Jon Heyman tweets that the Yankees and Indians are now discussing the possibility of trading A.J. Burnett for Travis Hafner. Hafner is overpaid and the Yankees need a DH, so that would make sense for the Yankees. So far, though, the Indians aren't too excited about the idea:
Yankees/indians talk revolves around aj and travis hafner. cleve unsure it would do that swap. yanks also don't mind the FA DH options
Hafner will make $13 million in 2012, plus a $2.75 million buyout after the season ends. He's also a popular player in Cleveland, so it may be tough for the Yankees to get much traction here. Hafner still hits well, although he's much less durable than Burnett, and Burnett is much better than most fans think he is. The Yankees may be better off dealing Burnett to the Pirates and finding a DH elsewhere, and that's probably still the most likely scenario.
UPDATE: Tim retweeted this from Jordan Bastian of MLB.com:
Confirmed: Indians not currently in talks with Yankees about possible Burnett-Hafner trade. If talks were ever alive, they're dead now.
So there you go.
0 recs | 130 comments
I just want this over with so the following can occur...
1) Acquire MLB2k12
2) Pitch as AJ Burnett (in Pirates uni) vs. Astros
3) Pitch perfect game win 2k Sports Million Dollar prize
4) Donate said funds to Pirates under the foundation name “Friends of Soler”
5) Watch NH sign Soler
6) Enjoy Spring Training
…
10) Profit
phyler - February 14, 2012
Step 10 is key.
Kosstic518 - February 14, 2012
2k11?
Must not own a ps3?
Nate Wilder - February 14, 2012
360
FTW!
phyler - February 14, 2012
Revised List
1. Acquire MLB The Show 12
2. Enjoy for the next year
King Oskar - February 14, 2012 via Android app
+1 freakin one
McCutchenIsTheTruth - February 14, 2012
Although
I’d prefer number 4 to read
Donate said funds to Pirates under the foundation name “Friends of please Dear God extend McCutchen”
McCutchenIsTheTruth - February 14, 2012
Soler is going to the freakin Cubbies
I’m already gettin sick and tired of Theo..
omar moreno - February 14, 2012
i wonder if i should start taking money
that Alex Presley will have a better major league wOBA over the next 4 years than both Cespedes and Soler!
BurgherKing - February 14, 2012
I like your odds
I can see Soler needing several years in the minors. For some reason I can’t pinpoint, I have a gut feeling Cespedes will be a flop. Although his 20 minute promo video was magnificent.
King Oskar - February 14, 2012 via Android app
You're probably right...
Its too bad too. I could see us being a top 3 farm system next year if we landed Soler on top of our top 8 pick in the draft. Hopefully that draft pick with be a:
Shortstop/Left Tackle/Scoring Winger → Pittsburgh and all of its sports teams shall rejoice.
phyler - February 14, 2012
I'd hardly say that Hafner is a better player than Burnett.....
Compounding the fact that Hafner is as reliable as Rich Harden is the WAR that each of them have provided over the last several years. AJ is not only worth more WAR, but can surely be counted upon to actually play. Plus, it is much easier to find a DH (there are several still available) than a SP with solid peripherals.
The Yanks would prefer Hafner because of position, not because he is the ‘better player’.
Mr. Smizik - February 14, 2012
Yeah. You’re probably right. Updated to reflect.
Charlie Wilmoth - February 14, 2012
Well done. Agree with update.
Mr. Smizik - February 14, 2012
Never thought I'd see the day...
where Charlie edited a post due to Smizik.
Nate Wilder - February 14, 2012
....
/blinks
What the.. just happened.
McCutchenIsTheTruth - February 14, 2012
After a week of hearing
how this deal is likely to get done and a framework is in place and the Pirates make the most sense and on and on and on…I’m going to be pissed if it doesn’t happen. Seriously, can we just get this done and move on to Spring Training…
KentuckyPirate - February 14, 2012
My thoughts exactly
The longer this drags on, the more I feel that some other team will swoop in and grab Burnett, or that the Yanks will wind up not trading him. It reminds me of the Sano fiasco — Pirates spend long time as frontrunner to land his services, only to miss out in the end.
gorillagogo - February 14, 2012
eh
Even though I want aj I think if he goes to the indians we can laugh at the terrible job cashman did on executing a terrible trade I wouldn’t blame nh for dropping the ball on this one
tbote123 - February 14, 2012 via mobile
Why am I not surprised?
Midnight Moose - February 14, 2012
did i
Become a FO sympathyist without knowing it?
tbote123 - February 14, 2012 via mobile
I don't know.
But your post above is the kind of thing a FO cheerleader would say.
Midnight Moose - February 14, 2012
well the jerk store called and theyre all outta you
tbote123 - February 15, 2012 via mobile
Why am I a jerk?
Maybe you didn’t explain what you meant clearly, in your original post, and we’re having some kind of communication issues. Try to expound on what you said, in your original post. Maybe I’ll see what you were trying to say, this time.
Midnight Moose - February 15, 2012
This was first in reports a couple of days ago. I think now that Cleveland has added Garland that their desire for Burnett is less.
Brakeman8 - February 14, 2012
This also does not help the Yankees shed much payroll.
Brakeman8 - February 14, 2012
They don't need to shed as much if they get a DH in return.
Cheap Beer - February 14, 2012
Do the Yankees REALLY need a DH?
Thunder - February 14, 2012
I thought that was the reason for offloading AJ's salary
to get a left handed DH bat?
Cheap Beer - February 14, 2012
told you so
the pirates burnett deal is dead. huntington pissed of cashman by flip flopping on his offers. This is not first time a gm has soured on NH. I believe the number is now 6 gm who will not take phone calls from boy blunder.
sweetleb - February 14, 2012
blah, blah, blah
yadda, yadda, yadda
Brakeman8 - February 14, 2012
If talking out of your ass was a profession
you would be at the top of your industry.
pskell02 - February 14, 2012
so if the deal happens
you’re going to shut the fuck up for a while, right?
WHYG Zane Smith - February 14, 2012
Now why would he do that? I’m sure he would just shift gears to NH made a terrible deal to get Burnett.
pskell02 - February 14, 2012
You want to know what I was doing just before I switched over to BD to procrastinate a bit more? I was writing a paragraph about how you don’t damage your credibility that much when you make a guess that turns out to be wrong, but when you say things like “book it” and you turn out to be wrong it really means no one’s ever going to want to listen to you again.
WHYG Zane Smith - February 14, 2012
are you a grandma IRL?
haha you’ve just got so much wisdom WHYG Zane Smith
Mingy - February 14, 2012
haha, now I'm embarrassed
IRL I teach philosophy — I’m working on a paper on the norms of assertion.
WHYG Zane Smith - February 14, 2012
Damnit
I want to teach philosophy.. or history. Give me your job.
McCutchenIsTheTruth - February 14, 2012
ha
I have tenure, sucka. You aren’t even prying this job from my cold, dead fingers. (And getting it was pretty stressful.)
WHYG Zane Smith - February 14, 2012
on the same road but want to do engrish or history. Have to re-learn french and learn spanish this summer just to get into phd program groan. looking forward to learning spanish so i can make clever signs for Jose Tabata
Mingy - February 14, 2012
engrish is awesome
Proof
BurgherKing - February 14, 2012
that’s actually what i was referring to haha. love that site
Mingy - February 14, 2012
the "creamy prison" was always a favorite of mine
white angus - February 14, 2012
you will see
HEY don’t shoot the messenger, I have some inside info and I know that cashman is pissed and I don’t think this deal is getting done.
sweetleb - February 14, 2012
Yep, we'll see.....
Brakeman8 - February 14, 2012
Jake?
Is that you buddy?!
Nate Wilder - February 14, 2012
link?
BadAndy - February 14, 2012
'inside info"
from the guy who still thinks Cuban could buy the team.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
cocktailsfor2 - February 14, 2012
I know this guy in Manhattan
he told me that the world begins and ends there.
Cheap Beer - February 14, 2012
I have an insider that told me that NH and Cashman shared a hooker after the Vermont farmers round table. My insider went so far as to tell me that they simultaneously did lines off each butt cheek.
See, I can make shit up as well.
pskell02 - February 14, 2012
You do not have inside info
I’m not trying to completely blow you out of the water, because I don’t actually know you. However, any source that is close enough to have actual knowledge about the inner workings of the front office of the New York Yankees does not pass that knowledge on to somebody who just randomly posts it on a blog somwhere. The source does not do that because that’s a really good way to lose a highly coveted position within a major league baseball organization.
KentuckyPirate - February 14, 2012
Oh yeah?
Well I just got off the phone with George Costanza. He said sweetlips stopped by his office this morning and told him NH is a dunce and the Yanks shouldn’t deal with him any more. So that’s the end of that.
lambert58 - February 14, 2012
funny
oliver luck said the same thing about fat joe marrinatoe today….funny how that works :p
oldtimehockey09 - February 14, 2012
inside info… man….Seriously…
Elektrostal_Kid - February 14, 2012
wow
just wow.
oldtimehockey09 - February 14, 2012
+34
See what I did there? That’s Burnett’s number.
Nate Wilder - February 14, 2012
I can't tell if this is meant to be sarcastic
If this is serious, can you explain to me what GM’s “will not take phone calls” from NH and what possible motivation they could have for taking such a petty, short-sighted approach to multi-million dollar business decisions?
KentuckyPirate - February 14, 2012
just lets say
1- team’s that dealt with neal before and feel he was wasting there time.
2- some team’s who pay into the welfare pot and are not happy about how the pirates run thier club, "there on welfare for life’ is how one owner put it.
3-a team that thought they made a better offer and neal had taken a less offer .. ahem tampa .
sweetleb - February 14, 2012
how do you quote someone with improper usage of a word?
not trying to be a dick here, but doesn’t that prove that this is all bullshit?
white angus - February 14, 2012
because
the that is how it was said
sweetleb - February 14, 2012
how do you improperly use "there, they're, their"? when speaking?
I can understand writing but what owner would be stupid enough to say something of this nature, employ equally idiotic publicists who can not spell check, and then publish it?
PuncSpeedChunk - February 14, 2012
you replied
so you understood . so let it be written so let be done.
sweetleb - February 14, 2012
WTF
PuncSpeedChunk - February 14, 2012
Hey, some good came out of this exchange...
I now have the chorus of Creeping Death stuck in my head.
King Oskar - February 14, 2012 via Android app
He didn't get a single
their / they’re / there correct.
So hard to decipher sometimes, I have to break this out:
.
cocktailsfor2 - February 14, 2012
there is there
let your brain figure it out….. it will put in the right context for you every time.
sweetleb - February 14, 2012
you could just not post
steaming piles of bs. i mean i wouldnt want you to endanger your insider source in the yankees front office.
oldtimehockey09 - February 14, 2012
Maybe sweetleb is there boss. There taking orders from him.
Mr. E - February 14, 2012
sweetleb is hank steinbrenner?
i could see george but not hank.
karreemofwheat - February 14, 2012
probably multiple team's taking orders from him
Central*Scrutinizer - February 15, 2012
what part of sale the team confused you?
see this is what bugs me, just because someone is not a good writer. does that make their statement less credible? I thought this is a baseball blog, not essay 101.
karreemofwheat - February 14, 2012
Let's just say
sounds like code for “I don’t actually have any real information, I’m just spouting off because I think this front office is cheap.”
1) Please give me an example of a team that feels like NH wastes their time. The Yankees apparently don’t feel this way. NH has made trades with Cashman before and apparently is trying to do so again
2) Teams that pay into revenue sharing don’t like teams that collect revenue sharing…Really? Who’d a thunk it? Again, though, the Yankees pay into revenue sharing and it’s not stopping them from pursuing the Burnett deal
3) This is, ahem, stupid. If you’re talking about the J-Bay deal just stop. For one thing I don’t think you can say Tampa’s offer was decidedly better. More importantly, the Rays organization is not so arrogant as to assume that just because the Pirates didn’t make the deal they wanted four flipping years ago that they won’t answer a phone call. That sounds a lot like the 1st grader who doesn’t get to play with the toy he wants so he goes to the corner and pouts…except in your example, the kid pouts until he’s in 5th grade…
KentuckyPirate - February 14, 2012
tampa change its mind
when bad deal neal, had taken aki 4.6 million dollar contract off there hands , but tampa thought there may have been some payoffs in the bay deal { major league scout pushing hard for boston-LA offer} said scout no longer with team.
the yankees are not one of those teams.
its called stringing a team along, getting to the point where you have a deal ,than going all way back to the orginal offer. some gm think neal grand stands for his fan base, you just offering not enough money for free agents the last 2 yrs would fall in that catagory
sweetleb - February 14, 2012
If you have no proof - like naming names, or SOME kind of link,
you’re just trolling, and I suggest people start flagging your posts as such.
Anyone can pull made-up statements out of thin air.
cocktailsfor2 - February 14, 2012
I have a list teams ,right here in my hand" joey mCc
sweetleb - February 14, 2012
Like this one.
Flagged.
cocktailsfor2 - February 14, 2012
so you're stupid about history as well as baseball
When Joe McCarthy said he had a list in his hand, he was famously lying.
WHYG Zane Smith - February 14, 2012
+1
cocktailsfor2 - February 14, 2012
sez you
sweetleb - February 14, 2012
you mean like
people who post the pirates should sign cepenes, solar and jackson and trade for buenett. those thing are never going too happen. so are they not lies?
sweetleb - February 14, 2012
Being that they said "should" . . .
makes it an opinion. If they said “will” it would have been a fact. Opinions can’t be lies.
Scranton - February 14, 2012
well thier or there or they'r you go
sweetleb - February 14, 2012
"Opinions can’t be lies."
unless you’re talking to a politician
Mr. E - February 14, 2012
The difference between someone suggesting "The Pirates ~should~ sign Player X," which is an opinion that doesn't need citation...
…and you stating as fact “the number is now 6 gm who will not take phone calls from boy blunder.” …and other equally unprovable remarks…
Is akin to the difference between Phoebe Cates as Linda Barrett in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and Ruth Buzzi as Gladys Ormphby in “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.”
cocktailsfor2 - February 14, 2012
Any chance you could type in English?
Grammar, spelling and complete sentences do wonders for communication.
BarryJT - February 14, 2012
he follows the Jake model
make grandiose, mysterious suggestions, so peoplewho don’t know any better can think about it like a soap opera. Really, on this blog, he shouldn’t be getting as much play as he is. Don’t feed the trolls!
BurgherKing - February 14, 2012
Ill admit i don't feel that strongly as I did the other day about getting Burnett
but all this talk about NH and other GMs is just complete utter incompetent talk.
BigB2323 - February 14, 2012
Name the other 5. With proof.
Or STFU.
cocktailsfor2 - February 14, 2012
Dear sweetleb
read me
Bucko - February 14, 2012
well what did he say?
sweetleb - February 14, 2012
Ya know...
Time for NH to take the money he’s offering the Yankees and go grab one of the remaining free agents pitchers or start working on a trade with someone else looking to move an overpaid pitcher or first baseman or maybe use it in a run on Soler and if Cashman feels like coming back, that’s just great. At the moment, the Yanks are just wasting time that could be better used pursuing offers that might actually happen.
Aphthakid - February 14, 2012
Soler is going to the Cubs.
cocktailsfor2 - February 14, 2012
Cespedes is going to the Marlins!
Cheap Beer - February 14, 2012
Johnny is going to the tower!
Rapunzel! Rapunzel!!!!!!
white angus - February 14, 2012
There's a sale at Penny's!
Scranton - February 14, 2012
Is it a Penny sale?
Midnight Moose - February 14, 2012
WGN reported this morning that it was done.
Now, I haven’t hear it anyplace else, and the WGN guy is a horse’s ass, but that’s why I put a question mark in the fanshot…
cocktailsfor2 - February 14, 2012
And I’m pretty sure someone responded that he isn’t even a free agent yet.
Aphthakid - February 14, 2012
Hopefully...
Cheap Beer was being sarcastic about Cespedes…otherwise he missed by the entire width of the country.
Thunder - February 14, 2012
Really?
Cheap Beer - February 14, 2012
Yep, Cespedes went to the Athletics.
Thunder - February 14, 2012
:-x
white angus - February 14, 2012
ha ha, double missed sarcasm.
Cheap Beer - February 14, 2012
should've gone for the trifecta
gorillagogo - February 14, 2012
I will deeply miss Whitney Houston.
Cheap Beer - February 14, 2012
Is she moving to the West or something?
white angus - February 14, 2012
SHE BETTER F'n NOT!
Cheap Beer - February 14, 2012
Fielder to the Nats!
It’s a done deal says my source deep inside the Nats clubhouse.
Aphthakid - February 14, 2012
...
white angus - February 14, 2012
Grandpa?!
Grandpa!!!
Trogluddite - February 14, 2012
Something around here is DEEP, all right...
Heh.
“Good thing we don’t step in it…”
cocktailsfor2 - February 14, 2012
Yawn.
The Post claims they’re 3 million apart on a deal. (Then again I don’t trust a ton of stuff from New York, media specifically.)
However if that’s the issue and we lose out on a deal because of that much I’ll be highly diappointed.
Nate Wilder - February 14, 2012
This makes me sick, That some people would think this is rational thought at all.
“Ten million ain’t gonna get it done,” said the Yankees source, referring to the amount of Burnett’s salary the Pirates have agreed to pay. “Not unless we get top-level prospects.”
The Pirates’ highest-rated prospect, right-handed pitcher Gerrit Cole, is not among the players being offered in the deal.
“The better the players they give us, the less money they have to pay, and vice versa,” said the Yankee source, who added that three other clubs were still interested in Burnett, including a West Coast club that is on Burnett’s no-trade list.
BigB2323 - February 14, 2012
That yankee source can go F himself
BigB2323 - February 14, 2012
yeah he definitely comes off as a ccksucker
BadAndy - February 14, 2012
how do you feel the need to write that Gerrit Cole is not in the deal?
Also, the Yankees aren’t going to trade Michael Pineda for Brock Holt. I mean, what the kind of moronic thinking is that?
WHYG Zane Smith - February 14, 2012
Link, in case you don’t like your brain cells.
WHYG Zane Smith - February 14, 2012
It's better than the mlbtraderumors threads
asking for McCutchen left and right.
Cheap Beer - February 14, 2012
But those are just some guys with internet connections. This came from somebody that ESPN pays to write about baseball.
WHYG Zane Smith - February 14, 2012
THE YANKS WANT G. JONES.
He is not part of the future and he will be more than likely traded at the deadline and NH is just asking for way to much.
Pittsburgh needs Burnett and the Yanks know it.
IF NH messes this up Pirate nation should be pissed.
lightskin350 - February 14, 2012
lets revisit this
Yankees need to trade Burnett and everyone knows it.
And a FTFY:
BurgherKing - February 14, 2012
this deal is not happening
between Indians and Yankees involving Hafner/Burnett. Some Tribe beat writer just said so on twitter. @caminotribe
AND WE’RE BACK TO FAVORITES
Mingy - February 14, 2012
Not sure that's the place to be this offseason
Cheap Beer - February 14, 2012
haha no that just happened and it is a legit beat writer named Nick Camino. i checkedddddd dude
Mingy - February 14, 2012
I meant being a favorite
that hasn’t worked out well for a good many teams so far this offseason.
Cheap Beer - February 14, 2012
oh right. I’ve been misunderstanding what people mean all day, as is tradition
Mingy - February 14, 2012
Read this awkwardly.
Had a slight heart attack for a moment.
Nate Wilder - February 14, 2012
Heyman's saying a deal could get done in the next few days
Thought this was funny
Emphasis mine.
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/33714192/34838845
gorillagogo - February 14, 2012
Make it so, number one.
chodan11 - February 14, 2012
When trades are completely dead, they are the most alive.
CO_Bucs - February 14, 2012
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