AJ Burnett was on 93.7 The Fan early this morning in what I believe was his first interview after being traded to the Pirates. I could be wrong on that, don't spread that quote anywhere.
A couple interesting things about the interview this morning...
-Burnett acknowledged the fact that he no longer has the high 90s velocity that he once did, however, he claims that he believes he has a bit more gas than he showed with the Yankees last year. Was there perhaps an injury that we didn't know about? Was he just completely off his game last year? Who knows. Take that for what you will.
-Burnett did seem genuinely interested in the city of Pittsburgh. Yeah....it's a cliche around here to believe that when these big athletes arrive, but he dove right into the media coverage today. He didn't have to call in to The Fan this morning at 7 AM but he did.
-He was also adamant with another point. He wanted to prove people wrong. He wants to prove the Yankees wrong, all of those people who said things like "trade him for a bag of balls." Burnett did mention that that wasn't the only motivation he had this upcoming season. He felt the Pirates had a great showing last year, and he would love to be the missing puzzle piece that puts them over the top and into the postseason.
-Burnett is probably going to continue his "pie in the face" tradition. Don't be surprised if he is the one delivering the shaving cream after a walk-off win.
Now I know I'm looking into a brief interview pretty deeply here. Burnett is a tough intelligent guy, and I think he is going to fit in real nicely into this clubhouse. First and foremost though, he needs to perform on the field. I think he'll do that just fine.
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