I'm not going to argue that A.J. Burnett hasn't been a disappointment during his Yankees tenure so far, but I will suggest that we've probably gone a little too far in over-analyzing his performance, specifically regarding the "why" of his struggles. In fact, if Joba Chamberlain ever left the Yankees, Burnett would probably be the logical choice to fill the void of scrutiny and obsession in Yankees' fans hearts.
With that said, let's play a little game. Here are the stats for both Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett over the past five seasons. Beckett, as you know, was the ace of a world championship team, a Cy Young contender, and a 20 game winner in that stretch, while Burnett was, well, Burnett. However, their actual statistics over that time don't really align with the massive perception gap between the two. Care to guess who's who?
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|
Years
|
ERA |
IP |
WAR |
FIP |
|
Pitcher A |
2006-2010 |
4.29 |
919.7 |
13.1 |
3.82 |
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|
|
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Years
|
ERA |
IP |
WAR |
FIP |
|
|
Pitcher B |
2006-2010 |
4.23 |
916.3 |
10.3 |
4.01 |