Burnett eyeing future?
From today’s Chicago Sun-Times:
TORONTO — One day after beating the Cubs in Toronto, Blue Jays pitcher A.J. Burnett liked the idea of a trade to the Cubs so much he might as well have said, ”Please.”
”As of right now I’m a Blue Jay, and I’m going to pitch to the best of my ability as long as I’m part of this club,” he said. ”But if something were to happen and I’d have the opportunity to go to a place where baseball is breakfast, lunch and dinner, that would be awesome.
”Right now my focus is with this club, but if something like that were to happen, I’d accept it with open arms.”
With six weeks to go before the non-waiver trading deadline, the Cubs’ biggest need as they eye October is a veteran starting pitcher, preferably one capable of competing for a top-three spot in a playoff rotation.
A clear-cut frontline starter such as the Cleveland Indians’ C.C. Sabathia might not even be available, much less attainable. But second-tier guys such as Burnett — who has good-enough stuff to be a lightning-in-a-bottle find if he gets on a two-to-three-month roll — are expected to be out there.
Granted, Burnett (he can opt out of his contract and become a free agent after this season) covers himself by saying his focus right now is on the Jays, but I don’t know what his teammates might think about him publicly saying he wouldn’t mind a trade to Chicago. Thoughts?
Major League Bastian 
My thoughts are that the bluejays really suck! I havn’t even followed this team this week because of the way they have been playing. If you look on mlb standings, it says that the jays expected wins/losses is 38-32. Just goes to show you how many games we have blown so far this season.
As for Burnett, I don’t really know what we can do with this guy. I think our best bet would be to keep him. Some of you may say to trade him for a nice bat to spark this offence. But don’t we have enough sparks that arn’t sparking? After all we did add some guys to our mighty offence that isnt getting anything done only to not get anything done.
Trade him. He is going to opt out at the end of the year if they keep him and receive nothing in return (minus the 12mil or so we free up). Lets face it, this team isn’t going anywhere this year with the way they are playing. It’s just a matter of time before the Yanks are rolling and the Sox keep doing what they are doing which makes it a very daunting task for the Jays, especially when they can’t hit. Trade Burnett for a young bat or in a package for a star ss, as I’m sure JP doesn’t want to block out Snider’s future spot in LF which besides ss is our only open position. Saying that, I wouldn’t mind a guy like Dunn who could be a future DH. Holliday would be pretty good considering he is locked up for 09 10 I believe. Two years from an allstar would nice considering Snider is probably a couple years away.
Trade him to get SOMETHING in return.
I just want to know if he was asked about it or simply stated it ?
Trade him if they aren’t in it by the all-star break. Otherwise keep him and try to make a run, it’s the same as if he did or weren’t to say that.
I would look at how much the Jays could get in return. Parrish is tearing up AAA as a starter and there might be a bat and a potential pitcher available for Burnett but I don’t follow the Cubs system enough to know. It doesn’t sound like Burnett is the dedicated “team” guy that’s adding value in the locker room with comments like that, for sure. Bring Parrish up and roll the dice.
Trading Burnett would be giving up on this team, for this season. I would not be ready to do that just yet. We still have six more weeks to see if we are contending or pretending, and .500 baseball is just not going to cut it anymore. I’d like to see the Jays get that Notre Dame reciever in the Cubs system, Jeff Sarmadijia (sp?) maybe he could play reciever for the Argos too. They have some interesting prospects, if all we are going to do is dump Burnett?
To paraphrase from Bull Durham, Burnett has a million dollar arm, and a 5 cent head.
Nobody expects these guys to be brilliant with the media, and by all accounts he just answered the question honestly. And lets face it, the media needs some stories – it’s not like the Jays have been shooting the lights out in June.
Toronto is not a baseball town, and never will be. Not as long as the Leafs straggle in with a near 8th place finish year upon year. Fans who need their ego stroked by these athletes in telling us “I love playing in Toronto, there’s no place I’d rather be” are delusional. Go visit Chicago, St. Louis, etc… you’ll see what “Baseball Towns” are like. I love the Jays, and am as stupidly diehard as they come. And even I want to see Burnett carry on with us. Should they trade him? If they want people to believe they care about winning – No. You don’t give up talent, especially not at starting pitcher. Has anyone in the media noticed that aside from that silly fingernail incident he has managed to stay healthy?
We could dump him, get some draft picks, or some rental help with a bat – but the bottom line is this team has been treading water for too long. Either come clean and say “Skip it, we’re gonna build a winner from inside” or go whole hog and take your fans for a wild ride into October (hell, I’d even take late August at this point). The Jays need to stop messing about and decide if they are contenders or not. And if we’re already talking trade with a number 2/3 starter 2 weeks into June – we’re not contenders.
Well said swagman. The thing about Burnett is he is healthy and yet his numbers still don’t jump out as impressive. I’m a fan of the guy though, he’s fun to watch when he’s on but it hasn’t happened often enough so far this year. Though his record should be a tad better then what it is.
By the way Jordan, seeing as how you enjoyed Iron Man (I did too) I think you should check out the Incredible Hulk of you get a chance. It’s just as good as Iron Man, if not better. I never even liked the Hulk growing up but the movie was worth my time.
Dont trade AJ now! No team is going to give the Jays any real value for him in a trade during the season. May instead wait for him to opt out at the end of this season, and get 2 sandwich picks instead. And why is Lind in the minors? He should be playing LF for the Jays now. JP should let go Mench, Stewart, and Wilkerson, setting the stage for Lind in LF instead.
ENIGMA: I won’t watch the Incredible Hulk until it’s free on my ondemand. I can’t stand the idea that Hollywood wants us to simply forget they JUST made a Hulk movie starring Eric Bana. So I’m not interested in seeing Hulk: Take 2. The Hulk himself looks a little too CGI for my taste, too. Maybe it’s a decent flick, but I won’t lay down my dough to see it in the theaters.
I did go see The Happening, which wasn’t great, but it wasn’t horrible if you go in with the mindset that M. Night tried to get an old Hitchock-type feel with a bit of over-the-top dramatic acting. The movie would’ve been better, in my opinion, if it was shot in black and white and billed as an old-style horror movie that doesn’t mind not taking itself too seriously.
As for those bumbling Blue Jays, I personally think Burnett’s comments were blown a little out of proportion, though I will say that such remarks were definitely ill-timed.
Catch you all from Milwaukee manana.
~Bastian
As soon as a player implies that he may want out, chances are it usually does get blown out of proportion. As long as he does what he can to help this team win now then I really don’t care. Though people will talk about it here so i’ll throw in my 2 cents.
As for The Hulk I actually had forgotten that they even made one not too long ago. That’s how little I cared for Hulk. I read many reviews though and my girlfriend wanted to watch it, so I went and wasn’t disappointed. It did have quite a bit of CGI, so considering that you’re obviously not into that then I don’t blame you for passing on it.
Burnett: I think he should be traded. I think even though we may not want to give up on the season its gone, also ya you could get 2 sandwich picks but I would rather get a talented SS and a decent/good prospect so it helps us now and in the future.
Trading Burnett is not giving up on this team… He is LEAVING at the end of the year plain and simple, so why not try to get a better deal than the 2 draft picks we receive for compensation???? With or without Burnett the Jays this team isn’t going to the post season. Hope I’m wrong but it doesn’t look good
Rmatty,
I see your point about trading AJ to get *something* in return. I just think that doing so sends the wrong message to the Jays fans out there. But to be quite honest, most teams that are in contention are probably not desperate enough to give fair value for Burnett, and I’d rather see the Jays (if they ever plan to truly contend) do it the right way – build from inside by strong development/drafting like the way they had it back in the day. All your perennial contenders have figured it out – Boston, Oakland, Atlanta etc etc.. What’s the harm in letting him show his stuff?? If he can pull off a great run in the second half, it ups his market value in his opt-out scenario, and we benefit from 16-18 starts from a man trying to set his future by outperforming his history. Who knows, if the bats turn around to what they can do it might be the missing ingredient. 1st round sandwich picks are not a bad scenario, and I think we’ll see the fruits of that in the coming years from the ’07 draft.
From our own history, we’ve not seen success from a rented player mid-term, excepting perhaps Doyle Alexander, Rickey Henderson – I just don’t see ‘getting anything’ as a positive from this. JP pulled off a magic act once ‘getting anything’ with Accardo, but can lightning strike twice?
You are right 2 SANDWICH PICKS ARE GOOD…but frankly our drafting history under JP has been horrible, another thing is that who says that when we trade Burnett we can’t get prospects?
I am sure we can probably deal Burnett and a strong reliever (since i think we have too many when they come back from DL) for probably a person who was drafted in the TOP 10 picks and a solid veteran.
Also its not necessary to trade Burnett but whats wrong with trying to see what others offer? If none of the offers are better than 2 Sandwich picks then leave them, if something is better then I say jump on it.
However to argue from the other side, if we trade him we would probably have to pick up some of his contract and if we keep him and the bats pick up then we are once again a solid team.
I’m not sure about having to pick up any of his contract though – by all accounts he’s priced about right for his skill set (sadly enough). But you are right, IF a good deal is there – jump on it. However I wouldn’t hold our collective breath. MLB teams are ruthless when they can smell blood in the water.
Harry,
I agree with you about Riccardi lacking in the draft department . He has lost any credibility he may have had, with the lies he has told to ( MacDonald ,Fasano etc) and about players ( Ryan ) . He signed Thomas at an inflated price then releases him , the Jays picking up the 8 mil tab. He releases Johnson before giving him the oportunity to show he was healthy and playing as good or better than before . How can this team believe a word Riccardi says and how can they play for somebody they don’t trust . This team needs a new management especially a new GM . They need to rebuild around a few core players .
As for Burnett , I believe he answered honestly . I had no problem with his answer until he said he didn’t care what the fans think . He wants to be where they live and breath baseball yet he has no respect for those who do the living and breathing here , those who pay his salary, the fans. I think Burnett needs to be traded . He may put on a Jays uniform but he isn’t a Jay at heart