A. J. Burnett earned $41,250,000.00 last night

When A. J. Burnett signed a 5 year $82.5 million contract, I scratched my head. I thought "Are the Yankees ever going to get full value from that?"

And for the most part, Burnett has been a rotten signing.
But whenever someone trashes Burnett, a defender is quick to point out that he won the critical Game 2 of the 2009 World Series.

Had he been bombed that night, the Yankees would have been down 0-2 going back to Philadelphia. It would have changed the entire complexion of the World Series.

He earned his money that day.

And last night, with the season on the line, Burnett didn't pitch like an ace but he pitched well enough to send the series back to New York for a do or die game.

Two critical post season games in the past three seasons that Burnett has won.

So those two games might have justified the contract.
And last night he earned half of his contract.

I wonder if before last night's game I asked Yankee fans "would you have the Yankees pay $41,250,000 for a win tonight?" if they would say yes.

Turns out that's JUST what the Yankees did.