Burnett sent home for the rest of the year...

[wrveres]

so as of today the Marlins opening day starters look like this ..

D. Willis (Huge injury concern)
J. Beckett (last Arbitration year before free agency, also an injury concern)
J. Vargas (Unproven Rookie)
Justin Wayne (Unproven Rookie)



Looks like you can chaulk another NL East Pennant up for the Braves. Sad to, cus they haven't even hung up this years yet.

[Pogotheostrich]

D. Willis (Huge injury concern).

Why is he a huge injury concern? Because of his mechanics?

[wrveres]

D. Willis (Huge injury concern).

Why is he a huge injury concern? Because of his mechanics?

His mechanincs, his age, and a ton of innings over the last 3 years ..
Including Spring training, He will log over 250 "Official innings" this year.

He won't be on my draft sheets next season.
I'd love for him to prove me wrong, but it will have to be for somebody elses team.

[Red Stripe]

I just hope he signs with some team that would give him some bullpen support this offseason. Burnett would always get screwed by his bullpen, he'd leave with a 2 or 3 run lead but then they'd blow the win for him. I hope he ends up with any winning team besides the Yankees or Red Sox. He just seems like a guy where the pressure would get to him like Pavano, Vazquez, Loaiza, Wright(well I guess that wasn't really too surprising that he choked, same with Loaiza.)

[abstractpoet]

so as of today the Marlins opening day starters look like this ..

D. Willis (Huge injury concern)
J. Beckett (last Arbitration year before free agency, also an injury concern)
J. Vargas (Unproven Rookie)
Justin Wayne (Unproven Rookie)



Looks like you can chaulk another NL East Pennant up for the Braves. Sad to, cus they haven't even hung up this years yet.

I dunno--maybe the Phillies will get their act together. Utley and Howard give them a nice young core in the infield. If they can pick up a decent SP, I would think they'd be right in the mix.

[Pedantic]

Instead, he completely fell apart and lost pretty much every decision in September (one ND ended up as a loss as well). He not only hurt the Fins but himself as well.

I have a feeling (yes, I know, very scientific) that the Marlins organization had a lot to do with his late unraveling. And, no, I don't think that it would be too unreasonable for the Marlins to give him some encouragement, even after a home run. See the ESPN article on Bobby Cox.

Looking at the big picture, Burnett pitched pretty damn well over the season. I don't think the Marlins would be right if they pointed the finger at Burnett and said, "If you had only had a 3.00 ERA instead of 3.44, we would have won the wild card." Burnett isn't Pedro Martinez. He's a flamethrower with a wild streak. Not exactly the most consistent of pitchers, they are, and if the Marlins expected different, they need a reality check. There are many things wrong with the Marlins ballclub, but A.J. Burnett definitely isn't one of them. Burnett lived up to his end of the deal. The rest is out of his hands.

[abstractpoet]

Instead, he completely fell apart and lost pretty much every decision in September (one ND ended up as a loss as well). He not only hurt the Fins but himself as well.

I have a feeling (yes, I know, very scientific) that the Marlins organization had a lot to do with his late unraveling. And, no, I don't think that it would be too unreasonable for the Marlins to give him some encouragement, even after a home run. See the ESPN article on Bobby Cox.

Looking at the big picture, Burnett pitched pretty damn well over the season. I don't think the Marlins would be right if they pointed the finger at Burnett and said, "If you had only had a 3.00 ERA instead of 3.44, we would have won the wild card." Burnett isn't Pedro Martinez. He's a flamethrower with a wild streak. Not exactly the most consistent of pitchers, they are, and if the Marlins expected different, they need a reality check. There are many things wrong with the Marlins ballclub, but A.J. Burnett definitely isn't one of them. Burnett lived up to his end of the deal. The rest is out of his hands.

That may very well be the case (no way for us to really know), but even so his comments were very unprofessional coming, as they did, before the season was over--before, even, his team had been officially eliminated from the playoffs.

No doubt, Burnett pitched well for much of the year. Not so well in September, though, and regardless of what's going on in the clubhouse, AJ needs to be big enough a man to own up to that. If you want to criticize the management, at least wait until the season is over. His stock went down quite a bit as a result of his whining, and now his agent is rushing in to do damage control.