Right-hander A.J. Burnett is the owner of perhaps the best raw stuff of any pitcher in baseball, and at least ranks near the top of the list when he's healthy. But he tossed up a stinker of a season in 2010 -- so much that the Yankees offered Cliff Lee about $150 million -- and the club is now expecting to need Burnett more than ever withAndy Pettitte leaning toward retirement.
The plan for Burnett is to meet with new pitching coach Larry Rothschild in the next few weeks to work on a couple of mechanical tweaks, writes ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.The Yankees, Olney continues, consider these adjustments "easy fixes," but Rothschild will also be tapping into Burnett's mental psyche.
If Burnett returns to form -- the form that not only earned him the big-money deal from the Yankees but helped him perform much more admirably in 2009 when his FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) was a half-run better than it was a year ago.
After missing out on Cliff Lee and with word that Andy Pettitte is leaning towards retiring, the Yankees NEED A.J. Burnett to have a bounce back season. In all honesty, Burnett can't be worse than he was last season, when he posted the highest ERA EVER for a Yankees pitcher who pitched at least 180 innings in a season. Even if the Yankees go out and sign Rafael Soriano (which would give them the best 8th and 9th inning pitching combo in baseball with Mariano Rivera), they still need Burnett to pitch better, being that at the moment he is penciled in as the Yankees no. 3 starter behind C.C. Sabathia and Phil Hughes.
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