A.J. Burnett: Another Steinbrenner Mistake

The old saying is that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Apparently, some apples don't even leave the branch.

Hank Steinbrenner, newly crowned owner of the New York Yankees, is looking more like his father, George, every day.

The hallmark of the elder Steinbrenner's ownership regime in the Bronx seemed to be in line with Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis' famous line, "Just win baby!"

Steinbrenner would have only changed the exclamation to end with "Or else."

George Steinbrenner spent more money than many owners could fathom while owning the Yankees. In fact, the left side of his 2008 infield made more money than three entire 25-man rosters.

While throwing away money on an annual basis, there were always some winners and some losers. There always was a common thread to the signings, though: style over substance, power over precision.

(This is what made Mike Mussina's tenure in New York so special, but I digress.)

Players like Jason Giambi and Carl Pavano came to the Bombers with a ton of money in one suitcase and another full of hype. Many of these players were signed after a career season with the idea that a continuation of headlines from the previous season would lead to bigger and better production.

Now comes the son of the spendaholic, Hank Steinbrenner. He has shown a penchant for antagonizing the rest of baseball with his mouth, as well as his checkbook, in just one year as owner, and this winter he is certainly distinguishing himself as truly being his father's son.

On Friday, the Yankees signed former Toronto Blue Jay A.J. Burnett to a five-year, $82.5 million contract. This deal falls in line with all of the classic mistakes of Hank's father's career as an owner.

Pavano had a history of injury issues and threw two good seasons in his career before he joined the Yankees. Now that his enormous contract with the Yankees has expired, Pavano's career total of good seasons now stands at...two.

Enter his replacement, and former teammate in Florida, Burnett.

Burnett has a career path that is as predictable as taxes and the Olympics. Every time he pitches well for a year, he takes two off.

Burnett has thrown over 200 innings three times in his career (2002, '05, '08). During the seasons in between the big-inning seasons, he has failed to start more than 25 games and throw more than 165 innings in a season.

His combined records in the three 200-plus inning seasons is 42-31. His combined record in the other four seasons is 27-23.

Burnett threw for a career-high 221.1 innings in 2008 at the age of 31. If the last seven years are any indication, the Yankees can look forward to two mediocre seasons that require as much patience as they do Steinbrenner's cash.

So while the Yankees may be breaking the bank in signing CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett might be stealing from it by signing his deal on Friday.