Getty Images Sean Burnett has gotten so much interest from other teams that he’s probably priced out of the Nationals’ budget to re-sign.
Burnett has been linked to no fewer than a half-dozen other teams as a free agent and general manager Mike Rizzo admitted to Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com that “right now, I don’t see a fit financially or term-wise” to re-sign him.
Burnett has a 2.81 ERA since joining the Nationals in mid-2009, so the whole “team-wise” fit wouldn’t be all that difficult, but he’s in line for a three- or perhaps even four-year deal and apparently Rizzo doesn’t want to make that type of commitment to a 30-year-old reliever.
Yesterday the Nationals re-signed left-hander Zach Duke and Zuckerman reports that they’re interested in re-signing left-hander Michael Gonzalez, which would allow them to more cheaply fill the southpaw bullpen roles following Burnett’s departure.
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- dodger88 - Dec 4, 2012 at 12:35 PM
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I’ll take him over Choate to fill out the Dodger’s bullpen. Hopefully not for 3 years but meh.
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- dcfan4life - Dec 4, 2012 at 1:59 PM
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4 year deal for a reliever is hard to come by any standards. He signs for 3 years, possibly even 2 but most definately more than hed get in Washington almost assuring his departure.
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- natstowngreg - Dec 4, 2012 at 4:48 PM
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It’s unfortunate, but IMHO, Rizzo is wise not to give Sean a 3-year deal like Jeremy Affeldt got. Even though Burnett would (probably) get fewer dollars than Affeldt).
