TwitterMillion-Dollar Arm/Five-Cent Head
17 Jun 2010
I love "Bull Durham" and last night I was thinking about that scene where Crash dares Nuke to try and drill him in the chest with a ball while watching AJ Burnett. You look at the stuff that guy has and you think he could dominate the league. But, he is 6-5 with a 4.33 ERA because he simply doesn’t have the mind to match his talent.
You can see it in performances like last night. When he got into trouble he seemed to deflate and get into more trouble. His shutdown was complete when he didn’t cover first on a grounder to first. That was enough for Girardi who pulled him and inserted Boone Logan, who shutdown the same hitters that bedeviled Burnett.
The sad thing is, the Yankees have no options other than to keep using him. The problem is, you never know what you are going to get. I compared AJ to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde last year and it seems iike that is what we have to look forward to for the next 3.5 years with AJ. It’s a good thing Hughes is in the rotation and Vazquez is stepping up, the Yankees need a #2 starter.
Jun 21, 2010 @ 17:02:30
Now THAT is a perfect description of AJ – million dollar arm/five cent head. Yep, he can dominate – he has – and he will again. But, like you point out, there’s no predicting when AJ the Dominator will appear – or for how many innings he will stay on the scene when he does arrive.
Garters- guy needs garters (and the rose goes in the front, big guy).
Jun 21, 2010 @ 23:44:10
Tonight, AJ reminds me of the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz – guy is completely loose, can’t repeat his motion AT ALL and basically has no idea where the ball is going the moment it leaves his hand. Sad – so much raw talent that would be incredible with some discipline.
Jun 23, 2010 @ 18:52:31
Mitchell- I like the scarecrow analogy. Might as well throw the tin man and lion in there as well after that clunker.
Jun 24, 2010 @ 11:34:21
This may not be a popular sentiment, but IMO AJ will never get it together. Not to say he won’t be great in the playoffs, but that’s just the point – you don’t know what you are going to get with this guy. He can’t be traded because of his contract. I think we just have to hope that his inevitable mental breakdowns don’t happen at crucial points of the year.
Jun 24, 2010 @ 17:27:46
Evan, you won’t get an argument from me. The best I think the Yankees can hope for is that he repeats his 2009 regular season a couple more times and they have other guys to use when the playoffs roll around.