If those assumptions are true, then Eiland did something that might be embarrassing to the Yankees (and to Eiland) or things that the Yankees perceived as unprofessional. And it seems likely to me that Cashman needed to do something public to appease some third party like an employee or player.

What I can’t understand is, how or why did the team let Eiland come back after he did whatever he did? He must have been perceived as an important coach.

A-Rod .597
Jeter .661
Tex .554
Cano 1.133

OK, I threw Cano in there for kicks. But seriously, Cano nearly doubled the OPS of any two of those guys.

Cashman, on the other hand, has not directly said what his issues with Eiland were, but his discomfort in dealing with the subject is interesting and will be telling if it continues a week from now.

The bigger problem becomes an issue going forward with our multi-millionaire infield and our sawbuck outfield. Cano and to an extent Grandy are the only ones who hit about what you would hope they would, but the others fell through. You can’t zero in on Nick Swisher when Alex, Derek and Teix don’t carry the team the way THEY are expected to. Nick is not supposed to carry the team, and to be honest neither is Cano, although he did his part. And outside of Andy, Mo and a few innings of CC, our pitching was crap against a good hitting team.

Finally, the comments about looking old against Texas, but not the Twins… the Twins shouldn’t have made it as far as they did, products of a weak division and injuries to key players. They would’ve been wiped out by any of the playoff teams they faced. The Yanks have issues that were exposed by Texas and a September malaise that lead right to it; they thought they could do a rope-a-dope, but Ali was one man fighting another, not 25 against 25. They have to own up to their issues.

Girardi on Joba Chamberlain: “We consider him a bullpen guy in the back end of the bullpen.” Well, so much for everyone hoping that they’d let him try the starting thing again next season. Maybe in a different uniform.

A little part of me just died.

From a humor perspective alone I would strongly support Roger Clemens (I named him above) as the next pitching coach!

On a somewhat more serious note, I hope that the next p[itching coach has the authority and the inclination to try a little of the ol’ Nolan Ryan philosophy. You know, to get pitchers to go a little deeper into games by throwing a few more pitches. Hey, I can dream, can’t I?

Also, I’m glad they sacked Eiland or he sacked himself or whatever. A new perspective may be helpful getting AJ back to his normal inconsistency. A Burnett Whisperer might also be a Joba Whisperer? Seems like the same tricks might work with both of them.

Looking back, my mind still reels at the incredible build-up to taking the wheels off of Joba the Starter, only to anti-climactically make him a reliever (and I was one who didn’t really believe in Joba the Starter).

Anyway, it seems to me Kevin Long could sometimes “fix” hitters; I’m not sure I saw any evidence that Eiland could do that with pitchers, though maybe it was a tougher hill to climb with some of these bozos.

[7] I dislike “celebrity” coaches. Guidry thing didn’t work out too well, IIRC.

Wasn’t it the Red Sox pitching coach who left to manage the Blue Jays? So now we gotta compete with them there as well.

I want to know why Eiland is not coming back because I want to know, within reason, the workings of the front office and coaching staff, because in turn it bears directly on such decisions as what pitching coach is hired (and related, what qualities or philosophies are they looking for) and, for that matter, what sorts of players are targeted.

I don’t think the issues are at all separable.

As fans were are interested in this sort of thing. In fact, you wrote I’m more interested in who is replacing him. But, who is replacing Eiland may very well be bound up in why Eiland is being replaced to begin with.

Here’s an interesting pitching-related tidbit via RAB

Andy Pettitte’s back and hamstrings tightened up during his Game Two start in the ALDS, which is why he was pushed back to Game Three of the ALCS. Andy also had to cut his between-start bullpen session short, and if the LDS had gone five games there’s a chance he might not have been able to start.