Yankees Sign Burnett

The Yankees have reached a preliminary agreement with free agent right hander A.J. Burnett, Ken Rosenthal is reporting. The Yankees and A.J. Burnett have agreed to a five year deal worth 82.5 million dollars, joining C.C.'s 161 million dollar contract in the rotation. You would think this puts a lot of pressure on the Red Sox to make a big signing, but GM Theo Epstein is not worried. "You have to put your best team on the field," Epstein said. "You can't worry about what other teams are doing. We hope they sign bad players for a lot of money, as opposed to good players for short money. But the reality is, they're going to do a great job."

Signing Burnett gives the Yankees one of the, if not the best rotation in all of baseball. Headed by Sabathia, followed by Wang, Burnett, Hughes, and Aceves, Chamberlain, or another free agent. It is important to point out that giving 30 starts to Burnett takes away starts from Ian Kennedy, Sidney Ponson, and others that filled in along the way in 2007. This signing makes the AL East incredibly competitive and the early favorite to have a team in the World Series.

Quote of the week: "The AL East is incredibly competitive. The team that [wins the division] is really prepared - and tired- for the postseason." - Red Sox GM Theo Epstein