The Yankees are preparing an offer for A.J. Burnett, writes George King.
The Blue Jays are prepared to sign Burnett to a four-year, $54 million deal, and the Yankees' offer is higher in annual salary than the Jays' offer, sources say -- but it's unclear whether they tacked on the fifth year. And the bidding could come down to which team is willing to give Burnett a guaranteed fifth year in its offer, in spite of his daunting injury history.
Here's the stuff that would get you excited if you were to work in the front office of the Yankees, Braves or one of the other interested teams:
| Olney's news and notes |
• Cuban's owning Cubs presumably over
• Pedro would like to continue pitching
• Pujols joins Musial in a new way
• Lugo an upgrade at short for Tigers?
• Rays increase ticket prices slightly
Around the majors with Buster Olney 
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Burnett ranked third in the majors
in strikeout ratio among starting pitchers, at 9.39 per nine innings.
After the All-Star break, Burnett was one of the best pitchers in the majors, going 8-2 with a 2.86 ERA while striking out 105 batters and walking just 29 in 94 1/3 innings. In other words, at the end of the '08 season, he was throwing better than he has for any extended period in his career.
Among starting pitchers who threw at least 20 innings against the Red Sox -- and there weren't many of them -- Burnett was better than anybody other than
Roy Halladay against Boston,
going 2-0 with a 2.60. He had a 3.15 ERA against the Rays, with a record of 1-2. And he
completely dominated the Yankees. In other words, the Yankees know he can handle the stress of pitching in the AL East.
Burnett,
who turns 32 in January, made 34 starts and 35 appearances and threw 221 1/3 innings, all career highs.
Some stuff that would scare you:
He has had three seasons in his career in which he pitched more than 173 innings.
He has had five seasons in which he has thrown fewer than 173 innings. Burnett's overall numbers from 2008 are excellent, but he ranked 75th in the majors
in quality-start percentage, just ahead of
Jeff Karstens.
The Yankees are so intent on adding pitching that in the end, the guess here is that they will do what it takes to separate themselves from the other bidders, as they fully intend to do in the
CC Sabathia sweepstakes.
Around the majors with Buster Olney
Buster Olney
