A disappointing second half, one which he claims is the last of his career continued for Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher A.J. Burnett as he was placed on the 15-day disabled list with elbow inflammation.
Burnett will be replaced in the rotation by J.A. Happ who was acquired earlier Friday afternoon in a trade with the Seattle Mariners. Bobby LaFromboise will take Burnett’s 25-man roster spot.
Earlier in the day when meeting with assembled media manager Clint Hurdle stated that he had a meeting with Burnett, something which is commonplace with the team but would not discuss what had transpired.
In a teleconference Friday, general manager Neal Huntington revealed that Burnett alerted the Pirates of the pain following his Thursday night start. This he stated directly influenced the need to acquire J.A. Happ in a trade.
Huntington further stated that it is too early to judge injury severity and that the team would see how it plays out in the coming days.
Following Thursday’s loss Hurdle was asked if he would give Burnett a start off, something which he had entertained since Burnett has pitched over 110 innings this season [135.1 to date]. Hurdle always meets with his starting pitcher the day following a game in which they pitch and replied that he would not comment until he met with Burnett.
LaFromboise was up for the Philadelphia Phillies series May 11-14 to take Antonio Bastardo’s place as the latter was on the bereavement list. LaFromboise appeared in the May 14 game throwing a scoreless inning and striking out a batter. He also appeared in 2014 and posted a 2.45 ERA in six appearance and 3.2 innings. He has a career record of 0-1 with a 4.70 ERA.
Burnett was asked after each of his past two starts if he was healthy and responded that he was. His velocity has also come into question specifically early in the game when his fastball bottomed out anywhere from 85-87 miles per hour.
“I’m 38,” Burnett said of the velocity drop. “It’s what I had. It’s sad.”
In 16 innings of second half work, Burnett has allowed 18 earned runs on 32 hits to go with a 10.13 ERA.
Photo credit: Rob Carr/Getty Images
