Dave Eiland
Looking at some A.L. team pitching stats, through yesterday’s games, we can see that the Yankees are just about league average, overall, with respect to their performance this season (to date):
Tm #Pitch PitAge R/G ERA ERA+ BOS 18 30.2 4.35 4.12 114 CHW 21 29.6 4.53 4.15 112 SEA 17 28.1 4.30 3.91 110 DET 21 26.3 4.42 4.14 109 TBR 19 28.3 4.47 4.20 108 TEX 21 28.3 4.41 4.18 107 TOR 24 28.5 4.45 4.14 105 LgAvg 20 28.4 4.73 4.43 100 NYY 20 29.4 4.86 4.50 98 KCR 17 29.1 4.95 4.52 96 LAA 23 29.0 4.97 4.75 95 OAK 19 25.8 4.92 4.52 91 BAL 23 28.8 5.32 5.04 91 MIN 19 27.6 4.87 4.65 89 CLE 27 28.7 5.39 5.18 87
The key here is ERA+ which is park adjusted – thus taking out the launching pad stats that Yankees pitchers get for having to work half their time in the Homerdome that Trost Built.
So, the Yankees pitchers, on the whole, are not great or terrible – they’re just a tiny tick under league average. So, because of that, should we say “Great job Dave Eiland!”?
It’s funny. Lately, when I think of Dave Eiland, the same thought comes to my mind: If the Yankees, without warning, were to fire Dave Eiland, now, and replace him with anybody, would there be a huge outcry of dismay (over the firing) by Yankees fans? I guessing: Probably not.
So, that leads to the question: What value does Dave Eiland add to the New York Yankees…if hardly any Yankees fans would miss him…should he be gone in an instant? Dare we say: Little value at all?
What do you think of Dave Eiland as the Yankees pitching coach? Has he done a great job, a good one, an average one, a bad job, or a terrible job – and why?
Interesting post, Steve. Eiland was brought in, I believe, to handle the younger pitchers like Hughes, IPK and Joba. However, given the veteran staff we have, I wouldn’t mind seeing the Yankees dismiss him for someone else (even with Joba and Hughes in the rotation next year). CC has had problems with his mechanics for weeks now—problems which were only “fixed” in yesterday’s start—and he didn’t really help Chien-Ming Wang much, either. The Yankees probably won’t consider a change until the offseason, but I wouldn’t be outraged or upset if he were let go.
If you ask me, it’s rather impressive that they are back to the middle of the pack considering all of the dread full pitching performances early on.
What do you think of Dave Eiland as the Yankees pitching coach? Has he done a great job, a good one, an average one, a bad job, or a terrible job
He gets an overwhelming “meh” from me. Whether it’s him, Guidry or Mel, they’re about the same. They don’t really offer much in the way of coaching. If the Yanks fired him tomorrow, I’m sure overall it won’t mean much.
I don’t really think he does anything but give them scouting reports anyway
Have to give someone credit for getting Joba to bear down, quit screwing around, and throw the ball. I also heard something about they have him moving his hands before he throws the ball now, which helps his arm action for some reason. Not sure who gets the credit, but someone on the coaching staff has helping bring him back on track.
Regarding Joba, his improvement coincides with a return to Nebraska over the AS break, when he was AWAY from Eiland.
True Rich, there was an article in the local paper (I live in Omaha) to that effect, but it’s clear that mechanically, he has made an adjustment. I couldn’t stand to watch the guy for a while there because he was too busy screwing around out there instead of throwing the ball.
Joba’s every move is basically covered in the local papers here by the way.