The Yankees are engineering a change in their bench coach position, according to Sweeny Murti if WFAN (Twitter link). Carlos Mendoza will slide over from his infield coach role to take over for Josh Bard, who has been relieved of his duties.
In other news involving the staff under manager Aaron Boone, the Yankees are expected to bring on Matt Blake as pitching coach and Tanner Swanson as catching coach. Both hirings were previously reported; ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reported Blake’s addition (Twitter link), as we previously covered, while Brandon Warne of Zone Coverage tweeted that Swanson was hired away from the Twins.
Mendoza had worked in his prior role for the past two seasons and obviously impressed the organization. The 39-year-old never cracked the majors as a player but now seems in line for a lengthier tenure as a coach. Bard initially stepped into the bench coach role at the same time Mendoza and Boone first joined the Yankees. The former big-league backstop previously spent time with the Dodgers organization, including one campaign as bullpen coach, after the end of his playing career.
The rest of the staff will remain in the same positions, it seems. Mike Harkey will return as bullpen coach, Phil Nevin and Reggie Willits stay on as third and first base coach, respectively, while Marcus Thames will come back as hitting coach (reports Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). It isn’t clear if the organization will bring in a new infield instructor to take over the role vacated by Mendoza.
