A.J. opens college fund for McCutchen’s daughter in exchange for #34

by 47 Comments

Girardi announces early Spring Training rotation
Open Thread: 2/27 Camp Notes

No, this has nothing to do with a Yankees, but it’s a cool story and does involve two familiar names. According to Bill Brink, A.J. Burnett will open a college savings plan for Dan McCutchen’s unborn daughter in exchange for his jersey number, #34. “When a veteran comes in and takes a number, some of the guys usually get something,” said McCutchen, who went from the Yankees to Pittsburgh in the Xavier Nady/Damaso Marte trade back in 2008. “I know he has kids. He asked me what I wanted, I brought that up.”

Usually you hear stories about watches or fancy dinners or whatever, but bravo to McCutchen and Burnett for thinking outside the box. Obligatory Snark: I’m glad to see some of the money the Yankees are paying Burnett is going to a good cause.

Girardi announces early Spring Training rotation
Open Thread: 2/27 Camp Notes
  • http://www.twitter.com/jordansmed JGS

    Man, what a jerk.

    Sincerely, ESPN New York

    • Steve (different one)

      This is awesome.

      Too bad the kid has to go to Ball State now. Am I right?

  • CANO FAN #1

    Nice

  • hogsmog

    Ok so when I first read this I was thinking the OTHER McCutchen, and was freaking out that he had been in the Yankees system at one time.

  • Murderers’ Row Boat

    It’s a shame he couldn’t pitch in New York, AJ was one of the good guys in the game.

  • A.D.

    How does that work with the whole switching numbers rules the MLB now has in place?

  • Rich in NJ

    I hope it sets a precedent.

    • hogsmog

      NEW MEME: Veteran Presidents.

      • Robinson Tilapia

        Like Grover Cleveland’s second term?

        • IVoted4Kodos

          Grover Cleveland spanked me on two non-consecutive occasions.

  • Manny’s BanWagon

    Before you start erecting statues of Burnett, he’s not paying for her college education, he put some money in a college fund for her which could pretty much be any amount. Considering he just stole $82.5 million from the Yankees, it’s not like he’ll ever have to make any sacrifices due to finances.

    • http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa

      Bitter much?

      • Manny’s BanWagon

        Put it this way, if I were King, his name would never again be mentioned in my kingdom and would come with the penalty of death.

        • Landry

          Did you ever eat paint chips as a kid?

          • Manny’s BanWagon

            No but I do recall a story about being dropped on my head from a fairly substantial height

    • BigDavey88

      You are not as good a pitcher as A.J. Burnett.

      • Manny’s BanWagon

        Yet. Give me a few years.

    • thenamestsam

      Right, because I’m sure if the Yankees came to you tomorrow and said, “Hey buddy, hows about you come be out #2 starter? We’ll give you $83M”, your first response would be: “Oh, I’m actually not that good at baseball. I wouldn’t want to steal your money”. Blaming the players for what they get paid is just about the dumbest line of reasoning going.

      He got offered a contract and he did everything in his power to fulfill the terms of the contract. If you think that’s stealing I’d invest in a dictionary.

    • Robinson Tilapia

      My gawd that is ass-backwards.

      • Manny’s BanWagon

        For the amount of money AJ made but didn’t earn, he could have at least:

        “modeled new crotchless Yankee attire for swingers’ parties.”

  • Fernando

    Good stuff.

  • Mike

    Mccutchen is a millionaire and there are likely many more millions in his future. This girl was always going to have the opportunity to go to college at no expense to her. It’s a nice gesture from both of them, but let’s not start dishing out the “saving orphans from a burning building” treatment.

    debbiedowner.jpeg

    • http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa

      McCutchen’s a 29-year-old, up-and-down reliever. He’s no millionaire.

    • http://www.twitter.com/tomzig Tom Zig

      You’re thinking of the other McCutchen. Andrew McCutchen =/= Dan McCutchen

      • Mike

        Ah. I’m a jerk. Much better story.

  • kimonizer

    Does that mean we should add McCutchen to a list of Yankees that the team paying to play somewhere else?

  • Total Dominication

    Mccutchen wasn’t traded, Tabata was.

    • Total Dominication

      I’m an idiot, but tbf, it is kind of confusing.

      • CP

        I agree. They all look alike to me.

  • Monterowasdinero

    It is a nice gesture but the amount of money is variable, who knows what terms were struck etc….. it would have been better/classier to keep it in house.

    • whozat

      McCutchen is the one who talked about it, probably when asked by a Pirates beat guy about giving his number to AJ.

      So…how is it non-classy for the beneficiary of someone’s largesse to say “hey, so this guy did a cool thing. Wasn’t that cool?”

      • Havok9120

        Well, obviously if MCCUTCHEN is the one talking, its classy. In that case, AJ is less classy for not making it clear that McCutchen didn’t hold the number at ransom.

  • https://twitter.com/#!/StumpWoodley Mick

    Apparently AJ could discover the cure for cancer and some hater would still be pissed about a game he pitched against Kansas City in 2010.

    • LetsPlayBall

      +1

    • Havok9120

      Its incredible. Its like he killed their dogs or something.

    • Tom

      No they wouldn’t.

      … but they ‘d be asking why he didn’t find the cure sooner and what took him so damn long!

  • Kiko Jones

    Cool little story.

  • Robinson Tilapia

    Classy as hell. Shockingly, my normally sob-story-loving wife just called it a good PR stunt. Somehow, she holds more of a grudge than I do.

  • Midland TX

    Speaks just as well of McCutchen and his commitment to his family. Two years at MLB league minimum is nothing to sneeze at, but it’s not exactly enough to secure a family’s financial future either, especially with an unborn child on the way. Good for Daniel for passing up superficial stuff and speaking up for what will be important to his child’s future.

  • Monterowasdinero

    It is a nice story but “opening up” a fund really tells nothing. I have “opened up” 3 of them and fully funded them. Maybe AJ will fully fund it up until college or maybe he put a few hundred bucks in instead of taking the McCutchens out to dinner.

    • Havok9120

      Dude….you’re on record as saying that keeping it “in house” would be classier/better, but now you aren’t capable of feeling any warm feelings about it because you don’t know the gritty details?

      Seriously?

      • Monterowasdinero

        You misinterpret my comment. I said it is a nice story and I have warm feelings about it but the devil is in the “gritty” details which i really don’t care about and….I side with Tilapia’s wife that it is a nice PR story.

        • Havok9120

          I’ve misinterpreted only if the end result ISN’T that you’re unwilling to give AJ any credit or benefit of the doubt to the point where you will pick apart anything he does or says in order to make it as negative as possible.

          And no, you aren’t being even handed. If this were a “nice PR story” regarding Jesus Montero we’d be hearing your case for his nomination for a Nobel Prize. I exaggerate for comedy of course….but not by much.

          • Monterowasdinero

            I like AJ. I especially like his value in teaching young catchers how to handle curveballs in the dirt.

  • jsbrendog

    ::salutes mr burnett::

    sir.

  • http://franklance godfather

    ajb was never accused of not trying…some of you dumbasses would count dimaggio’s outs during the streak; go root for the mets