Blue Jay fans be enjoying the demise of A.J. Burnett

Toronto Blue Jays fans were quick to grow a hate for A.J. Burnett after he declined the contract option following the 2008 season and bolted to the Yankees for a ridiculous amount of money. In fact it could be argued that Burnett was already overpaid by the Blue Jays and only had once good season out of the three seasons spent in Toronto. His prickly personality and tantrums when he pitched poorly did not endear himself to fans,



In 2009 Burnett was part of the Yankees World Series team and played relatively well that season. But since then his game deteriorated. Last season he was a dismal 10-15 with a 5.26 ERA. To be honest that those numbers would not have qualified Burnett to be the #5 starter in Toronto. This season has been worse with Burnett going 9-11 so far with an ERA of 5.31. His win/loss record is deceiving because the Yankees score and lot of runs and can mask a mediocre pitching performance and have a great bullpen. However in the month of August no offense could hide Burnett's performance. Only Moammar Gadhafi had a worse August than A.J. Burnett with an ERA of 11.91 for the month.



Let's face it Burnett is weak on the mental part of the game despite watching Roy Halladay perform for three seasons. He possess only two pitches - a nasty curve and a 92 mph fastball. When he kind find the strikezone with his curve or he is afraid to use it, he becomes one of the most hittable pitchers in baseball. Oh and with that comes a pretty bad attitude. The Yankees may need to pad their clubhouse to mitigate the damage done by Burnett's tantrums.



Despite having one of the best records in baseball, the Yankees do not exactly have stellar starting pitching. After C.C. Sabathia the Yankees starting rotation could be confused with Orioles' staff. So Joe Girardi has no choice but to keep sending Burnett and his $16.5 million per season contract out on the mound. Carl Pavano, who stole $39.5 million with his non-performance as a Yankee from 2005-08 is mild compared to the cleaning the Yankees are taking from Burnett.



With two more years on his contract, Blue Jays fans will have many more opportunities to giggle reading the box scores following each Burnett adventure on the mound.