Is it me or has A.J. Burnett of the New York Yankees been on a down-slide lately? One example came on the afternoon of July 17th. Burnett was pitching against Reid Brignac of the Tampa Bay Rays and gave up a two run homer. Later he threw a wild pitch and hit Evan Longoria. The final straw came when Carlos Pena hit an RBI off of him producing another score. His own frustration ended his day in just the third innning (Yankees can't overcome Burnett's short start). Manager Joe Girardi had to pull him from the game.
Here's a little background on Burnett:
- He's 33 years old
- Has been playing in the major leagues for eleven years
- Played for the Marlins from 1999 (his debut in the MLB) until 2005
- Played for the Blue Jays from 2006 until 2008
- In 2003 until mid-2004 he was out for Tommy John surgery
- He ended his first game of the 2007 season with a 27.00 era
- in 2008 he led the league with 231 strikeouts
When he was playing with the Marlins (I believe those were the best years of his career) he led the NL with 5 shutouts, Now his ERA is over 6.00 and his losses outweigh his wins. To me this is a sign that A.J. Burnett is either getting old or losing his touch. I bet the Yankees are wishing they would've gotten him in his younger days. In my opinion, Burnett is on the ropes, and eventually those ropes are going to snap. In his case, his weak rope is his arm. The Tommy John surgery may have actually hurt him. It seems like everyone who gets this surgery comes out worse than when they went in. I believe Burnett is going to go from the Yankees eventually, and it will be soon.
