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I think it all goes back to what I believe is the toughest part of this business, managing help. Bill alluded to it up above.
There are two sides to the completely remove or not completely remove story for burlap and cages. While it is ideal not to have them present, the removal process can do more harm than to remove just the top. The purpose of the cage and burlap is to keep the ball from breaking up and keep it stable. If the removal process weakens the ball to the detriment of the tree, it is better to remove the top of burlap and cage and cut the cage in several places instead.
I see visions of the same work crew that could not bother cutting those nylon strings swinging a tree all over the place hacking a cage off of the crumbling root ball and dropping it in the hole. The hole that they measured 18" deep when the ball was in tact. Now the tree is 8" too deep while they push the dirt that fell off of the ball into the hole to bury it.
I'd take the well placed tree in the cage buried 1/3 of the way to hold it stable. Then cut what you can of the cage and remove what you can of the burlap.
One thing that you have to be careful about when you leave burlap on is that if some of it is exposed to the surface air, it will wick water away from that plant ball. It really should be cut back to avoid this problem.
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