Heart-Burnett

A. J. Burnett may be a nice guy. The Fan has no idea. He may be a charming individual and a real credit to society. No clue. But the guy is simply killing the Yankees this year. After giving up earned runs on eleven base runners to the Chicago White Sox in three and a third innings on Friday night, Burnett's ERA is now sitting at 5.17. His WHIP is approaching 1.5. He has his highest HR/9 in his career. He has his lowest K/BB ratio since 2003. He has his worst K/9 since 2001. His ERA+ is now at 82. He's just been flat out awful.

 Burnett is now 2-5 in the second half. He had a good April and a pretty good July. Every other month has been horrible. The trouble with Burnett is that he has no middle ground. He has a .517 OPS against in his nine wins. He has a 1.079 OPS against in his twelve losses. In those twelve losses, he's given up 17 homers.and 90 hits in just 59 innings.  His WHIP in losses is 2.017. His BB/9 in losses is 5.34. Sure, he's been good in his wins with a gaudy 0.74 ERA. But good golly, there aren't enough of them. If Burnett could just be average in all of his starts, the Yankees would be better off. Because when Burnett is not good, the Yankees have no shot to win. Even Freddie Garcia would be an improvement. Is Millwood available? Sheesh.