AJ Burnett to the Cubs for Soriano?

DuffMan

DuffMan

Well-Known Member
Reprots out of NY say the Yankees are shopping Burnett and are agreable to paying a large chunk of his contract. Evidently both the Pirates and the Tigeres showed some interest. There are rumours that a 3rd team is now interested. Might it be the Cubs? It could make some sense.

Soriano is scheduled to make 18 million over the next 3 years. AJ Burnett makes 16.5 over two years. So for the next two years the contracts are about a wash.

Soriano to the AL makes a ton of sense as he can still swing it a bit, and he could play DH so is defensive short commings would be less of a liability. The Yankees were a black hole at DH last year with Posada only batting .092 last year against lefties as a right handed hitter. Soriano could easily give them 130 games as a DH.

The Cubs might still have to eat some cash in the deal, to make up for the fact that Soriano is under contract through 2014, one more year than AJ, but on the surface this seems to make sense.

AJ has had issues in New York, and he's 35, but he's been very durable (more than 30 starts in each of the last 4 years) and he still strikes out a ton. A move back to the NL where he doesn't have to fact a full 9 hitter lineup might make a little sense. He'd also be reunited with former teamate Ryan Dempster.
 
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I would be for it. Hopefully Burnett does not veto it like he's be vetoing everything else, but honestly, who wants to go from playing for a contender to playing for a team that has absolutely no shot for the upcoming season, and probably next season too, ya know?
 
gamblinghawk said:
Wow I hope you're talking from the Yankees perspective, Cubs would do this trade immediately.
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Why, the Cubs have plenty of mid tier pitchers, most if not all younger than Burnett and no position players whatsoever. Soriano still is useful even if he hasn't lived up to his contract. The Cubs don't have many useful position players right now. Soriano was actually worth more to his team last year than Burnett and I don't really care about his contract at this point because the Cubs will have money in the next couple of years to add players.
 
Why? This looks like a good deal for the Yankees as well. But I would want the Cubs to split Soriano's salary in 2014. I think Soriano would do really well back in the AL, especially in the DH role as that is pretty much what he is at this point.
 
ssckelley said:
Why? This looks like a good deal for the Yankees as well. But I would want the Cubs to split Soriano's salary in 2014. I think Soriano would do really well back in the AL, especially in the DH role as that is pretty much what he is at this point.
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Sorian's defense is underrated in left field actually.
 
bcl20 said:
Sorian's defense is underrated in left field actually.
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You can't be serious? He has a great arm and can throw people out, but he is an absolute train wreck in the field.

I am not a fan of Burnett, but he would be a #2 or #3 on this Cub's staff.
 
smbhawk1 said:
You can't be serious? He has a great arm and can throw people out, but he is an absolute train wreck in the field.

I am not a fan of Burnett, but he would be a #2 or #3 on this Cub's staff.
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He had a positive defensive war last year so, yes I am. He looks awful on a few plays and people automatically assume he's terrible. He is slowing down as far as his range is concerned but to act like he's a terrible defensive player is incorrect.
 
Soriano's D is bad. It might be ok number wise, but he's a liability out there. That being said, NO way I do this trade. Soriano is a club house guy, you don't trade him for a D-bag. Burnett isn't a team player and I wouldn't want him in a cub's jersey.
 
bcl20 said:
He had a positive defensive war last year so, yes I am. He looks awful on a few plays and people automatically assume he's terrible. He is slowing down as far as his range is concerned but to act like he's a terrible defensive player is incorrect.
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I will agree to disagree. I watch nearly every Cubs game every year. He looks awful on more plays then he does not. He has absolutely no field awareness. I do not care what his stats say. He is not good defensively at all.
 
Dempster, Molholm and Garza are all better than Burnett and I'd rather have Volstad and Travis Wood start because of their age. I'd almost rather have Wells than Burnett though I'm not sure on that one.
 
YES network says deal with Pittsburg was all but done...now a mystery third team has entered the sweepstakes...maybe it is the cubs but it doesn't say who. Otherwise look for him to be gone to the Pirates....you can have Burnett, he is dumber then a box of hair and has lost his velocity and he is a mental midget.
 
Soriano is a below average outfielder...he is still an above average hitter and that is why he is playing. He was a below average 2nd baseman but because he could hit teams had to find a way to keep him in the lineup. Left field was the best place to hide him.

Everytime the ball is hit to him you can hear the entire crowd go silent because he is so unreliable.
 
Soriano does throw a lot of people out from LF. However he is awful defensively and a total liability in the field. Every flyball hit to him is a circus. I find it unlikely the Cubs would do this deal, I understand I could be wrong. But eating a big chunk of Sori's contract plus picking up a bad contract with AJ just doesnt seem in line with everything Theo and Hoyer have been doing. A 35 year old pitcher that is due 35 million over the next two years that has an ERA over 5.00 and a WHIP over 1.40 over the last two years does not appear to be a good investment. History would indicate that AJ's best years are behind him and if we are going to spend 16 mill a year on a pitcher I personally would prefer we go elsewhere.

If there was a way they could make the deal so it makes sense financially for the Cubs I could see a reason to do it. But I find that unlikely.
 
I don't know that the cubs would even have to send the Yankees cash. They might do it outright. Soriano is worth more to the Yanks, he'd be a solid run producer in that line up. The Yankees are probably willing to eat 10+ mill a year for two years to send him to the Pirates. That's more than they would pay for the last year of Soriano's deal (18 million).

The only think the Pirates might be willing to bring to the table is prospects, although they ain't giving up top tier for a 35 year old pitcher. You'd think the Yankees would jump at this chance. The only downside for the cubs is they'd be losing a mentor for Castro.
 
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