AJ Burnett Signed by New York Yankees

Earlier in the week, the New York Yankees signed CC Sabathia. On Friday, the Yankees landed their second big fish of the winter by coming to an agreement with pitcher AJ Burnett. Sabathia and Burnett will likely enter the 2009 baseball season as the Yankees’ one-two punch at the top of their pitching rotation.

According to the reports, Burnett will sign a contract that will be five years and pay him nearly $83 million. Although compared to Sabathia’s contract this deal may look a bit small, but Burnett now becomes one of the highest paid pitchers in the game.

In 2008, Burnett had a solid season. He finished the season with a career-high 18 wins to go with ten losses. His ERA was 4.07 and he set career-highs in both strikeouts (231) and innings pitched (221.1).

For the Yankees, the risks to this deal are Burnett’s history of injuries and his age. He’s had a few injury hampered seasons in his career, especially when he was a member of the Florida Marlins. He’ll be turning 32 in the next few weeks and this deal will be paying him big money in his mid-30s.

However, despite the risks, the Yankees desperately needed pitching in their offseason moves and with the additions of Sabathia and Burnett, they have done a great job of adding the best pitchers on the market.

Photo credit: Newscom