Thursday, January 24, 2008

A Little Mustard for my Foot?

I have written more than once that I didn't understand the Yankee's decision to hire Dave Eiland as pitching coach. Phil 'The Messiah' Hughes put me in my place on his blog yesterday -

After coming back from my injury last season my mechanics were a little out of whack. This led to a little loss of velocity and command. When Dave arrived in September we were able to work out some things and I think that had a lot to do with the success I had at the end of the season. It was nice to finish off the year on a good note so I have something to work toward to get back to my normal self in 2008.

This will be my 3rd season working with Dave. When it comes to my mechanics and pitching mentality I don’t think there is anyone that knows me better. Everyone is very excited to have him this season.


Sorry, Dave; if Phil is that high on you I was obviously wrong.

Also, Phil returned from injury August 4 - why couldn't Gator fix TM's mechanics sometime in the month before Eiland got to The Stadium? I love Gator, but I've heard many things about his shorcomings as a pitching coach and this is the last nail in that coffin.

Anyway - welcome to the Bigs, Dave; we're glad to have you!

5 comments:

Butch said...

I've always felt borderline major leaguers like Eiland make the best coaches; they weren't good enough to get their on stuff alone, so they had to try all kinds of things. I guess every pitcher, even guys like Guidry, pitch long enough that they get to that point in their career where they have to try something new... but still, I think Eiland will do just fine.

Anonymous said...

I was questioning Gators coaching ability early last season. Wang, Mussina, Hughes, all were having some problems.

Mussina talked to Mel Stottlemyer over the phone after his melt down and Mel told him about problems with his arm slot that were affecting him.

Hughes made a big turn around when Eiland came up and showed improvement every outing from that point on.

Doesn't it make you wonder if Wang had been dealing with similar things?

Gator was a great pitcher who had a lot of talent. Trouble is he was a great talent, relied heavily on his talents, his methods would naturally go to him thinking that the pitchers talents can straighten them out.

Eiland may not be the best pitching coach, the jury is still out on that. I do think he will be better than the Gator as coach though. He can see things that Gator just wasn't able to. That is going to make a difference. Who knows, maybe even Farnsworth will be better with Eiland around. That would put Eiland in the HOF as a coach. No?

Yardisiak said...

I have always thought the no-name coaches are usually better. Someone like Gator is given the benefit of the doubt because of his name and past success. Nobody is going to do that with the Kevin Long or Dave Eiland's of the world so the fact that the make it as far as the have speaks to their ability.

If Eiland can make Farnsworth into something get his plaque ready now...

Anonymous said...

You didn't understand why the Yankees hired Eiland?

That's because you're a buffoon.

YankeeGM said...

Ming -

True, I am a buffoon (you and my wife would get along famously), but regardless of TM's endorsement there are many reasons to question whether Eiland was the right choice.

Getting the Big 3 off to a good start will be extremely important to their psyche and even more important to our 2008 season.

My point in the post was to recant what I had written earlier - that I didn't see any way that Eiland could have a very strong relationship with IPK, Phil or Joba due to the short time each was in AAA. As Phil spoke glowingly about how he has worked with Dave for 3 years, I thought my earlier point was off the mark and I said so.

It is still very much debatable as to whether Eiland was the right choice, though.

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