The Pirates and Yankees continue to work on an A.J. Burnett trade, a number of reports indicate, but as of noon on Sunday, they don’t yet appear to be close on a deal.
Buster Olney tweets that the two teams have a “framework” in place to make a deal. However, Jon Heyman indicates that the Pirates have offered two minor leaguers for Burnett, but the Yankees are nonplussed. Heyman also writes that the Pirates are more worried about protecting their minor-league system than about the amount of Burnett’s salary they’ll have to take on.
Assuming Heyman’s reporting is accurate, my guess is that the Pirates didn’t offer prospects of any significant value. One report Sunday morning linked Pirates prospect Nick Kingham to the deal, which is ridiculous; Kingham is one of the Bucs’ top 15 prospects, and there’s no way they’ll trade anyone that good for Burnett unless other players are involved. The Yankees want to clear salary, and the Pirates have money to spend, so they’ll likely offer to take on $12 million or so of the remaining $33 million on Burnett’s contract.
For more on the Pirates, check out Bucs Dugout. For more on the Yanks, there’s Pinstripe Alley.