Blue Jays GM: Burnett

[Luv 4 da game]

Asked whether the Blue Jays would deal Burnett before Thursday’s trade deadline, general manager J.P. Ricciardi was emphatic.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Ricciardi said before Burnett pitched Monday against Tampa Bay.

Burnett is in the third year of a five-year, $55 million contract. He can opt out of the deal after this season.

Read more here

[evilRyu]

Hopefully he bumped his stock with his career-tying 12th win, so he opts out this off-season and signs a longer contract with someone else...

[whiterasta80]

Remind me again why a guy on pace for 15-18 wins opting out of a 11 million/year contract is a good thing? Him coming back isn't the end of the world.

[evilRyu]

Remind me again why a guy on pace for 15-18 wins opting out of a 11 million/year contract is a good thing? Him coming back isn't the end of the world.

so he can sign a longer contract with a team he WANTS to be with.. if he wins 15-18 (as you suggested he is on pace for), I can see him getting at least $9 million in the open market for more years. I'm sure it's no secret he doesn't exactly like it here.

The Cubs signed Ted Lilly to a 4 year $40 million. I don't see why Burnett won't receive that same kind of price if he opts out.

[jalenrose#5]

I can totally see where JP is coming from though.

Essentially with the way AJ is pitching right now, JP should be looking for equal compensation from the trade. (Two first round pick calibre talent, since if AJ was to opt out, the Jays would recieve two first round picks), plus some extra since he is among the top pitchers in the AL, an innings eater and a strike out machine.

Really, I'm absolutely pleased by this comment by JP. It shows he's not giving him away on the cheap, which I'm all for...too many times, the Jays have lost high calibre talent for nothing....in other words, Carlos Delgado, Raul Mondesi (where is Scott Wiggans now?) and many more.

[Schad]

Remind me again why a guy on pace for 15-18 wins opting out of a 11 million/year contract is a good thing? Him coming back isn't the end of the world.

so he can sign a longer contract with a team he WANTS to be with.. if he wins 15-18 (as you suggested he is on pace for), I can see him getting at least $9 million in the open market for more years. I'm sure it's no secret he doesn't exactly like it here.

The Cubs signed Ted Lilly to a 4 year $40 million. I don't see why Burnett won't receive that same kind of price if he opts out.

I'd go so far as to say that he might get a pay raise. Last year, Burnett was excellent...when he pitched. His WHIP was well below league average, he struck out over a batter an inning, and he posted his fourth consecutive year with an ERA+ over 110; teams will fall over themselves trying to sign him despite a meh season and the whole '32 year old career underachiever' thing. Four years, $50 million is probably well within reach.

[evilRyu]

so career high in wins, and leads the league in strikeouts so far... I agree, he may even be due for a raise.. more reason for him to opt out.

[whiterasta80]

I think you guys misunderstood, I understand why he'd opt out from his perspective. I was asking why we (as fans) should be "rooting" for him to opt out from our perspective (which appears to be the case). I'm perfectly fine with him coming back next year at 11 mil... not that it will happen.

I can't believe that teams aren't going after him harder given what he's done lately actually. As a #3 on a playoff team he's a big plus. If I were the Rays, for example I'd offer Briganc, roll the dice and take the picks at the end of it. If he's good for even 3 more wins that could be the playoffs.

[Peteros]

I agree with whiterasta80.

Leading the league in strikeouts and pitching very well the past couple of starts, you would think teams would go after him.

Maybe the Jays weren't getting equal compensation for him like jalenrose#5 said, or maybe the asking price for AJ was too high??

[evilRyu]

Or maybe JP is just saying what every other GM would say. By saying he's not going anywhere, it makes it harder to pry away AJ, and the asking price would be a lot higher. If JP openly said that AJ was available on the trade market, his value would be a bit lower...

[Holmes]

Who the hell is Scott Richmond is the more important issue...which also extends to the issue of how little depth we have in prospect pitching especially if we can't deal Burnett for some.

[whiterasta80]

Well there could be a trade on the way and we didn't want to waste the options of someone "important" like Cecil.
I'm more inclined to believe he was brought up in an effort to protect our bullpen (the one thing we do know about Richmond is he's an innings eater-- 122 IP, in 21 starts- only Purcey, Romero and Magee are close to that)

Besides, in fairness, these are difficult circumstances. McGowan is out for the year, Janssen was lost early on, Litsch is "rediscovering himself", Marcum really isn't right yet, Tallet (a decent emergency starter) is injured, Wolfe is stretching out (but isn't ready), ditto for Davis Romero and and Cecil. Purcey is a decent #6 guy, he just happens to be #4 right now. If we REALLY were in a pennant race there's no way he'd be on the hill. We'd pick up someone, or we would bring Litsch back up early.

Personally I think the move should have gone to Ricky Romero seeing as he's still probably our best pitching prospect who's ready. But other than him I don't know who else you might suggest.

[whiterasta80]

Also, I think they're keeping Davis Romero down there in case we do move one of our Lefty's (likely Downs). He's got a history of being decent as a long relief lefty and could step in again quickly.

[UNC Tar Heel Fan]

I hope he goes. It's clear he probably doesn't want to be here, and if we can get an asset like prospects, please do it J.P. But then again, I've lost all faith in the GM, so I fully expect him to still be here Aug 1.

[whiterasta80]

I lost faith in JP a while ago, but I'm not convinced that JP can make independent decisions at this point anyway. At least I hope that management wouldn't allow a soon to be fired GM that much room to operate.

[evilRyu]

I just hope JP doesn't make any "panic" type moves due to him being on the hotseat..

[Schad]

Well, Cito stated today that he doesn't expect Burnett back, and no surprise...there's no doubt in my mind that a team will give him a raise in the off-season on the strength of his wins and strikeout totals. Here's hoping that his 3-0 record, and 1.61 ERA over 22.3 IP convince Hank Steinbrenner to throw the moon and stars at him rather than Sabathia.

[Geddy]

Potentially seeing Sabathia go up against us a number of times in one season scares me. Knowing Hank he might just go after both of them.

I think this season by AJ is just a mirage. Only reason he has put up a good record is because he has managed to stay healthy a long time, which is unlike him. I'd rather let him walk and go after another young arm.

[Michael Bradley]

Burnett's putting up his worst season statistically, yet has his best win/loss record ever. To put it in perspective, his ERA+ (94) is worse than Dave Bush's (101). It could be lucked based though, as he's been good to very good at the three things pitchers have control over (K's, HR's, BB's), so his ERA should probably be a lot lower.

I would love to have AJ back at his current deal (two years/$24 million remaining), but I'm not a fan of extending him much longer than that. He'll definitely opt-out, and some team will give him a 5 or 6 year deal. Good for him. Bad for the Jays, as McGowan is hurt and outside of Halladay and maybe Marcum it's all question marks.

I'd imagine Cito will abuse Burnett with high pitch counts for the rest of the year, which I don't mind since he's leaving anyway (it's high pitch counts for Roy and the others which I worry about).

[5DOM]

what sandwich picks can we expect?