Dave Eiland Fired
Posted by MJ Recanati on October 25th, 2010 · Comments (17)
Apparently the scapegoat for the 2010 ALCS defeat was Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland. GM Brian Cashman sacked him today and, although I’m sure there was some rationale for the move, none was offered.
I’m curious who will be tapped to replace Eiland. Triple-A pitching coach Scott Aldred might be one replacement.
~~Cashman said it had nothing to do with how poorly the Yankees pitched in the American League Championship Series~~
Betcha it had more to do with the reason why he was MIA and on LOA this season.
~~I’m curious who will be tapped to replace Eiland. ~~
Mike Harkey – if Girardi comes back. They are very, very, tight.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Quite possibly, yes.
But if that’s the case then, whatever it was, they should’ve dealt with it then if it was a fireable offense.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
I know they are but I don’t see it. I imagine they want someone that either has intimate knowledge of the Yankees arms in the system (someone like a Nardi Contreras (although not necessarily him) or someone from outside that comes with a better pedigree than Mike Harkey.
Watching the presser, Cashman kept saying it was a private matter, that he won’t discuss, that led to Eiland not coming back. And, it was 100% Cashman’s call. See:
http://www.yesnetwork.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=12903337
@ Steve Lombardi:
I never like it when the GM makes decisions about his manager’s staff, even if the manager is on board. It’s within Cashman’s right to do so but it rubs me the wrong way.
If you don’t have faith in your team’s pitching coach, it should be the manager pulling the trigger, not the GM.
MJ Recanati wrote:
Maybe it was Girardi with Cashman being the spokesman?
clintfsu813 wrote:
Certainly possible, although in the press conference Cashman stressed that it was his decision.
In any case, it doesn’t really matter. A new pitching coach will take over next year. The “who” isn’t terribly important. Outside of Dave Duncan (Cardinals) or Don Cooper (White Sox), I can’t think of too many names that truly make a positive impact on their pitchers.
First move of the off season is a great move.
I don’t care what Cashman said, the Yankee pitching staff minus C.C., Pettite, and Mo, regressed this year. Is there another staff in baseball who got to 0-2 and then went to 3-2 more than the Yanks? And nothing Eiland did seemed to help A.J.
K-V-C wrote:
Surely you feel Hughes did not regress
K-V-C wrote:
I’m just not so sure that’s the pitching coach’s fault. He’s the logical scapegoat but that doesn’t mean that a pitching coach can control “nibbleness” or the lack of secondary pitches that can be called strikes (instead of always relying on going outside the zone to get someone to chase).
I’m glad to hear he’s gone. I felt he was a major reason Wang got hurt after he tried to come back. Eiland trew Wang under the bus and forced him to pitch before he was ready.
Good riddance.
Was he, in fact, fired?
Or did he come back to try to help the team once the personal situation was “stabilized”, and, once the season was over, felt it was time to address whatever the personal issue was?
@ Evan3457:
Cashman doesn’t gain anything by saying he fired Eiland so I don’t think your interpretation works here. If Eiland chose to leave the team, Cashman would’ve spun it that way.
MJ Recanati wrote:
Yeah, that makes sense.
Maybe I put it wrong. Maybe he told Cashman that he needed to spend extra time on this whatever it is, and Cashman said, “I’m sorry, Dave, but we need you to do the job. Adios.”
@ Evan3457:
Yeah, I could see that.
Wasn’t this this the year that Eiland showed up with a black eye too? There’s something going on there, for sure.