A.J. Burnett Answers Tough Questions on 93.7 The Fan

A.J. Burnett has been the hot topic in Pittsburgh since Game 5 of the NLDS in St. Louis ended with a Buccos loss.  It took the power of Twitter for the Pittsburgh media to speak with the Bucs ace and it was Colin Dunlap who got Burnett to answer the questions all of us have had.

Burnett was angered by how the organization informed him, or not informed him of the decision to pitch the fifth game against the Cardinals.  The Bucs made the decision to throw Gerrit Cole and not Burnett who had great difficulties pitching in Busch Stadium.

"“I think if they would have told me earlier, or prior, I would have swallowed it a little better. I got up and walked right out of the office, I didn’t say anything to him,” Burnett said.  “That’s part of baseball, that’s part of me being a professional.”"

Burnett did say that the decision is in the past and he spoke highly of the job that skipper Clint Hurdle has done.

The big question was will Burnett pitch next year.  The right hander isn’t sure.  Burnett spoke about his family and his wife.  He did say that, ‘as of right now’ it’s Pittsburgh or riding off into the sunset.  Probably on a quad with the family.

The interesting part for me was why the Bucs would screw up how they told Burnett.  Everyone had to understand that A.J. would be pissed.  Why wait?

The best part of Dunlap’s interview was when Burnett said he doesn’t see himself chasing dollar signs and that Hurdle lets him be himself.

In speaking about the Cardinals.  A.J. said…

"I wanted revenge."

Thank God for Clint allowing A.J. to be A.J.  Can you imagine the Pirates without Burnett the past couple years?  God, it’s painful to imagine.

Kudos to Dunlap for making the interview happen when nobody else could.  Be sure to give it a listen…

The link is here