Burnett rejects Jays' arb offer
As anticipated, Darek Braunecker, the agent for free-agent A.J. Burnett, confirmed on Sunday night that the pitcher has officially rejected Toronto's one-year arbitration offer. Braunecker said he currently has "multiple offers" on the table for Burnett, hinting that one was for a guaranteed five years.
On Thursday, Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi indicated that the club is preparing as though it's going to lose Burnett to another suitor. Braunecker said Sunday that Toronto still remains in play to re-sign the pitcher and added that the two sides plan to meet toward the end of negotiations one way or the other.
"We've had an understanding with the Blue Jays that we were going to revisit the situation with them at the appropriate time," Braunecker told MLB.com, "and that's later in the process. They don't have to sell anything to him. He knows what he's got in Toronto.
"They were providing us the luxury and respect to go through the process and kind of circle back with them at the appropriate time. Unless their position has changed, or changes going forward, then by all means we anticipate visiting with them and concluding the process with them involved."
--Jordan Bastian
A J Burnett is the epitome of the spoiled athlete. Although I fault the Blue Jays management for creating this foolishness and not learning their lesson after playing the same game with Roger Clemens a few years ago, Burnett and his agent should get real jobs in the real world and understand that a contract is a contract! If I went to my employer and said, "I've been paid for 60% of my contract even though I've really only done half of what I should have. Now, give me a longer contract that I will (based on past performance) only work half of." In real life, we'd be looking for new employers without having a recommendation in our pocket from the previous one. GOOD LUCK with that!
I'm not for collusion among the owners to drive down free agent spending, but shouldn't Bud Selig and Major League Baseball have some kind of mechanism that creates a template for 'reasonable pay for reasonable service' and that a contract signed must be honoured as signed? What other business operates like that and survives?
A J Burnett was a great asset for the Jays last season, but the two previous campaigns were virtual washouts. Isn't it odd that the guy finally puts up decent numbers when it is time to play for the contract? He's earned an average of $11million over each of the past three years. When it was obvious that they weren't getting bang for their buck, the Jays displayed a tremendous amount of patience and worked to protect Burnett from permanently losing the ability to pitch. In this, Burnett shows that there is no gratitude to the fans who supported the team, nor is there any shred of integrity to his word.
As to the constant utterance by professional athletes, "I have to consider my family's future;" unless he is a financial idiot, he should not have to worry about providing for his family even if he honoured the last two years of the contract and never threw another pitch! $55million pays for a lot of Kraft Dinner. Now he needs a 5 year guaranteed contract from either the Yankees or Red Sox (the Sox really irk me because of the hypochrisy of John Harrington during the 1994 strike---continually whining about how the players were getting so much money that they were destroying the game, and then having the nerve to go out and spend like drunken sailors after they had annihilated much of the fan base in the small markets---can't stand the Yanks either, but at least the Yankees never cried poor!) will probably pony up.
My only hope if he signs with them is that he returns to his usual form, and pitches half the season for the next five years...oh, sorry, make that four years, cause then it will be time to pitch for another contract!
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