BRADENTON, Fla. — No more excuses for A.J. Burnett and no more Yankee thoughts.
Burnett the Pirate took some blame for his failures with the Yankees yesterday at Pirate City, but also said he may have let too many people in pinstripes mess with his mechanics.
“Without getting too far into it,’’ Burnett explained, “I would just say I let a few too many people tinker with me and when you let that happen, you get out there, you start doubting yourself sometimes, like, ‘Am I doing it right? Is this the way it is supposed to feel?’
“In ’09 nobody messed with me,’’ Burnett said of the Yankees’ World Series championship season. “I was able to do what I wanted to do on the mound, whether it was turn all the way around, close my eyes; pitch upside down, whatever it was. Then you have a few bad games and you start changing and listening.’’
The past two Yankees pitching coaches Dave Eiland and Larry Rothschild tried their best to get Burnett straightened out on the mound — with input from Joe Girardi but, in the end, for Burnett, it was too much tinkering.
Asked by The Post his view of the Yankees staff, Burnett responded: “Without sounding too arrogant, I don’t care, they’re good dudes over there and they got a good leader in CC [Sabathia], but I need to get over here and learn my staff and I’m looking forward to that.’’
Keeping Burnett on task is not an easy job as the Yankees learned. Burnett has moved on and so have the Yankees. All that energy that was directed toward Burnett by coaches and teammates can now be focused on younger pitchers like Michael Pineda, Dellin Betances and Manny Banuelos. This was a trade that had to be made.
“It was fun the first couple of years,’’ Burnett said of his time with the Yankees.
He expects to have a ton of fun with ex-Met Rod Barajas and the no-pressure Pirates. Barajas was Burnett’s catcher in Toronto in 2008 when Burnett went 18-10.
“He’s one of the best catchers I’ve ever thrown to, it’s going to be fun,’’ Burnett said.
Barajas said he has the same personality as Burnett and that makes it easier to communicate with him, and when Barajas “tinkers’’ with Burnett, the right-hander gladly takes his advice.
For example, when Burnett starts going side to side in his windup, instead of just pointing to Burnett to keep his front shoulder closed, the catcher would look him directly in the eye and make a motion with both hands to come straight “towards me’’ as if he were telling a truck driver to back straight up.
“You can keep your shoulder in and still go side-to-side. So I made it clear to come towards me. We had little hand signals,’’ Barajas said of when to throw the two-seamer or the four-seam fastball. “A.J. may be more of a visual guy when it comes to information.’’
That is the game inside the Burnett pitching game.
Can Burnett regain any of that success with a struggling team at the age of 35? Only time will tell, but there is no doubt Barajas thinks Burnett can be successful with Pittsburgh.
“A.J. was involved, he was great in the clubhouse, we had a lot of fun together on and off the field,’’ Barajas said. “It was a great relationship. It was tough seeing him leave. … I don’t see any reason why he can’t pitch here the way he did in Toronto.’’
The Pirates need help. Burnett needs help on the mound. Barajas will be there for him.
What made Burnett successful in 2008 with Barajas? “I wish I knew,’’ Burnett said. “I think it was him being able to block my curve ball. He’s a hard worker, he keeps you on track.’’
A.J. Burnett could use the help.