AJ Says No To Deal To Angels

From Bill Madden and Anthony McCarron:

The Yankees were hoping they could bring back Bobby Abreu to be their designated hitter by swapping A.J. Burnett to the Angels, but the righthander would not waive his no-trade rights, according to two baseball executives with knowledge of the talks.

So rather than having their winter business concluded and a DH in place, the Yankees Wednesday were still working on sending Burnett to the Pirates for two marginal prospects, one of the executives said. The executive said the trade could be consummated by the weekend — Burnett is slated to report to Yankees spring camp Sunday.

“It’s not a deadline, but it doesn’t make sense for him to go to Yankee camp if he’s going to get traded,” the executive said. Some deal for Burnett appears likely — the Yankees are talking to two other teams about him, too. The Yankees have suspended their pursuit of free agent DHs such as Raul Ibañez until the Burnett matter is settled.

Burnett is allowed to pick 10 teams he can refuse to be traded to and the Angels are one of them, as are the Mariners and the other West Coast teams. Burnett and his family live in Maryland.

Abreu still draws his walks, but at this point in his career that's about all he does. With that said, I really hate that AJ has a no trade clause, because that's certainly not something he's earned.