Report: Yankees won't include A.J. Burnett in ALDS rotation

Back in late 2008, the New York Yankees eagerly handed A.J. Burnett(notes) a five-year contract worth $82.5 million.

Less than two years later, the Yanks can't even hand Burnett the ball for a measly ALDS start against the Minnesota Twins, the New York Post reports. 

Hope GM Brian Cashman saved his receipt — or at least bought an extended warranty.

If the report holds up — manager Joe Girardi will announce the rotation later Tuesday —  Burnett certainly earned the lack of trust from the higher-ups.

He was terrible over the last part of the season, going 2-10 with a 6.61 ERA in his 12 starts in August and September. The Yankees were rolling the dice every time they sent him out there.

But even though they'd be gambling by starting him in Game 2, I still think it's a risk the Yankees should take. Burnett was 1-0 with a 1.54 ERA in two starts against the Twins this year and he pitched six innings of one-run ball against them in the 2009 ALDS. It's the type of situation that would allow Burnett to build confidence for the later rounds — where the Yankees will definitely need him if they advance that far.

Instead, it looks like the Yankees will ask CC Sabathia(notes) — the pitching pickup who is earning his keep — to take the ball for Wednesday's Game 1 and Sunday's Game 4 (which would come on short rest).

Andy Pettitte(notes), meanwhile, would take his turn on Thursday's Game 2 and Tuesday's if-necessary Game 5 (on regular rest). That's fine if Pettitte is his usual playoff self, but not as much if he's the rusty 38-year-old guy who only recently returned from injury.

That leaves Saturday's Game 3 at Yankee Stadium for Phil Hughes(notes).

Going through the playoffs with a three-man rotation is nothing new for the Yankees. They won the 2009 World Series with one.

But Burnett was one of those three pitchers last season. Now that he can't even be counted upon to start one game in the ALDS, where does that leave the Yankees? 

Follow Big League Stew all through the postseason on Twitter and on Facebook. 

Related: CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, 2010 Postseason, 2010 ALDS - Twins v Yankees

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Jayson Werth grew his beard to defy the Yankees — well, kind of

From the first day of spring training to the postseason, Jayson Werth's(notes) ever-changing facial hair has been a force on the Internet.

But while Werth's whiskers have received public acclaim, been imitated in gold and inspired a popular Twitter account, the Philadelphia Phillies right fielder has mostly kept the reasons for his trademark lumberjack look private. 

Even our own Dave Brown couldn't get an explanation during an otherwise great and open Answer Man session. 

Luckily, we will wonder no more. In an excellent profile of our favorite Grizzly Adams ballplayer, Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer gets as good an explanation as we could expect. 

Werth will allow that he partly sees long hair and beard — whether in its current goatee style or previous mountain man thicket — as a subconscious protest against the New York Yankees, the team that beat the Phillies in the World Series last season 

From the Philly Inquirer:

Werth said he kept the look mainly because it was comfortable. ("Shaving. I don't like to shave. Never have.")

But there was that other reason.

"After we got beat in the World Series, having won the year before and being that close, you could almost taste it," Werth said. "We got beat by the Yankees. My stepdad (Dennis Werth) played for the Yankees. I grew up with pinstripes in the house. But I was never really a Yankee fan. The Yankees have that clean-shaven rule."

Werth grew the beard to spite the Yankees?

"I don't want to say that's the main reason why," he said. "I usually grow a beard in the offseason. But there was a side of all that, on some level, it had something to do with it."

I'm guessing that the Yankees are a little more concerned with taping and gluing a postseason pitching rotation together than what's going on with Werth's face. After all, they have to get to the World Series for a possible rematch of 2009.  

But it does make for a little funny act of defiance and evidence of a good rivalry, as well as a good point to bring up in the future. Not only during the World Series, but if the Yankees offer a big contract to Werth, a high-profile free agent-to-be this offseason. 

In that case, would his preference to not shaving come first?

Related: Jayson Werth, Philadelphia Phillies, Fashion Ump

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