Javier Vazquez is the Yankees’ good problem to this extent: It goes away at the end of this season.
For the second time, Vazquez cost the Yankees multiple young players to obtain and proved incapable of handling New York or the AL East or pressure or some combination of all of that. The Yankees obtained Vazquez this time with the rather mild hope of getting quality innings to support a rotation that was pushed hard in 2009. They envisioned Vazquez pitching well enough so that they could offer him arbitration after the season and recoup draft picks when the righty signed as a free agent elsewhere.
Thus, the Vazquez acquisition was miserable in every way — except this: As opposed to his first Yankees stint when the team signed him to a long-term extension, Vazquez has a multi-year contract expiring after this season (Just an aside: A lot of people have believed in Vazquez, rewarded him and ultimately wanted to get rid of him).
The Yankees cannot escape A.J. Burnett that easily. He is the poison pill that is going to keep on giving for a while.
If you think the Yankees’ biggest trouble involving Burnett is that Game 4 will begin with a baseball in his hand then I have three years and another $49.5 million to tell you about. If you did not like Burnett’s act in 2010, imagine how you will feel in 2011. And ’12. And ’13.
The Yankees recognized the problems inherent in Burnett when they signed him to a five-year, $82.5 million contract. But they were desperate. In 2008, they had failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 1993. They saw starting pitching as the biggest problem. And they did not see CC Sabathia as enough of a solution. They were determined to add a second starter, preferably through free agency so it would cost money and not prospects in a trade.
They debated Burnett and Derek Lowe. Burnett’s power stuff won out. The Yankees had seen it firsthand when Burnett was a Blue Jay and overpowered the Yankees and survived the AL East. The Yankees outbid Atlanta by agreeing to pay Burnett $82.5 million over five years; the Braves getting Lowe as a consolation prize.
What is interesting to wonder now is if the Yankees could go back in time whether they would erase that contract. They are perhaps the lone organization that wouldn’t. Because while the future of that deal looks bleak, the Yankees did win a championship in Year 1 of that contract with Burnett as a central piece. That title in the first year in the new Stadium meant so much to the brand and the business of the franchise that it arguably makes having Burnett’s entire contract palatable for the Yanks.
Yet how Burnett does tonight, an uneasy pick for Game 4, could impact his life as a Yankee. When Jeff Weaver tanked in the 2003 World Series, the Yankees felt compelled to trade him for what turned into a bigger problem: Kevin Brown. When Vazquez became a 2004 postseason villain, the Yankees believed they had to get him out of town, unfortunately bringing Randy Johnson to town in return.
Burnett, though, would be so much more difficult to deal. He has those three years at $49.5 million left. His reputation for being untrustworthy has only grown worse. And he turns 34 in January. So he soon is going to lose some heat on his fastball and bite on his curve and — at that point — he just might fall from infuriating to useless. After all, Burnett lacks finesse or a strong pitching IQ. Any success he has enjoyed has been based on overpowering the opposition.
So the Yankees know moving forward that they will have to de-emphasize Burnett further, probably by signing Texas’ Game 3 starter, Cliff Lee, who shares a home state (Arkansas) and agent (Darek Braunecker) with Burnett, but is a pitching savant.
For now, though, Lee is the enemy. The Yankees problem is that Burnett might be, as well.