The Yankees have fired pitching coach Dave Eiland, GM Brian Cashman told reporters today (Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News seemingly tweeted it first). Cashman said his reasons for the dismissal are private. Other Yankees notes of interest:
- Cashman will meet with Joe Girardi's agent tomorrow about a new contract, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
- The Yankees and Girardi need each other, says the New York Post's Joel Sherman, though he feels the manager regressed this year.
- Cashman on Derek Jeter, from Feinsand: "He's going to be a part of this franchise. We'll work something out."
- Cashman noted that the team's option decisions on Kerry Wood, Lance Berkman, and Nick Johnson are "all pretty obvious," implying that the three will be declined.
- SI's Jon Heyman previews the Yankees' offseason, guessing they'd gladly sign Cliff Lee for five years and $125MM if he'd take it. Instead, Lee could look for C.C. Sabathia money.
Someone had to take the fall. Couldn’t just be that the Rangers were the better team…
I mean, the Rangers did have the better pitching and hitting…
Maybe the Yankees weren’t happy with how Burnett and Vazquez pitched all-season.
And Cashman should have seen Vazquez’s performance coming.
Wait- you predicted Javy would go from 90-93mph to 86-88mph?
No, but plenty of people saw what he did the last time he played for the Yankees and knew it wasn’t going to be pretty this time around either.
He was an all-star his first time around with the Yanks. He had a terrible second half, but many people attribute that to injury.
well… he’s never had great success in the AL anyway, they should have noticed that…
he had a 4.50 ERA as an AL pitcher before this year…
And having a bad second half isn’t a minor thing…
it’s half the season… you could also say “he just had a good first half”
(although, as you said he MAY have been hurt)
and everytime in his career he faced the Yankees he did terrible (although they of course have a good offense), 7.09 ERA… can’t handle the pressure of NY?… or good offenses?… I dunno… just saying
He’s getting older of course too…
and even when he was an all-star he had like a 3.60 ERA before the break… which is good.. but not great (but I guess it is good for Vazquez)
He also had a 1.15 WHIP in that first half.
I agree that I wasn’t expecting an ace-type season (like his 2009 Braves season), but on that same token, I wasn’t expecting a 5.32 ERA season either.
fair enough…
I was expecting somewhere between a 4.45 and a 4.70 ERA… but even that wouldn’t have been great, and I think the Yanks were expecting an ERA close to 4
Plenty of people called Nick Swisher a 4th OF when he got to NY because of a 1 season sample size the year before. So plenty of people’s opinions mean nothing.
Javy failed because his FB lost 3mph and that affects your other pitches. Remember when Mussina lost life on his FB and struggled all year? It took him all offseason to re-learn how to pitch with lesser stuff.
Actually, anybody that looked at the stats knew that Swisher had a down year due entirely to BABIP and would rebound to be a pretty good player. Guess what? That happened.
LOL.
So if he had pitched in Atlanta again this season he would still hit 93 on the gun on occasion?
He was either hiding an injury, or all the innings he has compiled over the years have just taken their toll on his arm.
To sit there and say you predicted Javy would lose his stuff completely is asinine.
Maybe you could say he wouldn’t perform based on the atmosphere of NY and the media in the city, but to say he would fall off a cliff pure stuff wise, is again, asinine.
Try reading, buddy. I never said I predicted he’d lose his stuff. I said I thought a severe flyball pitcher going to a hitter-friendly stadium in the AL East was a bad idea. Did I think he’d be this bad? No, but I knew he probably wasn’t going to be putting up an ERA in the 3’s.
And yet, the primary issue was his loss of speed on his fastball, thus severely diminishing not only that pitch, but all his other pitches.
Oh, and stop sticking your foot in your mouth:
“No, but plenty of people saw what he did the last time he played for the Yankees and knew it wasn’t going to be pretty this time around.”
Actually if you look at his work with the White Sox as well you should have seen this coming. He pitched poorly there for three years which is a big enough sample size. 4.40ERA where he pitched like a #3 for one year and a launching pad the other two. He is the definition of an NL pitcher.
I saw it coming and so should have the Yankees.
I think the Yanks easily would’ve taken a 4.40 ERA. He was not even close to that type of pitcher this year.
To say he wouldn’t work out is one thing, I don’t think many would debate you there. To say he would be as bad as he was, no one predicted.
But the point of the argument has nothing to do with him being a “severe flyball pitcher going to a hitter-friendly stadium”. He had absolutely nothing on his pitches, and could not locate to save his life. He went from a 9.8 K/9 to a 6.9 while simultaneously jumping from a 1.8 BB/9 to a 3.7 BB/9. When he actually threw a ball into the strike zone, he simply could not miss a bat.
The point I’m making is that by sitting there and saying “I said Javy wouldn’t work in NY” and pointing to his complete lack of stuff as being right is ridiculous. You, or anyone for that matter, knew he was going to fall off a cliff stuff wise like he did. Did Javy workout in NY? No freakin way. Did it have anything to do with him being a flyball pitcher, or unable to deal with the pressure? Nope. He just lost his stuff, plain and simple.
But I was saying he never had the stuff, in the AL. Out of 5 years in the AL he had one half decent year. I don’t know how the Yankees thought taking a second bite of the wormy apple would be better. And I have no doubt the Yankees would have taken a 4.40ERA but for what they traded for him and what they were paying him they expected much more. And that really wasn’t realistic when you look at the evidence.
I’m sure the Yankees were expecting better than a 4.40, but if thats what they got, I don’t think anyone would be too up in arms.
Whatever stuff he used to have, was orders of magnitude better than the stuff he currently has. So if you are trying to tell me he was never that great of a pitcher to begin with, I am completely on board. If you’re trying to tell me this is the pitcher he always was, I say your way wayyyyy off base.
But I was saying he never had the stuff, in the AL. Out of 5 years in the AL he had one half decent year. I don’t know how the Yankees thought taking a second bite of the wormy apple would be better. And I have no doubt the Yankees would have taken a 4.40ERA but for what they traded for him and what they were paying him they expected much more. And that really wasn’t realistic when you look at the evidence.
Well first, Eiland’s contract expired so he wasn’t fired, he was just not re-signed.
And Eiland also missed a month earlier for “personal issues” and since they said they’re keeping the reasons “private” then people can connect the dots.
Certainly can’t be Cashman’s fault. All he did was sign Vasquez and Burnett to ridiculous contracts and was stuck with a 3-man rotation. He can always throw around an obscene amount of money this offseason and Yanks can make post season again. Must be nice to throw money around to cover up mistakes
Are the reasons all that private? Their pitching performance last week says it all.
I keed I keed
The team couldn’t pitch, that’s why.
The reason I guess was AJ and Vazquez’s horrible seasons. Not a huge surprise.
NOOOOOOOO
– AJ Burnett
but seriously, Eiland probably saved Wood’s career, but I guess AJ, Vasquez and Joba just outweighed the good he’s done. Thought i’m surprised he was fired.
I’ll give you the reasons… Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz!
Or his two month absence from the team for the same “private” reasons
They should have just fired AJ…..bwwaahhahahah. (Just playing with the yanks fans here. No need to lose your mind on me)
All honesty, something needed to be done.
CC is good, AJ is bad, hughes needs something to compliment the fastball, Javier is bad, and Pettitte is his same old self.
Maybe now they can get someone new to tap into AJ’s and Hughes’ potential, they both have a ton of talent imo.
Hughes needs to not listen to Girardi sometimes and continue to throw his cutter often. Part of his struggles this season was when Girardi told him to throw less cutters. Meanwhile, pitchers like Halladay and Lee thrive in part thanks to good cutters.
very good point. The kid has very good stuff, just needs to learn how and when to throw different pitches.
And that cutter wasn’t really cutting. It was a flat pitch most often. The cutter and his change up helped him win the job as the #5. When he couldn’t execute it as well he put it in his back pocket. He needs to refine it this winter.
I think he needs to refine both his change and cutter. He’d be a much better pitcher with his electric, but sometimes flat fastball
And that cutter wasn’t really cutting. It was a flat pitch most often. The cutter and his change up helped him win the job as the #5. When he couldn’t execute it as well he put it in his back pocket. He needs to refine it this winter.
Where’s Mike Mussina? I always thought he’d make a great pitching coach one day…
Believe he’s in PA coaching his kid’s little league team and spending time with his family, he’s got all the money he needs.
So where was our hitting guru Kevin Long? Yanks got a beating at the plate as well as on the mound. As a matter of fact – Yanks got beat in every conceivable category by the Rangers. Some better decisions by Girardi would have put them in position for some postseason magic as they do, but the Rangers kept their foot on their throats and didn’t let them back in the game.
His contract is up and is not being renewed. He was not fired. Semantics, yes, but still.
Not being re-signed at the end of a contract is not the same as being fired; and since he missed a month earlier this season for personal issues fans who actually follow the team knew something was up with Eiland is his personal life.
He was not fired as the title of this article alludes to.
His contract was up, and the Yanks decided to not bring him back for some kind of personal reasons.
He took almost a month off in the middle of the season for personal reasons as well, which I’m sure has something to do with his leaving of the organization now.
Good news for Burnett. He’ll have a new excuse to use when he’s awful next season.
Ah my loved Yankees already making headlines before the World Series has even started gotta love it lol.
Yeah I think people are making something of nothing. Eiland was well liked as a coach. He came up thru the minors as a coach and was brought up recently. The fact that Eiland missed time due to a 4 week personal leave of absence and was let go due to personal reasons makes me think it had nothing to do with the pitching staff or it’s post season performance. Besides, he helped more than he hurt AJ probably and Javier was a lost cause.
Pretty sure the Sox need a pitching coach.
Pretty sure there are much better options. Personally I would see if Orel wanted to come out of the booth. Or wait and see if Peterson leaves the Brewers when the hire a new manager
The odd thing about most good coaches is that they usually tend to be bumbs as players. Most good players seem to lack the ability or tolerance to be mlb coaches. They can mentor a player as a veteran player but they just can’t seem to communicate their knowledge towards others. What I would like to see is Mike Mussina go thru sessions with a guy like Hughes, Mosley and Gaudin, and maybe some of the guys on the farm that are seen as back end rotation guys because they don’t throw above 93-94 during the offseason and ST. I would love if a Roger Clemens type could help out with Joba and AJ in their physical conditioning, mechanics and approach to pitching. I would also love to see Ricky Henderson work with Brett Gardner on how to be more aggresive and how to read the pitcher better so he can attempt more steals. W/ his speed I think he can be a 60-75 SB threat. But as far as stars being mlb regular season coaches, you don’t see too many star caliber ones out there, especially when it comes to pitching coaches.
So you want the Yankees to have an all star team on the field, and a 90s all star team as your coaching staff?
But you are right, Clemens would be a great physical conditioning pitcher for Joba. He can teach him how to use his gut to generate more power and he can also teach him how to purger himself when he testifies in front of congress.
I’m glad my post inspired such a well thought out and meaningful response. I thank you for your contribution. I never said anything about hiring them to the coaching staff. Simply, mentoring them on specific issues.
The odd thing about most good coaches is that they usually tend to be bumbs as players. Most good players seem to lack the ability or tolerance to be mlb coaches. They can mentor a player as a veteran player but they just can’t seem to communicate their knowledge towards others. What I would like to see is Mike Mussina go thru sessions with a guy like Hughes, Mosley and Gaudin, and maybe some of the guys on the farm that are seen as back end rotation guys because they don’t throw above 93-94 during the offseason and ST. I would love if a Roger Clemens type could help out with Joba and AJ in their physical conditioning, mechanics and approach to pitching. I would also love to see Ricky Henderson work with Brett Gardner on how to be more aggresive and how to read the pitcher better so he can attempt more steals. W/ his speed I think he can be a 60-75 SB threat. But as far as stars being mlb regular season coaches, you don’t see too many star caliber ones out there, especially when it comes to pitching coaches.
Was Dave Eiland highly regarded?
He was w/in the Yankee minor league system.
OMG I hope Moose takes the job!!! 🙂
Phew..It’s a good thing I read all the comments. I was afraid that someone would actually say something intelligent on this post. Met’s fans have zero to add to any discussion. This caught me off guard. Yes Eiland was highly regarded. Something happened back in June and in part, it may have affected the rotation for remainder of the season. On the surface, I did not notice anything, but perhaps there were more problems internally than we were led to believe.
“Mets fans have zero to add to any discussion”
So we’re like Yankee fans?? See, I can make sweeping generalizations too!
Also, I doubt Eiland was fired for performance reasons, but if he was, then it seems hardly fair to blame him when 4/5 of the rotation was either injured or terrible for the most part.
It might have nothing to do with the Yankees too. People have family problems, family members get sick, etc…He always seemed like a good guy though so I hope it is nothing too serious.
Eiland’s dismissal surely had something to do with the lingering dispute between he and Sabathia. Sabathia wanted to put an organic garden out in the bullpen, whereas Eiland felt that they should organize a group hug for all of New York instead. As is customary in sports today, since you can’t fire the player, you fire the coach.
DING-DING-DING….you sir are the winner of the funniest post today!