Should The Yankees Blame Dave Eiland's Leaving For AJ Burnett's Pitching Woes?

[Dr. Stinger A. Zoidberg]

Dave Eiland, the Yankees pitching coach, has been out since early June with "Personal Issues." In this time, we have seen the Yankees #2 starter in AJ Burnett become one of the worst pitchers in baseball.

Before Dave Eiland's Leave (June 5th):

3.23 ERA, 69 hits, 32 runs, 53 SO's

Keep in mind that Burnett's stats here are from a combined 2 months of Baseball, in which he pitched 11 games. So these stats are alright for him.

Since Dave Eiland's Leave:

10.35 ERA, 29 Hits, 23 runs, 14 SO's

Now these stats are startling. Since Eiland left, Burnett has only pitched in 4 games. In these 4 games he got rocked. Most recently, he gave up 7 runs in the first inning against one of the worst teams in baseball, The Arizona Diamondbacks. In 4 games, he has given up more than half the runs he gave up in the first two months of the season, and has nowhere near the same amount of Strikeouts. In Burnett's two months before Eiland left, he had 20, and 33 strikeouts. So this is somewhat startling.

So, what's your opinion on this. Do the Yankees blame this on Dave Eiland's absence, or should Joe Girardi just write it off as "Something that is incredibly easy to fix."

Personally, I feel Burnett sucks because Eiland left.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Stormtrooper]

what's your opinion on this. Do the Yankees blame this on Dave Eiland's absence, or should Joe Girardi just write it off as "Something that is incredibly easy to fix."

Personally, I feel Burnett sucks because Eiland left.

What are your thoughts?

First of all, everyone knows the Burnett is an up and down pitcher. Good AJ will give you the 7 innings of unhittableness, while Bad AJ will get knocked around. AJ has been this way his entire career, it's just a matter of how often we see both AJs.

Secondly, there is an old adage in sports, something about the Players Play. and the Coaches Coach. Dave Eiland can't be to blame for either Good AJ or Bad AJ. The only person to get the credit/blame is AJ himself.

Finally, if it was "Something that is incredibly easy to fix," then don't you think it would have been fixed by now?

AJ pitching like crap right now is for no other reason then AJ being a streaky, up and down pitcher. He will turn it around at some point, just like he always does. Until then, the Yankees just need to weather the storm. It's not like the other starting pitchers can't pick up the slack for a struggling starter right now anyways. Pettitte is having one of his best years ever, Hughes will be an All Star, CC has been as good as usual, and Javy bounced back tremendously from a poor start of the season.