“The stuff on A.J. is well overblown,” Cashman said. “A.J. Has been solid for us this year. I just think the way it’s playing doesn’t necessarily reflect the way he’s pitched. Let’s put it that way. The public outcry recently is all emotion rather than actual.” – Brian Cashman before last night’s game against Tampa at Yankee Stadium

The Brian Cashman “unplugged” tour took another stop during yesterday’s pregame at Yankee Stadium. He talked about A.J. Burnett‘s season and Yankees career to date. Cashman was so candid that he used a word (bulls***) that I can’t print, or talk about on my family oriented show. Cashman challenged everyone to “peel the onion” on Burnett. Let’s do that, plus take a look at if his anger towards the public reaction is justified.

Two weeks ago Cashman defended Burnett when making an appearance with Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts. He said that “He’s (Burnett) inconsistent, so basically what we bought is what he’s been.” I responded in my Morning Digest with the following:

 It sounds like Cashman knew the risk he was taking when inking Burnett to the 5 year/$82 million dollar deal. He also sounded comfortable with the inconsistency of Burnett because of the possible upside that he brings. Give me Derek Lowe‘s consistency and postseason pedigree over the occasional Burnett gem any day. Lowe could give you just as manning innings as Burnett for 1 year and $22 million dollars less. I thought Cashman used the opportunity to discuss Burnett as a forum to justify his decision to hand him a big time free agent contract. This is a guy that has performed at the same level as illustrious Yankees such as Melido Perez, Rick Rhoden, and Scott Kamieniecki.

The player Cashman bought was the Toronto Blue Jays version. The one who over three seasons was 38-26, with a 3.94 ERA and 1.2 WHIP.

That is a player that isn’t an ace, but certainly worth $16.5 million dollars a season. It’s a player that deserves to pitch Game 2 of a postseason series. Cashman keeps going back to the money, but the performance of Burnett the last two years is less about money and more about the aggravation of his Yankees results. Forget about the wins, this version of Burnett spends more time pitching to mid-four to low-five ERAs.

You can talk all you want about his lack of run support, but Burnett just hasn’t been great the last two years. He’s better this year than 2010, but if you use ERA+ to evaluate the American League pitchers in 2011, Burnett is in the same bucket as Nick Blackburn, Jason Vargas, and Jeff Francis. Forget money, would the Yankees even bother acquiring any of those individuals, and consider them “solid” or an “upgrade.” Would you want those guys pitching an important playoff game? The answer should be obvious.

Peel the onion further. Has Burnett been unlucky? His xFIP is 3.94, which if the season ended today would be the best of his Yankees career. He’s given up 2 or less earned runs 10 times this season. In those starts he’s won only 4 times. On the flip side, he’s given up 4 or more earned runs 9 times. That, in my opinion, is what you call an inconsistent pitcher. Burnett will not produce a season similar to his 2009 unless he goes on one of his “electric” runs the last six weeks; 2009, in my opinion, is the “inconsistent A.J.” the Yankees signed up for.

In short, Burnett has not been as bad as the public portrayal, but he is far from “solid” as Cashman claims. Does he deserve a spot in the rotation? In comparison to Phil Hughes the answer is yes. In comparison to Ivan Nova, probably not. Who do you trust in an important game: Burnett or Nova? I take the kid who battles over the emotional Burnett any day. Burnett is nothing more than an overpaid fifth starter.

I believe the GM is so vociferous in defending Burnett because he wants to justify the signing. Running a team in New York requires one to take a lot of verbal bullets. Some are justified, many are not. There is a breaking point when you have to plant a proverbial line in the sand and take a stand for what you believe in. This is where the old way of lazy talk radio comes into play.

Cashman mentioned how a host said “we don’t even see the old A.J. Burnett who strikes out 10-12 guys anymore” on a recent talk radio show. Ironically, that show was just a couple of days after Burnett struck out 10 Orioles in 8 innings. This goes back into the lazy talking points radio that I rail against daily. It’s easy to come to work, show fake outrage, and play Debbie the Time Life Operator with the callers. The more calls you receive, the easier your day becomes. Anger and outrage is the easiest way to light up the phone lines. After all, there are very few local talk radio hosts that have the ability to add intellectual fact based content to their show. Two of them just left for San Francisco and Cleveland respectively.

Want change Brian? Challenge individuals like V/P Sports Programming CBS Radio, V/P Programming CBS Radio New York, and WFAN Operations Manager Mark Chernoff to cease making his station about this

And make it about content and intellectual debate. Yes, that still will drive anger and calls, but it will take finding people that have the ability to read, prepare, and put in the work. I count on one hand the amount of individuals that have the ability or desire in this town to accept that challenge. You can figure them out without names being mentioned.

Alas, that is not going to happen until the listeners continue to demonstrate they have passed the host in terms of knowledge. We see it in small samples, but not enough to force complacent radio management to act. The even more tragic part is that newspapers are doing the same shtick to attract readers. What’s their excuse? Do we not have faith in the New York sports fan comprehending a topic and debating it passionately with facts?

Cashman got it half right during his rant yesterday. The outcry over Burnett has been more over emotion. This is probably because the Yankees are firmly ensconced in a playoff spot and fans are not happy unless they complain. Especially spoiled Yankees fans.  I do, however, think he is overrating Burnett statistics. Even without the salary numbers he is nothing more than another middling backend of the rotation starter. There is nothing to get excited about there.