Burnett blames Yanks for pitching woes

[jd25213]

That's A.J's farewell tweet to the Yankees and their fans since, you know...there are those who love to neglect the positive things people say.

I'm gonna miss the guy which is a testament to how much I appreciated the 2009 season; it was my first title as a fan after all. Best of luck to him in Pittsburgh!

A.J. has a Twitter, not that I know of.

[gotcabrera10]

A.J. has a Twitter, not that I know of.

I'm relaying this from someone who posted it on the Yes-network forums; if he doesn't well then whose the goose! Haha, regardless I'll always be grateful for the 2009 season.

[jd25213]

Game 2 in 2009. A.J. had ***** here whether anyone will admit it or not.

[BronxBomber33]

Game 2 in 2009. A.J. had ***** here whether anyone will admit it or not.

That's because I was there lol

[theslick1]

The ultimate responsbility for AJ's mechanics lies with AJ. He's a highly paid veteran. If he doesn't think a pitching coach's recommendations are constructive, he can disregard them.

[cañamin]

AJ doesn't know what he is talking about. When Eiland works his magic on you, your velocity goes down and stays down, that is it's purpose. Ask Phil and Joba.

lol..Yea, too much velocity is bad for you..Wait till we get a hold of Pineda

[dayners81]

The ultimate responsbility for AJ's mechanics lies with AJ. He's a highly paid veteran. If he doesn't think a pitching coach's recommendations are constructive, he can disregard them.

i think its closer to 50/50 It was AJ's job to show up, compete, stay in shape and do everything he can to improve. It the Yanks job to protect their investment and to do everything they can to help him win. If the Yanks screwed with his mechanics so much it made him doubt his talent and ability thats on them.

Honestly though outside of a couple of yrs we got the AJ that he's been his entire career. He's a .500 pitchers with incredible stuff that could be dominate at times and a head scratch er the rest. That was his MO with the Marlin and Jays outside of his 08 season

[sauronthepower]

AJ doesn't know what he is talking about. When Eiland works his magic on you, your velocity goes down and stays down, that is it's purpose. Ask Phil and Joba.

[theslick1]

i think its closer to 50/50 It was AJ's job to show up, compete, stay in shape and do everything he can to improve. It the Yanks job to protect their investment and to do everything they can to help him win. If the Yanks screwed with his mechanics so much it made him doubt his talent and ability thats on them.

Honestly though outside of a couple of yrs we got the AJ that he's been his entire career. He's a .500 pitchers with incredible stuff that could be dominate at times and a head scratch er the rest. That was his MO with the Marlin and Jays outside of his 08 season

If AJ felt like the mechanical adjustments suggested by the coaches were screwing him up, why didn't he just go back to pitching the way he did in 2009? That's apparently what he plans to do now.

[dayners81]

A.J. has a Twitter, not that I know of.

If that really is a tweet by him it just reaffirms to me that he is a class act

If AJ felt like the mechanical adjustments suggested by the coaches were screwing him up, why didn't he just go back to pitching the way he did in 2009? That's apparently what he plans to do now.

If your struggling terribly like AJ was and your pitching coaches who are supposed to be looking out for your best interests tells u to do this, this and this and u ll be fix, players tend to do it. If someone is struggling and refuses to change anything because he feels like its not in his best interest is how u get the label of uncoachable, lazy a bad clubhouse guys and bad team mate. Those are things u never heard about AJ

Also one of the biggest reasons Rothchild got the job was because he has the best idea's according to Cashman and Joe G on how to fix AJ. I don't think if they brought in a guy to specifically help u that he's going to be able to ignore him

[Yankee Clipper]

That seems like it was taken out of context. Let's just move on from all of this. I wish AJ the best in Pittsburgh.

[MadThane]

i believe him cause its not the first time, i already talked about this in the joba thread and believe the yankees just mess with the pitchers head too much

I agree, I have said since i don't know how long, the Yanks have messed with guys like Joba, Hughes, etc..going from Hughes(94+) and Joba(96+) on their fastballs down to Hughes(92+) and Joba(94+) and they are now not the same pitchers. I agree with AJ 100% on this one.

[ShadyOne]

I agree, I have said since i don't know how long, the Yanks have messed with guys like Joba, Hughes, etc..going from Hughes(94+) and Joba(96+) on their fastballs down to Hughes(92+) and Joba(94+) and they are now not the same pitchers. I agree with AJ 100% on this one.

First off, I doubt the Yankees made Joba stop throwing hard. Once becoming a starter, he wasn't really maintaining the velocity he had when coming out of the pen. He couldn't put hitters away with the fastball anymore. If that wasn't working, why didn't he crank it back up?

And Hughes was never really sitting at 94+. Even when he first came up, he was sitting 92, touching higher on occasion. Which IMO really isn't a problem. If he is consistently 92-93, he will be successful. But we can't see that 89-90 anymore.

And if I remember correctly, didn't AJ talk about how that last year in Toronto, he realized that he didn't have to blow hitters away to be successful, how he could pitch more to contact and achieve better results? Then, he was in the 93-94 range consistently. And that was about where he sat throughout his time here. Still had the same control issues he always had. Still had the same inconsistency he always had. And actually, he really wasn't even that good in his "career year" in 08. Similar season in 09. Then, all of a sudden, he fell apart, and he didn't have any answer for it. And was never able to recover. Who's fault is it? Tough to blame whatever the coaching staff "made him do", when it didn't seem to bother him for a season and a half.

[MadThane]

First off, I doubt the Yankees made Joba stop throwing hard. Once becoming a starter, he wasn't really maintaining the velocity he had when coming out of the pen. He couldn't put hitters away with the fastball anymore. If that wasn't working, why didn't he crank it back up?

And Hughes was never really sitting at 94+. Even when he first came up, he was sitting 92, touching higher on occasion. Which IMO really isn't a problem. If he is consistently 92-93, he will be successful. But we can't see that 89-90 anymore.

And if I remember correctly, didn't AJ talk about how that last year in Toronto, he realized that he didn't have to blow hitters away to be successful, how he could pitch more to contact and achieve better results? Then, he was in the 93-94 range consistently. And that was about where he sat throughout his time here. Still had the same control issues he always had. Still had the same inconsistency he always had. And actually, he really wasn't even that good in his "career year" in 08. Similar season in 09. Then, all of a sudden, he fell apart, and he didn't have any answer for it. And was never able to recover. Who's fault is it? Tough to blame whatever the coaching staff "made him do", when it didn't seem to bother him for a season and a half.

First off get your info straight...If you go to any site that had a scouting report on Hughes before and after he was drafted by the Yanks it stated he was mid 90s pitcher there was no mention that he was a 90-91 type pitcher until he came up and they messed with him. Go look at the back of his friggin Topps rookie card and it states he throws low to mid 90s.

AJ mentioned he did not need to throw as hard when he came to the Yankees cause he was on a new team drinking that Yankee kool-aide...of course he is going to agree with what they tell him.

Joba...was clocked at 97-100 his first season in the pen...after going back to the pen from the rotation,when was he throwing that hard again? he was throwing 93-95. Plus his slider was not as sharpe.

[YanksFan4Life]

Why do so many fans want to make AJ out to be Pavano 2.0?