The Phillies and Orioles have had “very preliminary” talks about a trade involving starting pitcher A.J. Burnett, FOX Sports’ Jon Morosi tweets. Morosi further emphasizes that there has not yet been much progress toward a deal.
Burnett, who is making $7.5MM this year with a $7.5MM signing bonus, has a complex player/mutual option that guarantees him at least $7.5MM in 2015 if he wants to pitch (a guarantee that will increase as Burnett makes starts down the stretch). Burnett also has limited no-trade protection. Although Burnett has said he wants to remain with the Phillies, his no-trade clause likely does not include Baltimore, since Burnett’s family resides in Maryland. The Orioles were rumored to be interested in Burnett last offseason.
Burnett, 37, has posted a 4.08 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 this season for the Phillies. Both his ERA and his peripheral numbers have taken a step backward after a strong 2013 season in Pittsburgh.
As a Yankee fan… I hope they do it.
Can’t find a better argument than that for not doing this.
How is he enough of an upgrade over what the O’s have to justify what the Phillies are going to ask for?
I like how people act like the Phillies always ask for outlandish returns for their players, they might do so but if you look back at any trades where we traded away players under Ruben Amaro, they got peanuts in return.
From my friends who follow the Phillies, that’s because Amaro panics when he doesn’t get the ridiculous return he wants, and makes dumb deals to show he’s trying.
So your friends are with Ruben Amaro when he makes these trades and see him panic? Okay.
Nope. They hate him and wanted him fired years ago. This is just one example of why.
From my friends who follow the Phillies, that’s because Amaro panics when he doesn’t get the ridiculous return he wants, and makes dumb deals to show he’s trying.
I love how Burnett complained heavily about the defensive shifts in Pittsburgh, yet left Baltimore out of his trading clause
It’s because it’s his home. He wants to stay closer to his family, so I’m assuming the majority of his teams left off his no trade list are all on the east coast.
As I recall, his wife has a fear of flying. His no-trade clause includes all teams west of the Mississippi for that reason.
I also recall Burnett having a fear of the AL East. Maybe he’d be ok now that it looks like a weaker division than normal.
My pitchforks and torches are just freshly out of the shop!
Just in time if you ask me!
How many ways can I simply say NO!!!! to this!
Agreed.
Please no, AJ Burnett is not an upgrade to anyone in the rotation, why not just stick Gausman in there and not have to pay Burnett 7.5M this year and next? Just stick with the young guys we’ve got, they’re cheaper. Bring up Bundy next year, buy Chen’s team option, we’ll be in better shape. We’ve got Norris too and we’re stuck with Ubaldo so there’s not much place else we can go unless we trade for Cliff Lee, and he’ll eat up so much payroll that it’s not worth it.
What is the Phillies sent Lee and cash ($10M) to the Orioles for Bundy/Harvey, Zach Davies and Jon Keller, but also took on Jimenez as a salary dump? The O’s would get a legit front of the rotation arm to pit against a Scherzer, Verlander, Hernandez, Weaver, etc. in a Game 1 and dump about $43M in salary commitments over the next 3+ years. That would also free up future salary to resign Chris Davis or Nelson Cruz, possibly both.
Throw in Papelbon.
Cliff Lee isn’t getting a good prospect in return until he shows he’s healthy after suffering an elbow injury. If he was healthy then that would be reasonable and I wouldn’t be shocked if the Phillies wanted even more.
still better than Ubaldo!
But Gausman can simply replace Ubaldo altogether I think.
of course, and he should, but with all that money that they wasted on Ubaldo…
Ubaldo was starting to pitch better. And they could always make Ubaldo the closer or the 8th inning guy.
I hope you’re joking. The guy is leading the league in walks and you suggest making him a closer. I scoff in your general direction.
Burnett should fully welcome a trade to Baltimore as he moves closer to his family and goes to a team that is looking like a playoff team. As for the O’s, I would not want to even consider AJ as an option with both Bundy and Gausman waiting in the wings and with his numbers already declining in the middle of a contract through 2015. Just say no Baltimore and rely on your current rotation to get the job done for you in the race for the east.
I bet the O’s would like to have Jake Arietta back!
No they wouldn’t. As soon as he saw Jose Bautista he would walk 5 guys and give up 9 runs.
Despite all of the negativity surrounding his departure from Pittsburgh, I really appreciate his competitiveness and contributions to the Pirates when he was there. For his sake I would like to see him get a shot at the playoffs with the O’s. Whether or not it’s a good idea for Baltimore to acquire him is an answer I will defer to those more knowledgeable of the AL than me.
AJ Burnett and Cesar Hernandez + $5 Million to the O’s for Gausman.
Or Burnett for Jimenez straight up.
I’m assuming you just used some kind of random name generator to come up with those trade proposals?
Why would the Phillies want Jimenez? He’s pitched poorly and is still guaranteed about $43M.
I would do the first proposal in a heartbeat, but the O’s won’t.
This is Ruben Amaro we’re talking about. He might be interested in Jimenez.
Based on this year’s numbers and considering what he is owed, I might have more trade value than Ubaldo Jimenez, and I stopped playing at age 13.
bad idea.
1) Burnett is old. “Old” isn’t necessarily a problem, but “old and mediocre at best” are.
2) He is mediocre this season. His FIP(3.98) isn’t appreciably better than the current orioles, AND it was achieved in a NL park. you can bet it would be way higher against AL clubs.
3) For whatever reason, he doesn’t want to play in B-more. Why sign a guy who has already spurned you?
4) there are better pitchers to be had. Get someone MEANINGFUL, or do nothing.
The thing is, the defense behind him in Baltimore is better than in Philly so you probably would see him go to a lower ERA with a higher FIP. Or he could very well stay around the same ERA.
I believe the Os would want him too as a playoff guy since he’s an all important ‘proven playoff pitcher’
Which would probably be one of the few times since they switched to the DH that an NL starter saw his era drop after going to the AL.
Burnett has been rumored to join the Os since he was 25ish and with the Marlins.
We’ve all heard many many times about his connection to Maryland, but every time he had the choice to make, he passed. I don’t think the Maryland connection means too much with AJ. We, Os fans, know what an erratic up and down pitcher he can be. He’s pretty similar to what the Os already have, 4.00 ERA-ish quality start guys, mixed in with iffy starts. The difference today is, he’s older and in decline.
Did the O’s ever match the money offers before? I could see him saying “yes” now to the trade because he’d get to play for Baltimore, but get paid what the Orioles were never willing to offer him.
I do not understand the love affair with Burnett. He is consistently inconsistent. I truly like Britton as the closer of the future but if I were Duquette I would go for Papelbon. He has won a ring in Boston therefore has been through the pennant race wars. He would really help us mix and match. He has not given up a home run in 37 innings this year. His era is 1.21 with 5 earned runs in 37 innings.