That's a scary rotation.

For fans and opponents.

by Teej on Dec 12, 2008 2:21 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Seriously, I thought giving an overweight pitcher with a ton of miles on his arm over the past two seasons seven years AND an opt-out clause was bad, and then they give AJ Burnette 16.5MM per over 5 years?

That really isn’t going to end well for them.

I’m just praying we get to 2011 without a championship in the Bronx. Because after that, it’s all downhill…

by tait644 on Dec 12, 2008 4:22 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

The opt out clause works in the Yankees' favor

by JI on Dec 12, 2008 4:42 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Opt out clauses always work in the player's favor

If it didn’t then players wouldn’t use them.

by Edgar for Pres on Dec 12, 2008 4:52 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Except JI has a point

by Graham on Dec 12, 2008 5:45 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs

Fundamentally it's a benefit to the player.

But perhaps he wants his N.Y. stint to be short, and then he’ll move back home to the West Coast.

If this happens right when CC begins to be worth less than what he’s being paid, then it benefits the Yankees.

But this all requires CC to make a decision that isn’t in his best financial interest.

by Teej on Dec 12, 2008 5:47 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

And maybe he does that

But a smart business man wouldn’t count on it. Nor should the Yankees.

by tait644 on Dec 12, 2008 5:51 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I thought Keith Law put it well:

Player options are universally awful for the signing clubs: They cede control of a big portion of a team’s payroll to the player, and they represent a pure downside play, since the player will choose to stay only if he isn’t performing well or if he gets injured.

The “pure downside play” is what I’m trying to say. It could work out for the Yankees, but they don’t get any say in it.

by Teej on Dec 12, 2008 5:52 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

It gives them the opportunity to have him for 3 years and let the market take his decline ones

If the market was totally efficient, it would be a terrible idea, but we all know it isn’t.

by Graham on Dec 12, 2008 6:18 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

If it happens a couple of years before his decline phase after putting up great numbers in New York

It benefits the Yankees. And CC’s making a good financial decision.

Granted, it could totally fuck them if he gets hurt, but it’s not hard to see potential positives.

by Graham on Dec 12, 2008 6:19 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Oh yeah, there are definitely potential positives.

I just have a hard time imagining a free agent market in which the Yankees aren’t the biggest player, so that’s coloring my perspective. Knowing how the Yankees have operated in the past, it just seems like an opportunity for them to give CC a raise after three years.

But if they only get CC for these three years in his prime and don’t have to suffer his decline, then it’s a good deal for them.

So yeah, I guess the Yankees’ loss in the situation you present is that they don’t get all his prime years. But it’s better to lose him earlier than you want rather than to suffer through his bad years.

And there’s always the possibility that CC really only wants to be in New York for three years, but they did the seven-year deal so it could be the richest contract for a pitcher in history. Collusion! Between a player and a team against the union!

by Teej on Dec 12, 2008 6:34 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Well, and a big positive from New York's side is that it may have been what got him to sign

It’s not the one sided thing it’s being made out to be.

by Graham on Dec 12, 2008 6:38 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed.

They were already reportedly the high bidder by a pretty big margin, so it’s not like they put it in just for fun.

by Teej on Dec 12, 2008 6:49 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I don't see it.

by The Ancient Mariner on Dec 12, 2008 5:47 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I still totally disagree

The market isn’t that retarded.

by Edgar for Pres on Dec 12, 2008 6:29 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

If the market isn't that retarded he'd never opt out, so the point is moot.

by Graham on Dec 12, 2008 6:30 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Is there any example of an opt out working to a team's advantage?

by Edgar for Pres on Dec 13, 2008 1:28 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

If another team is paying part of his salary.

meet me at the mawwl... it's goin dowwn...

by oc on Dec 15, 2008 11:18 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

No it doesn't

If Sabathia gets hurt or starts to decline before the opt-out, he has the ultimate power to stay and collect his checks.

If he’s really good, he can leave the Yanks hanging and look elsewhere for more money, a la Burnette.

by tait644 on Dec 12, 2008 5:46 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I must say, however,

that I love Burnette, and that the Yankees will be formidable for a couple of years. But Burnette’s injury risk (especially in non-contract years) is just too great to overlook. 5 for 82.5? Yikes.

But if anyone can get away with it, it’s the Yankees.

by tait644 on Dec 12, 2008 5:53 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

If CC kick ass in year 1, 2, and 3 and then goes somewhere else it saves the Yankess from

paying for the ass end of his contract.

by JI on Dec 13, 2008 10:39 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

kicks*

by JI on Dec 13, 2008 10:39 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Plus, if he blew they'd be stuck with him anyway even if there was no clause.

by JI on Dec 13, 2008 10:40 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Soooo.

The Yankees are moving into a stadium where the season tickets are ludicrously expensive. I know someone who has them, and we’re talking 20K for New Yankee Stadium (the tickets nearly doubled, he told me). Advertising budgets are being cut all over the place, Wall Street’s laying off a ton of people (and there are other white collar layoffs in NYC as well).

And the Yankees are responding to this by signing everyone in the universe to gigantic contracts.

This could get VERY interesting if the Yankees fall on their face in 2009. Got to give them credit for being bold, though.

by eponymous_coward on Dec 12, 2008 4:35 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

And they just asked for another $500 mil in bonds for the stadium. Cha-ching!

It’s a hand lotion, not a dick lotion.- wilder., connoisseur.

by Kermit. on Dec 12, 2008 5:28 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

AL East should be fun.

by ThundaPC on Dec 12, 2008 6:14 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

So Sabathia-Burnett-Wang-Chamberlain-Hughes?

That’s a sick 09 rotation.

by Goose on Dec 12, 2008 6:25 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I'm betting Hughes tinkers in AAA most of the year.

I imagine they’ll sign one more pitcher.

I go to law school. Therefore, I have no life.

by andrewgolfsalot on Dec 12, 2008 6:36 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I am thinking Lowe.

by Fin on Dec 12, 2008 7:06 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

God damn I hate the Yankees.

That staff is ridiculous.

Mariners ----> Brewers.

by Taylor H on Dec 12, 2008 6:46 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Cashman is in Texas

begging Pettite to come back for one more year. I think he signs, so the rotation will be stellar. Their lineup is no 07 yanks though.

by Bearskin Rugburn on Dec 12, 2008 6:46 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, but it might get better.

Matsui should be healthy, Swisher should rebound, and Manny/Teixeira might sign on. Cano also had a down year.

Oh fuck you. Get out of work? Do what i do and piss your pantalones. Ain’t no one going to fuck with you when you piss your pants. -- kevin_ess, winebibber

by Wilder. on Dec 12, 2008 6:56 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs