Show Me The Money

For the second time is as many days the Yankees have thrown more money than all other teams and got their man. Without a doubt the reason for the Yanks demise last season was the starting pitching. Now with the addition of CC Sabbathia and now AJ Burnett the starters are a strong and expensive group. Sabbathia, Burnett,Wang, Chamberlain and either Hughes, Kennedy or a free agent to be named later will give the evil empire a solid chance in the ultra competitive AL East. So is AJ Burnett worth it? Being the positive guy that I am lets start with the positives. Burnett has a power arm. He also has a full arsenal of pitches that make baseball people salivate. The guy looks like an all star. But what he has actually accomplished tells a different story. In Burnett's 9 year career he has won more than 13 games only once in his career. As for durability, or lack there of he has thrown 200 innings only in 3 seasons. Two of those seasons coming in contract years. Coincidence? And he has only made 30 starts in a season 3 times in his career. As for the body of his work over the past 5 seasons he has made 133 starts and had only 84 quality starts. Thats only 63%. I present these stats not to try to convince anyone that Burnett is not a good pitcher. All I'm saying investing that much money for 5 years is a very risky investment!!!

In other news the Phillies signed Rual Ibanez to replace Pat Burrell. Even though Ibanez can be very streaky during the season his numbers at the end are always consistant. Over the past 8 seasons his BA has been between 280-304 and his OBP has been between 792-883. This was accomplished in Safeco Field one of the toughest offensive parks in all of baseball. Coming to Citizens Bank should increase his numbers. Also he is surrounded by better hitters. At 31.5 mil for 3 years the Phils have a starting outfielder without a long term commitment. Ibanez will be 39 in the last year of his deal. From a Phillies point of view the problem I have with this move is two fold. 1.Ibanez is a left handed hitter. Now with Howard,Utley and Ibanez all hitting close in the lineup that makes them vulnerable to a lefty specialist late in games. To me a righty would have made more sense. Secondly Ibanez is an AWFUL!!!!! defensive outfielder. Defense it difficult to measure statistically but it definately wins games on the field.

Finally today the Met dumped Scott Schoenweiss to the D-Backs for Connor Robertson. The bullpen is being dismantled quicker than Shea Stadium. Schoeweiss definately needs a change of sceanery. Worst case for him is he could become Arizona's LOOGY(Lefty one out guy) He still has value. Just not in New York. Connor Robertson will probably end up in Buffalo. I figure the Mets pen now looks like K-Rod,Putz, Sanchez,Feliciano, Green and whoever for the 6th slot. Prefable a lefty.