Buster Olney reports that the A.J. Burnett trade between the Pirates and Yankees is likely to head to Bud Selig’s office:
Sources: Yankees and Pirates hope to take their proposed Burnett deal to the Commissioner later today, for approval.
Meanwhile, MLB.com’s Tom Singer suggests the deal is likely to go through soon:
Commissioner will rule quickly on proposed #Pirates-#Yankees deal of Burnett; this needs to be cleared before both teams’ P/C report on Sat.
More MLB trade talk: MLB Daily Dish.
If it’s true that the deal is heading to the commissioner’s office, that means the Yankees and Pirates have agreed on the terms. There’s also no reason to think the commissioner will reject it. If you’ve been paying attention throughout this excruciatingly long process, that’s no surprise — it’s been clear for a couple days that the Pirates were the only team really in on Burnett, and that the Yankees really wanted to deal him before the start of Spring Training.
The rumored amount of Burnett’s remaining contract the Pirates will pay is $13 million. They’ll also send two prospects, although it’s unclear, at this point, who they are.
For more on the Pirates, check out Bucs Dugout. For more on the Yankees, there’s Pinstripe Alley.