Waiting for AJ

AJ Burnett had one of the best seasons of his career in 2013.  He became a free agent at the end of the season and the Pirates chose to not give him a qualifying best offer of $14.1 million to resign with the club for the 2014 season.  I can't argue the logic though.  AJ said numerous times that he would either be retiring after the season or resign with the Bucs.  The worse case scenario would be AJ took the qualifying offer then decided to retire midseason if he started out poorly.  This would leave the Pirates payroll in jeapordy and would have wasted an offseason where they sought out other pitchers.

No matter what happens to AJ Burnett during this offseason, I am happy he was a part of the Pittsburgh Pirates the past two seasons.  I got to see his Pirates debut last April and there was a buzz around the stadium that something magical would soon be happening in the Burgh that rainy day when he shutout the Cardinals.  He became a teacher to the Pirates young arms and was trully a leader in the clubhouse.  I hope that maybe one day AJ returns to the diamond as a pitching coach and helps lead future arms to become better ballplayers.

The above green paralle "Band of Brothers" 2013 Prizm card was grabbed for $2 shipped on ebay.  I'm happy to put it away in my Cutch collection, but think that I should get a 2nd copy for my AJ Burnett page too.