HitsRus;1088238 wrote:I'm curious why the 'rats would want to trade prospects for Burnett....Is he going to lead them to a championship or even contention?
Probably not. But they need to at least give the illusion they're trying to win now, especially with how the NL Central is. They were in contention until early August last year, when they completely collapsed. And now two of the top offensive players, who happened to be on the division's two playoff teams are gone and the league MVP might be missing the first 50 games.
Sure, a guy like me, who REALLY follows baseball can bring up things like how the pitching staff was way above expectations for the first few months and performed down to expectations over the final months, so the way they played during that time period could be more "reality" than the first 100+ games. But for the average fan, signing a known name who MIGHT benefit from a chance of scenery from high-pressure New York, is a sign that the organization isn't just going to stand pat and wait for prospects to hopefully contribute down the road.
And more importantly, it could be a positive sign that the team will at least try to be competitive in re-signing guys like McCutchen.
EDIT: And from what I've getting, they won't be trading real prospects. From what the blog I read says, the Yankees were trying to get them to take on less of Burnett's money and give up higher-caliber prospects, but Pittsburgh stuck to a $13M + 2 low-grade prospects deal, figuring the Yankees would take it because they need to clear some money as the Steinbrenner boys are a bit less crazy about throwing money around than daddy was.
