5:55PM: Speaking to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (Twitter links) and other reporters, Cashman said that he hopes to have the new hitting coach in place when the Yankees begin their second-half schedule on Friday. Cashman also said that the new hitting coach will come from outside the organization. Dykes and Wilkerson will remain with the team in assistant hitting coach roles.
5:14PM: With the Yankees lineup continuing to struggle, the team has announced it has parted ways with hitting coach Dillson Lawson. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link) first reported the move, and the Yankees confirmed Lawson’s departure in a press release. Yankees GM Brian Cashman explained the reasoning behind the decision in the release:
“It has been well documented that I have been reluctant in the past to make changes to our coaching staff in the middle of a season. I am a big believer that successes and failures are collective efforts. However, I ultimately felt that a change was needed and that a new voice overseeing our hitting operations would give us the best chance to perform closer to our capabilities as we move forward into the second half of our season.
I want thank Dillon for all his efforts. He has a bright baseball mind that will continue to lead to a long and fruitful baseball career.”
As Cashman noted, in-season coaching changes aren’t his preference, and this indeed marks the first time since Cashman became GM in 1998 that the Yankees have fired a coach during a season. Since there was no word on the status of assistant hitting coaches Casey Dykes and Brad Wilkerson, it would appear that both men will remain with the team, and either could be a candidate to take over the lead hitting coach role on at least an interim basis. The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty reports that the Yankees have two finalists in mind for the job, and Lawson’s replacement could be known as early as tomorrow.
Though New York enters the break with a respectable 49-42 record, it is fair to say that the pitching (particularly a quietly outstanding bullpen) has carried the team. The Yankees are near the bottom of the league in average and OBP, and are around the middle of the pack in home runs, slugging percentage, and wRC+. While the club is still hitting lots of home runs, the one-dimensional approach isn’t leading to much offense overall, and the Yankees’ lack of hitting has become even more glaring in the month-plus that Aaron Judge has been on the injured list.
As Joel Sherman of the New York Post noted in a piece yesterday, the Yankees’ reliance on Judge extended back to 2022, when the AL MVP’s season for the ages helped mask the fact that the rest of New York’s lineup generally underperformed. Blaming these struggles entirely on Lawson isn’t fair, of course, as Sherman notes that several veteran bats aren’t producing, and questions can be asked about Cashman’s decision to rely on these veterans rather than further bolster the roster with other position players. As well, the Yankees’ offense was already showing some inconsistency even prior to Lawson’s hiring in the 2021-22 offseason.
With this in mind, a new hitting coach shouldn’t be expected to instantly revive the Yankees’ batters, especially with Judge’s recovery timeline still so uncertain. Still, the timing of Lawson’s firing and the fact that it was made at all clearly indicates some extra pressure in the Bronx to get the season back on track. The Yankees are currently outside the playoff picture, sitting a game behind the Blue Jays for the last AL wild card spot and eight games behind the Rays for first place in the AL East. The Rays’ recent struggles have slightly kept the Jays, Yankees, and last-place Red Sox within striking distance in this loaded division, though it might be hard for any of these teams to really catch up to Tampa or the second-place Orioles, making a wild card perhaps the likeliest route to the postseason.
Lawson worked as the Yankees’ minor league hitting coordinator from 2019-21 before his promotion to lead hitting coach. The 38-year-old previously worked as a hitting coach in the Astros’ farm system, and he has a long history of coaching in the collegiate ranks.
I guess they were bound to scapegoat somebody.
Thon – FACT: All 10 Yankees hitters in today’s lineup have an OPS of .753 or less
And half of them are under .700
Has to be the worst Yankee offense in my lifetime.
@Fever I checked the Yankees lineup sometime in the middle of the week and 5 out of the 9 batters had negative WAR. Volpe had the highest WAR at 2.0. That is some kind of awful, no? I am amazed they are as many games over .500 as they are. WOW!
Ignorant – Yanks have Cole and the best bullpen in MLB (3.06 ERA, 1.21 WHIP).
And the Yanks are 11 games over .500 in games Judge played.
Aaron Hicks says hello
The Yankees are 30-19 with Judge and 19-23 with out him. The Yankees get a favorable 9 games against the Rockies, Angels and Royals to open the second half and then their next 12 after that are against the Mets, Rays, Orioles and Astros. Firing the hitting coach seems like a we-need-to-point-the-finger-at-someone move that probably changes nothing
That’s what I was thinking too Omar. Hicks is doing a lot better for the Orioles. Wonder if that was one of the reasons for this
fever, this performance reminds me of, if I recall correctly, the 2013 roster. whenever we put mark Reynolds and Lyle overbay out there.
So the Yankees not hitting is Lawson’s fault? So the Yankees not winning must be Boone’s fault, right? So hopefully he gets fired to.
Cap – A bunch of us have this discussion all the time about Cora.
YES the hitting coach and the manager should share in the blame when players underperform.
Torres, Stanton, Rizzo, Donaldson and DJL are all massively underperforming.
If the manager and hitting coach isn’t responsible for helping hitters perform well, and the manager isn’t responsible for pitchers pitching well or fielders fielding well, then what’s the point of having those positions and paying them top dollar?
You can’t give Boone credit for all the success, and not give him blame for the failure. It doesn’t work that way.
Stanton, Rizzo, Donaldson and DJL are all massively underperforming.
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Those four guys also average 34 years of age. It’s impossible to know if Lawson is any good, but those four guys are 1-2 years into their decline phase.
Joe – Drastic declines don’t happen that fast to guys in their mid-30’s.
If they were in their 40’s or late 30’s that would be different.
DJL is 34 and his OPS has dropped 91 points from last year.
Stanton is 33 and his OPS dropped 57 points from last year, and 168 points from 2021.
Rizzo is 33 and his OPS dropped 64 points from last year.
Donaldson is the only one that age might be a factor, but a 130 point drop from 2021? That’s highly unusual.
It is the result of constructing a roster of hit homers or strikeout hitters. All or nothing swings. That the lineup needs is someone to get on base, preferably with some speed to steal a base or two, and give the pitchers something to think about when throwing home. DJ, Donaldson, Stanton and Rizzo are not those kind of guys. Joey Gallo, mistake that he was, was the poster child for that type of baseball. I am blaming Cashman for creating this one-dimensional roster. TRADE for Ian Happ of the Cubs. Good OBP man, your solution in Left Field, a switch- hitter who doesn’t need to be pinch hit for, and yes, with a little pop in his bat. C’mon Cashman, get it done.
Fever- Drastic declines happen to guys in their mid-30s all the time. Most players don’t even make it to 40.
They are 7 games over .500 What part is “So the Yankees not winning”?
Yeah for the payroll they have, that is acceptable?
The break finds them OUT of a playoff spot in a sport where spots are abundant.
What part is “So the Yankees not winning”?
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The time frame is the key variable. They are doing pretty well considering the injuries to Judge & Rodon, for the full year.
But also 13-17 over the past 30.
Apparently Cashman finally watched Training Day… “Who shot Frank?” “New guy shot Frank.”
“To the right of it and to the left of it are pockets, right? In those pockets are money. Look in either one of ’em, pay the bill [on your way out, too.]”
No doubt a scapegoating and deflection tactic by ninja cashman. This will keep the Talking Heads influencers and podcast is off his back for a while while discuss the implications of this ad nauseum.Meanwhile nothing changes. But the rot at the top continues
When will Cashman fire himself???
Scapegoat? This guy is the Alissa Heinerscheid of hitting coaches.
Giving the Sergent Hulka Big Toe treatment to Lawson?
Is it really his fault?
I thought Showalter was going to be fired, but the Mets had a bit of resurgence recently
I’m always down for a Sargent Hulka reference.
The LOL team in New York still has to climb a few mountains to get into the postseason places. And the Mets just dropped 2 of 3 to equally underachieving San Diego going into the break.
Showalter is not going to get fired until at least the offseason.
Not really gonna make a big difference probably but this buffoon deserved to go
He must have told Aaron “I am da judge!”
Stanton and Donaldson need to go to clear up payroll space. Both are trash.
Milwaukee – Stanton hit 2 homers yesterday, he’s known to get very hot. I wouldn’t eat his contract just yet.
It doesn’t matter, nobody’s eating his contract. He’s owed about 120,000,000 over the next few years.
Dr – Stanton has 4 years left on his contract at $22M/per for LTS.
$88M is not that bad a contract if he can put up an .864 OPS like he did his first four years with the Yanks. He’s been bad only last year and this year.
Gotcha. But being bad last year and this year is not what you want
Dr – Agreed. If it’s a vision issue or he just can’t get around on fastballs anymore, that’s a problem.
He is also known to get very HURT!
Lenny – Agreed! Which also calls into question his Strength & Conditioning Coach.
Maybe if he scales back on the muscles, he’d have less issues with muscle pulls/strains?
How would that free payroll space, no one will take their contracts and if they are released they still get paid.
Bill – Yanks could always package a prospect with Stanton to remove his entire salary. Or they could just eat let’s say half of his remaining contract.
Why take him in any trade when eventually they will release him and Donaldson.
Bill – I don’t see the Yanks releasing Stanton and eating an $88M remainder of his contract, especially considering how good he was as recently as 2021.
Toronto should Do the SAME THING !!
And guess who overtook the Yankees for the last AL wild card spot at the All-Star break?
“He has a bright baseball mind that will continue to lead to a long and fruitful baseball career.”
Fruitful, huh? Not successful, but fruitful….
The translation here is that Cashman thinks Dillson‘s going to be stocking produce at a food store near a baseball stadium in about six weeks for the rest of his career.
Hitting coaches get too much credit when a team hits and too much blame when they don’t. Players will chase bad pitches regardless if it’s going bad and sending in a new face is laying blame on the wrong parties often times when it comes to letting a pitcher/hitting coach go.
Remember when HOF Jim Rice had little to do with then Sox hitting coach, Walt hriniak and his Charlie Lou theory of hitting and he used Johnny pesky, who had -0- power when he played.
Blame should go to hitter’s chasing everything (and missing) than to a coach, yet how often does that happen?
One of my hitting coaches made us drop our back knee down low like Reggie Jackson. He wanted your knee to touch the ground as you swung. It was the most awkward thing I’ve ever had to do. I hated it and I didn’t hit well doing it. I never encountered anything so extreme, before or since. It didn’t work for most of us, but there were some who hit better that way.
A good coach can definitely make a difference. But a bad coach, or someone you cannot relate to, can really start to wear on you and your performance.
Probably should have happened two months ago but better late that never. This makes me think that Cashman is finally feeling pressure to get things back on track. The next move is to hold players accountable for lack of effort, starting with the increasingly more useless clown who occupies 2B
Fire Lawson because he can’t turn all the scrubs into solid hitters. Not everyone can be like pitching coach Matt Blake.
Maybe give the coach guys that aren’t always injured, way past their primes or Quad A players. You can’t keep adding guys like Cordero, Calhoun, McKinney, Allen, Odor, Difo, etc and think he’s going to find 4-5 Matt Carpenters circa 2022.
Hal Cashman have no plan – they just dart this way and that every year hoping something works. They do what’s expedient, not what’s right.
They were finally backed into a corner with Rothschild as a pitching coach and hired Blake from the Cleveland factory (same as the Padres did when they hired Niebla). But there are more problems with both teams then their pitching
With the Orioles and Angels falling apart, the Yankees can get a WC playoff spot. But Judge is the only guy that hits consistently, and who knows if he’s coming back in 2023…..and if he does, will he be able to hit? Meanwhile there’s not much hitting that looks to be available at the trading deadline. So with the All-Star break coming up the Yankees change hitting coaches and hope when their players return in 5 days that the hitters will come back with a fresh attitude and salvage the 2023 season
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I do believe after the season that the Cardinals will make Nolan Arenado available in trade, and they match up very well with the Yankees – starting with Oswald Peraza, just the slick fielding SS the Cards need, and then a few young pitchers.
The orioles are not falling apart. They are just 2 games behind the Rays.
The Orioles are two games out of first, with a .607 winning percentage, and just won five straight. They’re not “falling apart.”
Thought Samuel was an O’s fan… splitting four with the Yanks, winning five straight, sweeping Minn on the road and pounding out six dingers for a 15-2 rout while the rotation has banged out five quality starts in a row is not falling apart. What a stupid thing to say. The Rangers – they’re looking rough all of a sudden. The Angels are falling apart. The Pirates have fallen apart. But the O’s? Back to being third best record in baseball. Crazy to say they’re falling apart. Very out of touch.
The Angels will always fall apart.
I think the Rays are struggling now most of the rotation is Out of action.
I cannot disagree
“I want thank Dillon for all his efforts.”
… the Yankees have two finalists in mind for the job …
“I want please work for us.”
Not at all Gleyber trying to hit 38 homeruns again and looking like a helicopter, DJ breaking down faster than a Ford, the old guys on the team, and the homerun or nothing approach throughout the roster that if any hitter really wanted to can try to make more contact if they let their pride and delusions go? Can’t wait to see the next Manchurian candidate of a hitting coach we hire just to take orders from the analytics team that hasn’t touched a baseball bat since t-ball.
Maybe Boone needs to go? This is his first and only managing gig and the Yankees have consistently underperformed.
Boone can only use the players he is given. Just saying. But the GM will never fire himself so the manager is always the next fall guy after a hitting and/or pitching coach.
He actually has a higher win % than Girardi did with the Yankees
I suppose firing the hitters is out of the question, then.
I suppose firing the hitters was out of the question.
No doubt that is what really needs to be done
I suppose firing the hitters was out of the question, then?
I want to see some owner get mad and DFA the whole roster sometime.
I’m sure the players union has some hidden clause in the CBA to prevent that.
Afaik, there is nothing in the CBA which prevents an org from DFA’ing their entire roster as long as you pay out contracts. I’m sure the Yankees will still not promote and play Estevan Florial.
No team in the whole league took a flier on Florial — why should the Yankees?
Well, doing it right before the Allstars break will give hitters time to adjust, I guess
That will surely fix the 40 year olds and stubborn 22 year olds that refuse to listen to hitting coaches.
I suppose firing the hitters was out of the question?
Same story goes for the Twins. Hitting coach should be gone, Baldelli should be gone but Minnesota doesn’t do that especially in the middle of the season. Baldelli has done nothing since taking over for Molitor. Not sure Boone has done much with a ton of talent either. Central division is a.500 at best division and keeps coaches around longer than they should (Baldelli). I can see some coaches around the league definitely be let go come October. Mets??? If his name wasnt Buck he would be fired by now.
Baseball has managers.
Baseball has way more coaches than Managers or that is their title anyway.
Austin Wells fixed Volpe.
The chicken parm was on the wall.
The Yankees are a powerful team and more. They are supposed to be mashing hits and more left and right. If they’re line up hitting below 750 or such they have to say you are not doing job.
Many have with Astros even as yes they have hitters not great yet this season and have had injuries with pitching and more and many have asked for Dusty to be fired and hitting and pitching coaches. Guess for a Yankees third place in standings and perhaps WC is not where want to be.
I am not a Yankee fan for many reasons. But I do respect former Yankees and that. But depending on your team and owner even. If not making grade as they want it you are gone. So guess want to make a splash and more for second half
@texgal That was rough reading, can we edit before pressing send?? Or your new AI still has some bugs.
Maybe if they trade for the Aaron Hicks guy in Baltimore….Seriously, the team needs to look hard at why it is that seemingly decent/good hitters crater here.
Aaron Hicks with an .850 OPS since leaving NY didn’t help his cause.
@showmebb; crazy thought here, but Dillon possibly ends up employed by the Orioles? POBO Elias knows him through their time together in Houston. Yes? I can see Mike at least asking Aaron about his thoughts on Dillon. Maybe? Besides, I thought Aaron’s beef was with Boone?
And why would the O’s want this reject
@KingO, I feel ya. But it looks like, I could be wrong, that he and Elias have worked together. Doesn’t hurt for Elias to triple check with Aaron on his working relationship with Dillon. Also, it’s a fact that a lot of quality players move on to the Yankees and struggle immensely. If it can happen to them, it can sure as heck happen to coaches too?
Small sample noise. Moreover, when a hitter has been bad for some time, other teams forget how to pitch to him. If Hicks can maintain this newfound success, opposing pitchers will make their adjustments.
Small sample noise? He’s played as many games in orange this year as he did in pinstripes this year.
First domino to fall, old lineup, high expectations, not a good combination.
This in season move seems out of character for Cashman. Wonder if there have been some benchmarks he has to meet or else his job is at risk.
Yankees are gunk. The days of them playing against part time butchers and grocery clerks are long gone.
Liked “…gunk.” and “…part time butchers and grocery clerks…”
This will make a big difference. When you have a minor leaguer helping a rookie while your big league coach can’t figure something out on a video,yeah,it makes you question DJL,JD,GS and others. Rizzo. Video analysis gone way wrong for this. He has to go.
Blame the hitting coach yet Cashman gets no blame from the Yankees organization? Lol the Hal Steinbrenner clown show continues.
Also, Gleyber Torres is hot garbage.
Now that Cashman has a firing inseason under his belt, can he please FIRE Boone? His in game strategy boggles the mind and he has cost the team numerous losses.
So from just a glance at the team rankings based on offensive numbers, the Yanks don’t strike out as much as other teams and they are 5th in the MLB for team home runs. Everything else is either middle of the pack or the lower third of the MLB. So while I think it sucks that someone lost their job, they may in fact benefit from a coach offering a different approach to hitting. Relying on just home runs and putting the ball in play alone isn’t going to cut it. Not to mention some of these stats are probably padded by the Judge who is unfortunately out with an injury.
Next Cashman should get fired.
He should but he won’t. He has tenure. Maybe he could take a sabbatical though?
I’m just going to name drop one name. Tim Hyers hitting coach from the Texas Rangers, ex Red Sox hitting coach. The guy is the f.. ing MAN!!! And we’re The F…ing New York Yankees!!! And while you’re at it Cody Bellinger is a Paulie O’Neill, Scott Brosius type guy.. ok so I lied about the name dropping.
Lawson is just a scapegoat, as long as the Three Stooges remain in charge nothing will change.
Like this is going to make the Stantons and Torres of the world start hitting for contact lol. Firing him does NOTHING. Boone is the problem
I’m not a Yankee fan but you all just need to suck it up til next year when you have Ohtani. He should be able to squeeze at least a couple of healthy years out the 12 years he will get.
Cashman, who we all know will still be here if/when Ohtani is acquired, will immediately kneecap him with pitch limits and launch angles and Boonecrap, so it’s slightly delusional to expect even him to make a difference, let alone get the team over the World Series hump.
Hal and Cashman’s Yankees is where MVP careers go to die.
He hasn’t made a difference for the Angels. He is severely restricted already with a 6 man rotation and basically like almost all starters, 100 pitches. He is only allowed to DH which means no way to rest anyone else like Trout by letting them DH 1-2 times a week. For all his talent, Ohtani has a lot of limitations (at least according to the Angles brass). They feel he is very fragile.
Sources? I find it hard to believe how our dude who is on pace for 13 WAR also comes with burdensome “limitations”.
Because on the field a players war is irrelevant. He is injury prone, can’t play a position which means your lineup and ability to give guys a rest from playing the field are limited. Just look at what it’s done to the Angles. You will pay for 2 players and when he gets hurt you will lose 2 players from a contract that will impede most team’s flexibility.
Because he couldn’t get Franchy Cordero to be a triple crown threat?
Cashman passing the buck per usual.
“We care about winning games. I really don’t give a s— where we rank in offensive stats as long as we’re scoring enough runs to win games. We played the No. 1 team (Tampa) and went toe-to-toe with them. Some could argue that we could have gotten swept. Other people could say we should’ve swept them. You know which side I stand on. I’m not concerned. We have to do enough to win games. Where we rank is of no concern of mine, whether it’s one or 30, as long as we win the game.” – Dillon Lawson, May 23, 2023
So I guess winning 1-0 and 2-1 games would be a measure of success to Lawson. No pressure pitchers, Matt Blake, and pitching coaching staff.
Which is likely what got him fired. The Yankees are very concerned with public image. That was a very undiplomatic way of expressing yourself. The list or final straw, if you will.
ALL this hitters are selfish.. they want to hit the baseball no matter what instead of taking the walks and everything have to do with Boone.
He should be next! ♂️
There are too many holes in that lineup. Also all of injuries. Spending a ton on Judge without a good surrounding cast was not a good thing.
Exactly what the Angels did with Trout.
There wasn’t a lot of other FA to put around Judge? They also signed Rodon and he has one start where he was good and got no run support. It isn’t Judge’s salary that is the problem. Donaldson and Hicks make $35 million this year! Yikes! That is a lot of money for very little production from Donaldson and Hicks not on the roster. Not giving Judge $40 million to give it to the likes of Donaldson and Hicks would not be the answer either. This off season will be telling. Will they try to get Ohtani to the East Coast??
No chance. and they are gun shy about the long contracts, which is why we end up with over the hill veterans on short term contracts like donaldson. because they’re the only ones that will take the short term contracts, even though they pay a lot each year. Yankees prefer that. Not a good plan. We need to make better signings with the long-term contracts, instead of not doing them entirely which is what they’ve been trying to do. Judge with the exception, because they had to it was more of a marketing strategies than a baseball one.
Correct
Totally!!
Chicken parmagan night is what fired the hitting coach ,as volpe get his advice and improved immediately from a fellow minor leaguer not from the hitting coach ,beside no one hits even average
So are they gonna hire Austin Wells since he “fixed” Volpe? Maybe be a player/Coach
hi, I make $100,000 and have no MLB hits to my name. Let me advise you on how to hit.
When your hitting coach employs the mantra “hit strikes hard” then it should be no surprise that the Yanks lead in MLB in meaningless categories like exit velo. As Boone likes to say “it’s not a hitting contest, it’s a scoring contest”. And these Yanks have not been able to do either exceptionally well. Their pen has masked a lot of these weaknesses. So, Lawson was made to walk the plank. But if they do not make the playoffs, then I think Boone is (and should be) bang in trouble.
Time to hire the Warrior for Batting Coach, Pettite as Pitching coach, Posada as Manager and Willie Randolph as Bench coach.
I thought for sure Franchy Cordero was going to save everyone’s bacon…