3
DUNEDIN, Fla. — A contract extension? A.J. Burnett doesn't need no stinking contract extension from the Toronto Blue Jays. Isn't expecting one. Hasn't talked about one.
"Aw, why would they give me one, man?" Burnett said yesterday, shaking his head. "Unless I show them a healthy season, why would they?
"I mean, would you? I don't think I'm being hard on myself when I say I don't expect them to do that for me. I mean, I've been hurt the last two years.
"It's pretty simple: if I have a good year, everything's good. As of right now, I think the times that I've been on the field, I've shown them some of the reasons they got me in the first place. Thing is, it doesn't count if you're not out on the field."
One of J.P. Ricciardi's strengths as the general manager has been that he's generally left the club in tidy contractual shape going into each season, but this year there are some potential bumps.
Gregg Zaun's guest appearance in the Mitchell report isn't even an appetizer for a team that has a manager who needs a strong start to keep his job and a GM who can't afford another disappointing year.
Alex Rios is not yet inked to a long-term deal and Burnett enters the third year of his five-year contract with an option to opt out of the final two years after the end of the season. It would mean leaving $24-million (U.S.) on the table — but considering the going rate for pitching, Burnett could surpass that annually if … well, you know. If.
"Yeah, I don't want to lie — of course I do think about it," Burnett said with a smile. "But I really like it here. I like the people, and for three years I've thought we've been capable of winning the division. If I felt that was going to change, then maybe, you know, I'd be looking at other options.
"The truth is that mostly what I think about is how nice it would be to prove to the world who I really am — to be able to stay on the mound for 30, 35 starts. Look at the numbers: when I'm on the field, I win. But when you miss 20 starts, all of a sudden you end up with just 12 wins."
Picking through Burnett's psyche has become a cottage industry. He can be aloof, disarming, childish or cantankerous. He is capable of virtuosity when healthy, but also he has frustrated the organization with a variety of injuries that have at times defied diagnosis.
"He's definitely a different personality," manager John Gibbons said. "He's a high-strung kid.
"If anything, a big year could do wonders for him personally, leverage-wise."
Ricciardi has already drawn a line in the sand: the club will not negotiate an extension with Burnett during the year as a means of overriding the option. Burnett's agent, Darek Braunecker, said this winter he thinks the sides will need to at least have discussions before the end of the year. Asked whether he was worried about the matter becoming a distraction, Ricciardi said: "Look, we liked this guy enough to give him a five-year contract. It won't be a detriment to the team. Put it this way: I won't let anything be a detriment to the team this year.
"At the end of the year, we'll see how everything plays out," Ricciardi added. "Most of our contracts run through 2010, so I'd probably need direction from ownership to do anything like that. When we put that option in, we did it because if we didn't, he wouldn't have signed with us. We figured three years of him was better than none. And when he's pitched, he's been everything we thought he'd be."
Burnett was 10-8 (3.75 earned-run average) in 25 starts last year and he's 20-16 (3.85) in just 46 starts over the first two years of his deal. But he was 5-2 (3.01) in 10 starts after returning from the disabled list on Aug. 12.
"I learned then I didn't have to go balls out all the time — that it was okay to pitch 94, 95 [miles an hour] instead of trying to hit 100 all the time," he said. "I felt like I was more of a pitcher. So, I'm going to carry that into this year. I'm 30, but that's still kind of young in pitching years."
