Quick Bits: Burnett, Blalock, Montero
December 3, 2008, 5:03 amQuickly…
1. The Braves are reportedly preparing a 5-year offer for A.J. Burnett, even after landing Javier Vazquez (not official until physicals). Honestly, if the Braves land Burnett I think I’d be happy with that. He’s an enigma and by signing him, Atlanta will keep him away from Brian Cashman’s bag of money, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and the Red Sox.
2. Next up, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas News, most of the teams that are in on Mark Teixeira have contacted the Texas Rangers about Hank Blalock (including the Yankees). Grant sees Blalock as a backup plan for teams who fail to sign Tex and still need a 1B (although Blalock isn’t really a 1B). I doubt that there’s much to this rumor (for us, anyway), but it’s something to keep an eye on in the future (if Blalock is healthy, he can hit).
3. Finally, Jesus Montero is the future. That is all.
The best part of the Braves’ pursuit of Burnett is that if they sign him, we won’t have to face him.
The best bet for the Yankees is to give Montero every chance possible to stay at catcher. His bat is truly special for a catcher. At 1B or DH he is not as valuable.
Piazza and Mauer were/are both very big guys and they handled catching just fine.