So, mlbtraderumors has posted that the Yankees have signed A.J. Burnett to a "five-year, $82.5MM" contract.  This was to be expected, really.  The Yankees needed to continue to build, by throwing money, a new starting rotation, and after the C.C. Sabathia signing I guess they just decided "why not?".

I'm a little surprised, frankly.  It seemed like the Braves were hot on him and were prepared to do what they could to sign the guy.  I guess his drive to be close to his wife's family and near his offseason home was slightly more important to him.  Oh, so slightly.

Obviously, this may also disappoint some Orioles fans as they were hoping to rebuild their own rotation.  Hoped that Burnett would join Guthrie as a stabilizer at the top.  Oh well.  I had hoped for the signing of Koji Uehara and Kenshin Kawakami anyway.

P.S. - The breaking of the story has been linked to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick.