Yankees And Pirates Still Talking A.J. Burnett Trade

Read More: Garrett Jones (1B - PIT), A.J. Burnett (P - PIT), New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates

Recently, there were reports that the New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates had discussed a trade involving A.J. Burnett, but that the Pirates had zero interest in dealing Garrett Jones in exchange. So that's the end of it, right? Of course not. Do not underestimate the magnitude of the Yankees' desire to rid themselves of A.J. Burnett.

According to Jon Heyman, there might be a deal yet:

The Yankees and Pirates are continuing to talk about a possible A.J. Burnett trade that could lead to more activity in the form of a couple free-agent signings by the Yankees. As of Thursday night, the teams were thought to be a few million apart in the Burnett negotiations, but they were still talking and there is some hope for a deal.

More than Jones, what the Yankees are most interested in is ditching Burnett and clearing a little bit of salary. Not all of it - nobody's going to assume the $33 million remaining on Burnett's contract - but the Yankees could conceivably eat a lot of that and clear the remainder. By doing that, they could afford to sign one of the current free-agent lefty-DH candidates, which is a really unfamiliar sentence. That last sentence was about the Yankees.

If Heyman's report is to be believed, the Pirates haven't yet agreed to pay enough of Burnett's contract to make a deal happen. No deal is guaranteed. A deal is very possible. And given that there's statistical reason to believe that Burnett's recent ERAs are unsustainable, one might even say that a deal is very probable. (One might be wrong in saying that.)