Why the Orioles Should Pass on A.J. Burnett and his Nipple Rings
The Baltimore Orioles know that they need good pitching. The rest of the baseball world knows that they are notoriously thrifty and likely won’t pay to get it.
The happy medium appears to be A.J. Burnett.
If they sign him, they won’t be very happy for long.
A.J. Burnett’s Major League career has been a living exercise in WTF? He publicly criticized the team with which he had his greatest success, the Florida Marlins. He has thrown a no-hitter, but walked nine batters in the game. He led the American League in strikeouts and starts last season, but opted out of a guaranteed $24 million to test a market that seems to be growing cold on him in the face of durability issues.
And, he wears nipple rings.
Now, is that what the Orioles really want? A brooding number one pitcher with propensity for injury and masochistic tendencies? The Orioles just can’t win with this guy. They could sign him in an effort to prove their commitment to winning for fans, but when his multi-million dollar arm burns out, what is left?
Certainly not the other free agents they could have pursued but didn’t in an effort to woo Burnett.
There’s a lot at stake in this free agent market. Pitching is needed desperately, but if you’re going to go after a guy that is a known malcontent and guaranteed to go on the disabled list, you are better off going with a lower-tier free agent and hoping like heck he finds a groove in Charm City. In a sport where you rarely get what you pay for in pitching, this isn’t a star that should blind the O’s front office.
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I disagree. His last four years he’s thrown 205, 135, 165 and 221 inniings. While the 200+ years were both contract years, he’s still likely to give us 150 innings. And those are quality innings, not Steve Traschel ininngs. I agree that we probably won’t get what we pay for, but that’sm baseball and I’m sure the Orioles don’t want to repeat last years month of September. They can’t afford to burn their bullpen out in July, again.
But why should the Orioles pick up on a guy other teams have deemed up-in-the-air? We’ve already had enough of the pomp and circumstance coming into town, only to produce well below expectations.
I’m not saying they should ink him to anything more than 3-4 years. I would agree he’s a high risk aquisition, however. While the O’s are certainly in a rebuilding phase, I don’t think it helps to repeatedly throw your young pitchers out there to get destroyed. The fact is, the O’s have no pitching depth at starter. Burnett would be a proven ace on the staff, allow Guthrie (a #2 guy, not an ace) to move back in the rotation, and leave Burress/Cabrera/Olson for the #3 and #4 spots with the #5 spot remaining a question mark.
I wouldn’t throw him in with the previous free-agents, although he does possess the potential.
The O’s don’t have the winning expectations right now. If McPhail can keep the contract to a minimum length, and he turns out to be a bust, at least he should be off the books by the time we’re competitive again.
I agree about Guthrie, but Cabrera should be gone. Even in his better days, he was wildly inconsistent.
He finished strong in 07, but imploded this year.
Cabrera either has extreme mental issues, is partially blind, or both. I don’t know if he can be fixed.
It looks like Olson might be a part of a possible 3-way trade with the Padres and Cubs. He blows anyway, but it’s rumored that Kalihle (sp?) Greene would be coming over for him and he’s a bust. So that would be a trash for trash trade.
McPhail should have traded Sherril before the deadline when he had the chance and his value was high. He was asking too much for him at the time and now we’re stuck with left-hander specialist who’s losing value.
I hate Angelos for taking these years off my life.