NYY Proposal

by kimo from kauai on Feb 10, 2012 11:19 AM PST

The recent discussions about AJ Burnett have interested me a bit. It seems that the Yanks want a left handed bat and salary relief (?) or they just want to get rid of Burnett.

My proposal; trade S Smith and Fuentes to NYY for Burnett, $25M, and two prospects, to be named later if necessary. Smith and Fuentes have about $8 M of financial obligations; Burnett is owed $33 M over the next two years so the money works out evenly. The Yanks get a useful platoon bat and a useful, if properly used situational lefty. So at least the Yanks should talk.

The A's get an inning eater who might improve out of the spotlight but little else. The real plus would be a couple of Yankee prospects - I looked at hitters like T Austin and M Williams but other names should be considered.

Now, why would the A's be interested; the money would be the same, Smith and Fuentes are not part of the long term plan, Smith (and Gomes) MAY wind up blocking someone we should play and determine if they have a future (Taylor?), and finally the prospects MAY be part of the next good team in a few years.

What do you think?

I realize this probably does not help the team in 2012 but I would really like to see a push toward acquiring young talent and not any more signings (Gomes, Manny, etc) that simply add to the muck and offer no hope for 2015.

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thanks but no thanks

BTW the Yankees are trying to trade Burnett to the Pirates. I hope if it’s successful that the Pirates also derive some benefit.

by OaklandSi on Feb 10, 2012 12:17 PM PST reply actions

if he only had one year left on his contract

i’d say yes to acquiring him (not for that trade, that trade doesn’t really make sense*), but since he has two years left on his contract, no thanks to him

a’s didn’t just acquire smith to flip him for someone like burnett, and at this point, who the hell wants fuentes? he needs a half season to rebuild his value

Snoochies

by guessatomo on Feb 10, 2012 12:36 PM PST reply actions

Fuentes

Fuentes was actually pretty good the second half of last year, 1.71 ERA and 0.905 whip in 21 innings.

I think my proposed trade makes a lot of sense to the Yankees; LH bat and LHP, plus the removal of Burnett. The value to Oakland would be in being lucky 3 years with the prospects. In 3 years neither Smith nor Fuentes will be around.

by kimo from kauai on Feb 10, 2012 12:47 PM PST up reply actions

The Yankees really want to dump his salary to have some more flexibility in signing hitters

Giving $25M to the A’s isn’t going to do it for the Yanks (they definitely would not include prospects if they were forking over that much cash). They might eat half his salary, which would mean we’re paying Burnett something reasonably along the lines for what he’s worth.

If Burnett looks sufficiently good with Oakland, and the Yanks are paying half his salary, he suddenly becomes very tradeable, if not this season then in the offseason.

But I wouldn’t want to dump Seth Smith. The Yankees should send us a good prospect and we should include a mediocre one (something like Cardenas was – maybe Josh Donaldson or Anthony Recker?) and take Burnett off their hands. No point in trading anything of use. This is a straight salary dump and the Yankees have other free agents they want to pursue and would rather have than Smith. So sweeten the deal and we’ll take Burnett.

I’m fine with that. Currently we have zero reliable starters (all are either injury-prone or unproven) and at least Burnett has been healthy.

by Billy Frijoles on Feb 10, 2012 12:46 PM PST reply actions

It's weird to be discussing straight salary dump

in the context of the Yankees. Do they even do that?

Difference of opinion among my community is a sign of the bounty of God.

by iglew on Feb 10, 2012 2:24 PM PST up reply actions

new CBA

The new collective bargaining agreement has incentives that apply to big spenders (Yanks, Red Sox) that “reward” getting under the salary cap. Check out this explanation

http://riveraveblues.com/2011/12/the-189m-payroll-part-2-of-2-61054/

Long story short – they can make money thru payroll savings and revenue sharing.

This may explain some of the actions the two teams have taken this winter.

by kimo from kauai on Feb 10, 2012 4:40 PM PST up reply actions

Smith

For his career, Smith has done well vs RHP; .290/.364/.518 and poorly vs LHP .202/.332/.418. He is obviously a platoon OF. At home in Colorado he was .296/.366/.559 and away he was .257/.332/.418. He appears to be a Coors Field product.

I would project his 2012 stats in Oakland between his vs LHP and his away stats; something like .275/.350/.460. These are useful as a platoon portion of LF but Smith should not be a deal breaker if the team can get some decent prospects for the future.

With the short porch in Yankee Stadium Smith would be much more productive there than in Oakland.

by kimo from kauai on Feb 10, 2012 12:59 PM PST reply actions

Was thinking the same thing..we should make a play at AJ for sure

From what we have heard the yanks are willing to eat a lot of the money, but indeed they would want something of value for the money they are eating. With 2 years on his deal – a 10mil/2 year deal is a bargain for AJ Burnett (meaning the yanks eat the rest). AJ has raw talent (yes I know, so does Rachelle Harden) – but the guy can flat out throw and does have Cy Young talent – he tends to throw to many pitches – like most SO pitchers but tends to have a bad IP which always kills him…If I am Billy Beane I see a bargain to be had.
The Yanks are not going to want take on more salary to get rid of him, but I could see Bradon Allen + a pitching prospect or Chris Carter or M. Taylor straight up from him. I really wanted to see Carter and Taylor get full time look this season, but it doesn’t appear that is going to happen so the time to move one is now- I would trade Chris Cater for him. AJ could be a huge pickup for us and net us plenty of talent on a small contract at the deadline…

Lance "you sunk my" Blankenship

by ryanmoser on Feb 10, 2012 1:10 PM PST up reply actions

umm, his name is Rich...

by OaklandSi on Feb 10, 2012 4:10 PM PST up reply actions

Makes no sense

we just traded 2 starting pitcher to get Smith so why would we trade him to get 1 back. I would take Monosco over AJ. So the 2 prospects would need to be top prospects to make sense.

by Arcman on Feb 10, 2012 7:41 PM PST reply actions

Why would the Yankees do that trade (leaving the A's aside)

The purpose of trading away Burnett is to free salary to sign a DH. This trade would have them sending $25 Million + taking in $8 million, meaning would not be getting that salary relief to sign their DH, making the point moot.

Even a blind squirrel is right twice a day.

by Zonis on Feb 10, 2012 10:22 PM PST reply actions

Smith

Seth Smith would be the LH portion of the DH platoon, with A Jones. I understand one of the Yankees targets is R. Ibanez. Smith should be more attractive than him; better glove (if necessary to play OF), younger, cheaper.

by kimo from kauai on Feb 11, 2012 12:27 AM PST reply actions

no trade clause

It is being reported (Pinstripe Alley) that Burnett’s no trade clause includes all west coast teams so my post may be totally hypothetical. Anyway, thanks for the comments.

by kimo from kauai on Feb 12, 2012 9:04 AM PST reply actions