Someone, presumably someone from the Yankees, tells Joel Sherman what's holding up the A.J. Burnett deal:

Heard #Yankees would do AJ deal if #Pirates took on north of $13M of $33M owed. But so far, Pit offered to eat $10M give up 2 blah prospects

If this is truly what's going on, then I think pretty much all of us would regard this as good news. Most importantly, it sounds like the Pirates aren't willing to give up good prospects in this deal, as most of us agree that they shouldn't be. I wouldn't mind seeing the Pirates take on a couple million more if that's what's required -- it's not my money, and as we've seen, it's not that easy for the Bucs to spend on good starting pitching in the free agent market. But it sounds like the Pirates are in a decent negotiating position here. If the Pirates are currently offering to take $10 million and the Yankees want them to take $13 million, then I bet something like $12 million will eventually get the job done. If the prospects are, in fact, "blah," then I'm okay with that.

It's no secret that NY wants to add a lefty with some some pop to be their DH. I love what NH has done to improve the roster mainly in the minors where some believe we have a top 10 minor league farm system.

The Yanks want G.I. Jones.................let them have him. Jones will not be a starter in the OF and more than likely McGee will play 1st base. Burnett has lost some speed on his FB and he is not hitting 95-96 anymore but he can still pitch. It's a big diffrence playing in the National league where he can have a rebirth.

Jones does not have a future with the Bucs and Burnette could come in and be the ace of our rotation. The team has done very little to improve the offense and we will once again to rely on our pitching........we will see. I hope he gets here.

Jon Heyman tweets that the trade for A.J. Burnett appears "likely":

#yankees, #pirates still talking aj. deal likely to get done w/ bucs paying $13-15M of $33M, & giving up 2 non-roster guys

$13-15 million is a lot to give up, and I would certainly hope that at that price, the Pirates won't be giving up anyone of consequence. I'm confident they won't. Some of the names I've seen floated around Twitter and on message boards -- Nick Kingham, Zack Von Rosenberg -- are just ridiculous, and even if you want to argue that Neal Huntington is an idiot, he's not that kind of idiot.) I'd rather the Pirates give up a little too much money than to have them give up actual prospects. And I'm glad they're finally on the cusp of doing something about the awful hole in their rotation. This isn't a move that's worth getting excited about, but as long as they're not giving up any good prospects, it's a responsible move that could help prevent disaster this season.