WHY IT'S TIME TO PULL AJ BURNETT

(Photo: Getty)

Well Yankee fans, what can you say that hasn't already been said about AJ Burnett? I mean, I guess I can spend the rest of the time writing this recap talking about how AJ is an embarrassment in pinstripes. Or how AJ couldn't hit the side of a barn even if he was standing three feet away. But I won't do that tonight. Why? Because he is not worth it. But, here is what I will say. I certainly do not know AJ Burnett "the man off the field". So I would never judge another man without having first walked a mile in his shoes and even then, who am I to judge? You will not find any of the BYB writers ever attacking another player on a personal level. That is not how we roll at BYB. But one thing I do know is AJ Burnett, the pitcher for the New York Yankees is just plain awful. And he has the nerve to show up his manager and his team when rightfully being yanked from the game? Are you kidding me? You know, when Joe Girardi was asked about what AJ said to him when he left the mound Joe took the high road. He played "dumb" saying AJ's anger wasn't directed at him. Look, we all know that AJ said something to Girardi and Girardi probably jacked him up when he followed him into the clubhouse tunnel, but what is he suppose to say? Girardi is the manager of the New York Yankees, he isn't going to sit there and sell out one of his players to the media. So I am not gonna get on him for the way he answered questions after the game. In fact, I give credit tonight to Girardi for showing class and leadership. Bottom line is this: AJ Burnett and the New York Yankees need to come up with a "mystery injury". This cannot go on any longer! It must end and it must end NOW!

So here's the recap; In the bottom of the 1st inning, AJ Burnett gets the leadoff hitter out, but then the Twins proceeded to hit back to back doubles and a wild pitch by Burnett gave the Twins and early 1-0 lead. After a sacrifice fly, AJ retires the side.

So after one inning, the Yanks were down 2-0, but it wasn't the end of the world. There was a glimmer of hope that maybe AJ settled down and found his groove. But, that was not the case...

After the Yanks went down again 1-2-3 in the top of the 2nd the Twins came up and by the end of the inning, this game was over. In fact, Burnett could not even make it out of the 2nd inning. And, to add insult to injury, when AJ reluctantly left the mound with the bases loaded the Twin fans gave him a standing ovation! How embarrassing is that? Pathetic. Here is AJ's final line for tonight:



1.2 IP - 5 Hits - 7 ER - 3 BB - 1 K - 2 Wild pitches -- 61 pitches thrown and now AJ's ERA for the season is 4.96!

Offensively, the Yankee bats were frozen against Francisco Liriano. To Liriano's credit, he was given a big lead and pitched accordingly. He went after the Yankee hitters and never let them string anything together. When Liriano is on, he is really on. Eduardo Nunez was the only Yankee with more than one hit going 2-4 with a run scored. The Yankees only had a total of 7 hits for the entire game and most of them came late, not against Liriano.



So tonight I ask the Yankees to do us all a favor and end this AJ nightmare. Please yank this guy from the starting rotation. We don't care how you do it, all we care is that you do it.

Some Other Game Notes:

• Andruw Jones smacked another home run tonight -- his 9th of the season.

• Curtis Granderson got his 97th RBI of the season. Incredible.
  
  

• Although newly acquired lefty Aaron Laffey gave up two runs tonight, credit needs to be given to him for "taken one on the chin" giving his new team 3 innings worth of work. Also, the bullpen combo of Ayala, Wade, and Noesi pitched 3.1 innings giving up just 3 hits and no runs. Bravo.
  
  

Final Score tonight: Minnesota Twins 9 -- New York Yankees 4



Can you tell I'm disgusted? Well, I am.

--Mikey Blue, BYB Senior Writer

Email: DonnieBaseball2323@gmail.com

Twitter: @MikeyBlu23







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WHY BLEEDING YANKEE BLUE GOT A SHOUTOUT... KIND OF

(Photo: Getty)

When we started Bleeding Yankee Blue we were just happy to get readers. The ones that we have now, you, are so loyal we couldn't be happier and we love interacting with you all on Twitter and Facebook... it's alot of fun, so thank you for your support.



In doing my daily reading through the sports pages, looking for a nugget, I can across Mark Simon from ESPN and his piece titled simply YANKEES AT TWINS and he goes through the players that no doubt will be looked at closely today... AJ Burnett, Francisco Liriano, today's pitchers as well as red hot Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher and David Robertson where he wrote this:



"David Robertson who got a day off yesterday, has been amazing in his last nine outings, allowing two hits and no walks in 9 2/3 innings pitched. One intrepid blogger has even started a Cy Young campaign for him."(Photo: Getty)

I was curious, who could the intrepid blogger be? No idea, but I had to click. Luckily... it was BYB and Mikey's piece titled WHY DAVID ROBERTSON IS CY YOUNG WORTHY. Needless to say, we are excited and as the head of Bleeding Yankee Blue I wanted to personally thank Mark Simon for the mention, and, for even noticing. It seems sometimes when us bloggers even try and communicate with these writers, we don't even get a response, like we're not worthy of it. I just want to say we appreciate you acknowledging that we have a voice too, even if we are intrepid... or bold, or courageous, whatever you want to call us. The best part of what we do here at Bleeding Yankee Blue is write from our hearts; we're all Yankee fans, I think that's what makes us unique, don't you think?



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WHY THE LIRIANO DEBATE IS BACK

Francisco Liriano pitched a no-hitter last night and suddenly every post I wrote about Liriano on Bleeding Yankee Blue was clicked on and read…a lot. We wrote WHY YANKS MAY BITE AT LIRIANO BAIT and WHY TRADING FOR LIRIANO IS A BAD IDEA and please are click happy. Funny how things work. People want to know about players more when a winner prevails. Liriano is a winner and was last night, congratulations to him. No, I’m no Twins fan, but as a baseball fan, you have to recognize quality athletes. Clearly, Liriano made it happen last night. Now the question all day has been, do fans think the Yankees should pursue him?

Liriano’s no-hitter was the first complete game of his career. Sounds crazy, but true. We hear about how talented he is, but in this day and age, every team has bridges and pitchers barely complete games. But my point is, with the no-hitter happening, Yankee fans will do what we normally do, covet Francisco Liriano. Yes, Yankee fans are trained to get whatever we want and that all goes back to the Steinbrenner days. The question is, can we get Liriano? Do we need Liriano? Will he hack it in the Bronx? Also, think about this, Liriano may have had a no-hitter last night, but he hasn’t had a great season.

Me personally, I like the kid, he’s had injury and he’s never been the same as they suggested he would be early in his career. The Yanks can beat him and I usually gauge it that way. But the fact of the matter is, Phil Hughes is currently down for the count and we don’t know how long Colon and Garcia will be studs. Colon’s been a surprise and impressive, but how long can that last? We’ll take what we can get now, but I do worry about that. Garcia on the other hand claimed he couldn’t get a “good feel” for the ball last outing. Let’s hope it was only 1 outing and it’s not the start of fatigue or something worse…breaking down. I’m just saying, there’s a lot of talk about Felix Hernandez and maybe we should also think about a Francisco Liriano as an alternative plan.

Look, there’s no comparison, King Felix is truly king, but the Yankees don’t want to trade the farm for him if they don’t have to. Would they trade for another pitcher like Liriano if they don’t want to give Montero, Banuelos and who knows what else away? It’s something to think about.

Liriano is hot right now it’s true, it’ll be interesting to see what the Yankees do, vote in our poll and comment here.What would you do. Do you want Liriano in the Bronx or do you NOT want him?

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WHY TRADING FOR LIRIANO IS A BAD IDEA

For the upcoming season, the #1 concern for the Bombers is starting pitching, and quite frankly might be the only concern. Currently there are 2 solid pitchers, CC Monster and Phil Hughes. We also have 1 inconsistent but sometimes dominant pitcher in AJ Burnett and then a whole bunch of question marks. There's the youngster Ivan Nova, Dr. Chubby as Casey calls Bartolo Colon, and a somewhat washed up veteran in Freddy Garcia. We also have a few GREAT prospects who will not be competing for the rotation this season, but possibly for the 2012 or 2013 seasons.
As I listen to the over excited John Sterling broadcast the Spring Training game versus the Red Sox, I hear nothing but praise for a youngster named Manny Banuelos. Sterling and his little darling Suzyn Waldman, are raving out him, and even comparing him to Johan Santana. You heard that right... JOHAN F'IN SANTANA! The 2 time American League pitching Triple crown winner and 2 time AL CY Young winner earlier in his career, until he completely lost it once he made the move to Flushing Meadows.

Banuelos is ''A harder throwing Johan'' says Sterling. Wow. That's all I have to say.
As of now, you're probably asking why is Francisco Liriano's name in the title? Right? Well, this is because in the last week or so there have been rumors surfacing that the Twins would trade Francisco Liriano for Manny Banuelos. If I could go anywhere near Cashman I would knock him out with Babe Ruth's 60 ounce bat and say, "Are you insane?" Banuelos is being compared to Johan Santana and he is only 19 years old! You're going to trade him for a once promising prospect who has gone through tons of injuries and has only shown a few bright spots in the last couple of years. In fairness, Cashman's never hinted that it's happening, but I worry.

Think about this:

• A 19 year old prospect with all of the upside in the world who is being compared to a harder throwing Johan Santana, or...
• A 20 something year old once promising prospect who has gone through injury and has been somewhat inconsistent while being consistently injured.
  

It doesn't take an airhead or an over-confident and over-biased broadcaster to figure this one out, does it.

Let me know what you think by emailing me or comment on my post. I want to hear from you.



Will Cohen- BYB Staff Writer

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WHY THERE'S AN ANXIOUS CURIOSITY

Jack Curry of YES has his finger on the Liriano pulse and his sighting of what seemed to be Terry Ryan, the senior advisor to the GM for the Twins taking notes at the Yankees Pirates game today was probably spot on. Something's lingering. Read the piece HERE

The best part of Jack's post was Curry questioned Ryan about why he was there and if it had anything to do with the trade chatter of Liriano and the Yanks. Ryan said "We have people covering them. I'm not". I think he is. He said he was scouting the Pirates. I don't believe that, do you?

Why would there be crazy trade talk and suddenly Terry Ryan just happens to be covering the Pirates at the game today?

Look, I'm not the best person to ask about trade talks when it comes to Cashman, because I never believe him. And that's what makes him the master. He's a liar. That's not a bad thing, it's to get people off his trail. He said that he hasn't talked to the Twins about a Liriano trade. I say this: The rumor had to start somewhere, and it usually starts with an agent or a team or an unidentified person in a clubhouse that heard Cashman say the name "Liriano" while on his cell phone buying a hot dog next to the Steinbrenber statue in Tampa. My point is, we all didn't just decide to write about Liriano and the Yanks one morning, there's a source and my guess is, Cashman is denying what he's doing on purpose. Guess what? Let him.

I believe Liriano is coming to New York. I think the conversations with the Twins are positive and moving slow because of what the Twins want in return. Now, if you know anything about Brian Cashman, you know he's a genius when it comes to unloading players that won't upset the fan base. It's tactical and it's brilliant. But who? Stay tuned.

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WHY I DON'T BELIEVE CASHMAN

"I'm not talking to anyone about anything right now, nobody's available. Nobody of value, anyway." --Brian Cashman

The Yanks and the Twins are about to make a deal, despite what Brian Cashman says. Francisco Liriano is on the Yankees radar and pretty much has been since December. Again, many questions are still out there as to who will be involved in the trade and whether or not it's worth it. Liriano, who at one time was one of the most talented pitchers in the majors was 14-10 last year. He's 27 and is coming off injury. That being said, he can be totally dominant if he is to stay healthy. And by the way, he would not be a 4th rotation guy with the Yankees. No no. If Liriano came to the Bronx, this guy is sitting right behind CC Monster or behind Hughes. He's that good. Now comes the burning question, who to give up?

You can't get something for nothing and while I'm convinced that Liriano would be a huge help for the Yanks, I'm just not sure who would be the odd man or men out.

1. Joba Chamberlain- It seems like a no brainer right? Wrong. I've been down on Joba sure, but fixing mechanics is major and if consistently pounds the strike zone touching 94 like he did Saturday, I don't want to give him up. Yankee Brass probably disagrees and has a bow on him all ready to deliver to Minnesota. Now, If I needed to give up someone, then it's bye bye Mr. Chamberlain, it's been real.

2. Ivan Nova- The kid was put into the Yankee rotation in the hardest part of the Yankees season last year. When I put it like that, he didn't do so bad. The reality is he's got great stuff and has balls, and I don't mean bases on balls, this guys got brass ones. Remember his stare down with Jose Bautista last year? He's no chump. But, knowing what we have in the minors, I'd be willing to give Nova up, but I'm not sure I want to just yet. Give me 24 hours on this one.

3. Sergio Mitre- YES! (But no one wants this guy)

4. Pitching prospects- Baneulos, Betances, Brackman, Phelps, Noesi and the list goes on. There are a lot of promising things to say about each. But if I had to, I'd part with any of them EXCEPT the Killer B's. 5. Jesus Montero- No. Forget it. Look, the Twins have Joe Mauer right now. If Montero was to go to Minnesota, he'd play a lot, Mauer always gets hurt. That being said, we have a great setup in New York and I just know Montero will be a star in the Bronx if we let him play at the pro level.

Who would have thought that looking for a pitcher would be this tricky. It is possible Liriano will be a New York Yankee by Opening Day, and the possibilities for who are ongoing and unlimited...even if Cashman says it's not true. Stay tuned.

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WHY YANKS MAY BITE AT LIRIANO BAIT

So the Twins have decided that Francisco Liriano is available. The question is, will the Yankees try and trade for him. If you remember back in December, the Yanks were sniffing about the fire hydrant but nothing ever materialized.

I’ve stated there will be a "February Surprise" and I believe it. The question is who will it be? Right now, the Twins have 6 pitchers and 5 spots. They could trade 1 and if that one is Francisco Liriano, I say the Yanks need to have a package ready. There is once again concern though. The Twins could probably use a backup catcher and the Yanks have plenty. You see where I’m going with this?

Would the Yankees use Montero or Romine as a trading chip for Liriano? It would make sense to me, but like I said in WHY WE NEED TO KEEP THE KIDS , I hate the idea of letting go of these promising prospects, but for a pitcher like Liriano, it could be an amazing solution to the New York Yankees pitching puzzle.

The Yankee U had some interesting scenarios for a Yankees and Twins match up. They say:

• “Brett Gardner would be an obvious match to platoon with or replace the overpaid and under performing Michael Cuddyer and/or Jason Kubel.”
  
• “The Twins could certainly use some bullpen arms after losing Jon Rauch, Jesse Crain, Brian Fuentes, Matt Guerrier and Ron Mahay to free agency. The Yanks have a stacked bullpen at the MLB level, and some scouts feel one or all of the Killer Bs will end up as relievers. “


• “They may want a 2B as an insurance policy for newly signed Japanese infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka, having lost Orlando Hudson to free agency. The Yanks have a few interesting candidates (Adams, Nunez) that could possibly fit there. “
  
  There’s a lot to think about here. What would you do? My Guess is there’s a smell of a Yankee Trade in the air… who’s involved is another story. Mark my words though, Cashman like the spotlight and last thing he wants is to be outdone by the evil Red Sox. Stay tuned...
  

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