Dave Eiland said he believes A.J. Burnett can be fixed, and it has less to do with harnessing filthy stuff than it does with the right-hander’s attitude.
“Because he is ready,” Eiland, the former Yankees pitching coach, said yesterday when asked if Burnett, who will turn 34 on Jan. 3, can rebound from a brutal 2010 season.
“Last year he told me, ‘I have tried it my way, now I am all yours.’ ”
Near the end of a 10-15 season that included a bloated 5.26 ERA, Eiland and Burnett made plans to work on his mechanics this offseason. Specifically, Eiland wanted to reduce the side-to-side movement in Burnett’s delivery that was causing his pitches to flatten out.
Plans were made but shelved because shortly after the Yankees were ousted from the postseason by the Rangers in the ALCS, Eiland wasn’t brought back.
Now, the chore of rebuilding Burnett’s delivery and confidence is on Eiland’s replacement, Larry Rothschild. According to general manager Brian Cashman, the new pitching coach and Burnett will huddle next month at the pitcher’s indoor facility in Maryland and attempt to correct the mechanical flaws.
With Cliff Lee spurning the Yankees to play in Philadelphia and Cashman believing Andy Pettitte is “leaning toward” retirement, getting Burnett fixed is a must.
“I hope he does,” Eiland said of Burnett turning it around. “I care about him.”
In the first season of a five-year, $82.5 million contract, Burnett went 13-9 with a 4.04 ERA in 2009.
And when he opened 2010 with a 6-2 ledger and a 3.28 ERA through May, there were no warning signs of what was ahead.
The horrific slump began June 4, the night Eiland left the team in Toronto for personal reasons. In five starts without Eiland in the dugout, Burnett went 0-5 with an 11.35 ERA.
By the time Eiland returned on June 28, Burnett’s mechanics were awful and his confidence low.
Burnett went 3-1 in five July starts but was 1-7 across the final two months of the year in a dozen starts.
That forced manager Joe Girardi to remove Burnett from the three-man ALDS rotation against the Twins.
Burnett returned to the rotation in the ALCS and started Game 4. The three-run home run he allowed to Bengie Molina in the sixth inning, with the Yankees leading by a run, resulted in a series-changing loss.
Eiland, recently hired by the Rays as a special assistant, strongly suggested he didn’t agree Burnett should have been allowed to face Molina.
With the Yankees leading 3-2, two outs and a runner on second, Girardi had Burnett intentionally walk the left-handed hitting David Murphy to get to Molina, who was 3-for-9 with two RBIs in Games 2, 3 and 4. He was also 2-for-2 with two RBIs with runners in scoring position.
“He was pitching good,” Eiland said of Burnett. “Unfortunately for some reason he was left in the game to face Molina, one of the best clutch hitters in the game.”
Molina swatted Burnett’s first pitch over the left-field wall.
Reached yesterday by The Post, Girardi refused to get into the subject.
“I don’t see any reason to discuss a situation we can’t change,” Girardi wrote in an e-mail.
Molina, a career .284 hitter (392-for-1, 379) with runners in scoring position, hit just .208 (20-for-96) during the regular season. That might have played in Girardi’s decision to stick with Burnett.
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Outside of acknowledging Johnny Damon’s interest in returning to the Yankees, Cashman had little to say about the chances the left fielder would return.
“We are engaging everybody on the market and if we get something done, we will talk about why we did it,” Cashman said.
With Damon looking to play for a team that can give him regular at-bats, it’s not likely the Yankees are a fit unless they trade Curtis Granderson or Nick Swisher.