For the record, I don’t think the Yankees need to (nor should they) make any trades. The team is on fire, boasts a 10-game lead* in the division and has the best record in ball. Sure, Brett Gardner is not returning this year but the LF platoon has been absolutely raking and holding it down. Why give up prospects for a guy who would marginally (if that) make the team better? (more…)

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Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-US PRESSWIRE

The Yankees and Pirates have finally agreed to the terms of a deal that will send A.J. Burnett to Pittsburgh. According to reports, the Yankees will pay $20M of the $33M remaining on Burnett’s contract. In return, they will receive two prospects who have yet to be named. The prospects aren’t expected to be significant, but given baseball’s unpredictable nature one of them could turn out to be a nice surprise for the Yankees. The deal will be sent to Commissioner Bud Selig for approval later today and Burnett will take a physical on Sunday to make the whole thing official.

Personally, I’m pretty happy with the deal. Obviously it would have been ideal if the Yankees could have picked up less than $20M, but such is life. As it is, the deal saves the Yankees $13M over the next two years which will go a long way to getting the Yankees below the $189M payroll threshold by 2014 in order to take advantage of a preferable luxury tax rate. In addition, even with the loss of Burnett, the Yankees STILL have too many starting pitchers. Now the Yanks will only have to send one guy (either Freddy Garcia or Phil Hughes) to the bullpen instead of two.

As John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman pointed out last year, A.J. is like the evil twin that shows up out of nowhere in soap operas. He can be absolutely stellar and show flashes of brilliance in one inning only to give up 4 or 5 runs the next inning. Unfortunately for Burnett and the Yankees that one bad inning often proved to be significant in games Burnett started. The Pirates are getting both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in A.J. Hopefully, for everyone’s sake, the NL Central will be kinder to Burnett than the AL East has been.

1. Roy Oswalt
2. Mark Buehrle
3. C.J. Wilson
4. Hiroki Kuroda
5. John Danks
6. Yu Darvish
7. Gio Gonzalez
8. Edwin Jackson

Hooray?

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Down at the Winter Meetings, the Yanks let it be known that they are willing to listen to offers for AJ — and are even willing to eat $8 million of his remaining $33 million salary in a trade — but nobody said boo.

Cashman:

We will listen on anybody.

I understand the desire to trade him, but he really wasn’t THAT bad for much of last season. Of course he isn’t worth $16.5 million per season and is not a No. 2 starter, but he’s not an albatross. The guy eats innings — he’s averaged over 194 innings in his three seasons in pinstripes — and is about average — a 34-35 record with a 93 ERA+ in the Bronx — on the mound. As I said before, he’s a bad contract but there is value in guys who throw innings.

Plus, look what he did in Game 4 last year (ALERT: very small sample size). That could be the kick in the arse he needed to get back on track.

I’m not saying the Yanks should definitely keep him — if they can find a viable trade option, by all means do it — but the rush to get rid of him is a little bizarre. I say let him and Phil Hughes battle it out for a rotation spot in spring training, the competition would be good for the both of them.

Also, I’m worried that if the Yanks get rid of AJ they will give another stupid contract to CJ Wilson. AJ > CJ, in my opinion.

Burnett Was Great – AJ started out with a rough first inning, walking three to load the bases. But when Don Kelly sent a shot to deep center Granderson ran straight back and made a diving catch to hold the Tigers scoreless. Burnett settled in nicely after that, going 5.2 innings with 4 H, 1 R, 4 BB, and 3 K. Most would agree that Burnett’s regular season was somewhat of a disaster, but the slate is wiped clean in the postseason and Burnett came through in a huge way when the Yankees needed him most. The bullpen did it’s part to protect AJ’s lead, going 3.1 innings and holding the Tigers hitless and racking up 6 strikeouts.

Jeter Came Through With Big Ribbies – Prior to tonight Jeter had failed to drive in a single run during this series despite leaving 12 men in on base. In the 3rd inning he came through with a double to center that drove in two runs and got the Yanks on the board first.

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And given Girardi’s penchant for matchups, that certainly seems plausible. If the Yankees face the Rangers in the ALDS Game 3 would likely belong to Freddy Garcia. In his one start against the Rangers this season he went 6 scoreless innings while giving up only 2 hits. On the other hand, if the Yanks face the Tigers, AJ Burnett could take the mound in Game 3.  Burnett is 1-1 with a 3.75 ERA against the Tigers this season as opposed to Garcia’s 5.14 ERA in one start against the Tigers. Granted, these are small sample sizes and Garcia did strike out 8 Tigers despite allowing 10 hits and 4 runs over 7 innings.

So what do you think Yankees fans – would you play the matchups like Girardi is inclined to do? Or would you look at overall season performance? Or would you leave both Garcia and Burnett out of the ALDS rotation in lieu of another pitcher? Let us know in the comments!

It might be unfair, but there is more pressure on CC than any another other pitcher in baseball. Without a great CC, the Yankees starting rotation goes from below mediocre to terrible. For most of this season, many would have said a CC pitched game was a lock for a Yankee win. That is not the case recently. Right now he is not Justin Verlander. He is not even CJ Wilson. He needs to be them and even pitch better than them in order to carry the Yankees rotation to a 28th World Series title. (more…)

1- Which player must step up most if the Angels were to overtake the Rangers for the division and make the playoffs?

Vernon Wells. Not that his play has any direct correlation with the Angels play-off chances, but of the three slumping veteran Amigos (Hunter, Abreu, Wells) Vernon is the lone player who has yet to have his situation change. Torii Hunter has been himself for the entire second half (.834 OPS), while Bobby Abreu has seen reduced playing time. That leaves Wells as the most likely candidate. If he can improve on his dismal (.218/.252/.396) slash line he could help bridge the 2.5 game gap. I wouldn’t count on that happening though.

2- How do you think the “older” Angels (Abreu, Hunter, Wells) will perform in September?

The Angels have been counting on this trio to produce all season long. If you take away the second half that Torii Hunter has been putting together the Angels have gotten very little offensive production from these core veterans. I wouldn’t count on Wells or Abreu turning it on down the stretch. Abreu while still a disciplined hitter has lost his ability to drive the ball and catch up to fastball on the outer half. Wells meanwhile has displayed an extreme pull happy approach that has produce seemingly a careers worth of weak ground balls to the left side and infield pop ups. That leaves Torii Hunter as the only Angels veteran the club can rely on down the stretch.

3-Up until 2008, the Angels clearly had the Yankees number. Did the 2009 ALCS change that or do the Angels still have a lot of confidence when playing the Yankees?

I think the Angels historical confidence / good play against the Yankees is really a matter of personnel more than anything else. The Angels during the Mike Scioscia era have featured versatile offensive clubs with a combination of speed and a sprinkle of power bats. Couple that with what has largely been a great back end bull pen, solid defense and starting pitching and you has the tools to beat what has been an offensive juggernaut from New York. Since 2009 the Angels have lost a lot of offensive fire power to free agency (Vlad Guerrero , Chone Figgins) and injury (Kendrys Morales) so it’s the failure to make up for that offensive firepower ( Hunter and Abreu have only aged) more so than any mental edge that gives these Yankees a noticeable advantage over the Halos.

4- How shocked do you think the Angels and their fans are to see Bartolo Colon have the season that he is having? -

I can’t speak for the entire fan base but personally I have been fairly surprised with Colon this season. This was a guy who couldn’t get anyone out when he last pitched for the Angels in 2006 and 2007. The fact that he has turned himself into a solid back end rotation guy some five years down the line is certainly eye opening.

5- Which player has been the biggest surprise this season? Positive and Negative?

On the positive side the choice is Mark Trumbo. While his OBP leaves a lot to be desired (.295) Trumbo has filled in for injured slugger Kendrys Morales and been the Angels best power threat (26 HR’s, .220 ISO) all season. Trumbo’s emergence will give the Angels a nice depth problem to address when and if Kendrys returns to a healthy and productive state. On the negative side the choice is split between Vernon Wells and Bobby Abreu. While not even the blindest of Angel homers expected Wells to put up the MVP type numbers his contract warrants Wells dismal offensive season has come as a down right shock to most. I don’t think even the most ardent Wells hater could have projected (.218/.252/.396) but somehow some way that is what the Angels have gotten. As for Abreu, sure he’s now 37 years old and his age was bound to catch-up with him at some point, but this year has seen father time get all crazy with the fast forward button. Abreu is .120 points off of his career slugging percentage, and almost .150 points off of his career OPS. Had the Angels gotten even a slight uptick in performance from these two vets, their season would likely look a lot different right now. Or they just could have not traded Mike Napoli. But I digress.

6- The Angels end the season with a 3 game series at home with the Rangers. The series can possibly decide the division title. Where do you think they will be in the standings when they play and what is your prediction on them winning the division?

The Angels will likely be within striking distance of the Rangers I’d wager maybe even 1 or 2 games back by the time this series rolls around. While anything can happen in a short series I do not see the Halos winning the division this year. The Rangers are the better ball club and their advantage on offense and in the bull pen will prove too much for the Angels to match. The Rangers also appear to have that mental swagger advantage (like the Angels use to have over the Yankees) over the Halos. In the past 7 games all with direct divisional implications the Rangers have gone 5-2. Enough said. Frankly with the Angels offensive shortcomings it’s a modern miracle that they have even kept the race
this close.

By Rob Bonanni

@nypuddingsports