The Future of AJ with the BJs

Here I am, 4 hours before my stats midterm, and I'm going to blog about Mr. AJ Burnett. Rumours has it that JP Ricciardi was on the trading block, a rumour that JP quickly denied. Here is my take. JP should ACTIVELY seek a team, whom would be interested in AJ's services, and in return can offer a couple of young arms, or player(s) that can fill out our holes (catcher, another starter, etc). Here are the reasons why:

1. This year's free agent class is pretty lame to say the least. Guys that would've been FA (Beckett, Buehrle, Zambrano) were all locked up to long term deals by their respective team during the year. With the exception of aging pitchers like Andy Pettitte (who said its either Yankees or retirement), David Wells, Tom Glavine and Kenny Rogers, this year's class of FA starting pitchers lacks depth, or impact player. In that case, teams seeking pitching help will find help via trade. AJ's $12 million per year, is a bargain for any team that picks him up, seeing how a guy like Gil Meche is going to make the same amount as Burnett will, but Burnett will definitely pick up better stats.

2. JP will be smart to deal AJ based on the opt-out clause (same clause A-Rod just exercised) at the end of the upcoming 2008 season. If AJ can put up the numbers he is capable of (16-8 isn't all that unlikely with his stuff - assuming he goes injury free), you can be sure AJ will opt-out so fast that it makes his fastball look slow. With the current market, you can be sure that AJ will definitely get a raise from his current 5 year, $55 million contract.

3. If AJ doesn't perform like he is capable of, and continues on to his .500 ways, starting less than 25 games per year, then the Blue Jays will be stuck with him for 2 more seasons. Do you really want to deal with a guy, who gets the ball every 5 days, earning $12 this season, and not knowing whether or not he can go 5 innings? Even Ted Lilly, who left Toronto, and is earning $10 million a season, put up better numbers than Burnett.

Signing out..