Here's the thing about A.J. Burnett. I love him. He's a great pitcher. He's pitched for two teams I love, and he's pitched a World Series game for one of them, which he totally slated. But the dude has no consistency whatsoever.
Somebody like Felix Hernandez or Clayton Kershaw can go ten or however many seasons, complete control, strikeouts all over the board, no slumpage. AJ Burnett cannot give you that. With the Marlins he'd have one hot season for every two cold ones. With the Yankees, he had a phenomenal 2009 season, but then he had three seasons that made us regret even signing him. And yes, he's been hot as hell every season he's been a Pirate, but can anybody remember last season with the Phillies. Does anybody *WANT* to?
AJ Burnett is retiring (so he says) after this season, and while he was a great pitcher, and had some great seasons, the crappy ones he had are going to weigh his career down. He may be up for HOF consideration, but there's no way he's getting in. Right now however, the 'AJ Burnett is awesome' train is riding high, so I'm not gonna crash it too much. Because this season he's been pretty great, and he's always been pretty nice as a Pirate. Plus, as you can see on this custom, the dude has a Batman tattoo. A BATMAN TATTOO. Now THAT is awesome.
So yeah, I'm happy for Burnett, and hope he has some nice numbers in the ASG, but I don't really think Cooperstown is especially calling for him.
Coming Tonight (?): On the subject of really good All Star pitchers, the guy who's been one of the few reasons to go to White Sox games this season.
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