AJ Burnett

Via Chad Jennings of the Journal News:

Girardi said this afternoon that [A.J. Burnett] has already reached out to [Larry Rothschild], and the two will get to work this offseason. The problem is easy to diagnose but not necessarily easy to fix.

All the New York Yankees news the past week or so has been about Derek Jeter and his new deal. How much will Jeter "settle" for and will the Yankees come up from their three-year, $45 million deal. Also, some Mariano Rivera news has popped up. Will the Yankees give him a two-year deal?

While 2009 ended with a World Series championship, 2010 ended in disappointment.

While the Texas Rangers celebrated in front of their home crowd and were heading to their first World Series championship in franchise history, the 2010 offseason was beginning for the New York Yankees.

The Yankees and their 200 million dollar payroll, began their offseason earlier than expected.  Now multiple uncertainties surround this team, with some of the greatest players in franchise history becoming free agents.

Immediately following the World Series, the New York Yankees announced the termination of pitching coach Dave Eliand, which came as no surprise.

There were many guessing games of who might be Eiland’s replacement. The front-runners looked to be current bullpen coach Mike Harkey; Rick Kranitz, who has worked with Yankees skipper Joe Girardi before; and Scott Aldred, who currently serves the role in Triple-A Scranton for the last two seasons.

It’s been a few days since the Bronx Bombers dropped Game 6 of the ALCS in Texas.

When the 2010 MLB Playoffs began, almost everyone who watches or cares for baseball penciled the New York Yankees in as a probable World Series participant. A great deal of folks also had the Yankees winning it all,...again. Ah,...the Texas Rangers say "Not so Fast," and are exposing the Yankees for what they are, OLD.

Surprisingly, a lot of Yankees fans last night had hope. There seemed to be some hope that despite his struggles all season long, A.J. Burnett was going to give his team a winning effort and help his team even up the series with the Texas Rangers.

That hope seemed to be a reality, until manager Joe Girardi messed with it.

"You forget about it whether it was 15-2 or 3-2. It's still a loss. It doesn't matter what the score was if we win tomorrow." - Derek Jeter

The Yankees, down two games to one in the ALCS to the AL West champion Texas Rangers, are in unfamiliar territory.

Cruising through the playoffs for the most part in 2009, Yankees face a must win situation after dropping two games in a row to fall behind in the series.

The good news?  

Tonight is a very big game for the Yankees. I don’t like to throw around the cliche that it is a must-win game until it actually becomes a must-win, but tonight is pretty close.