Time For Yankees’ Eiland Vacation To End, One Way Or Another!
June 11, 2010 · Larry Barnes · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
By Larry Barnes | Yankees ‘n More and The New York Yankees Daily-Press
It is past time for the New York Yankees to have a fulltime pitching coach on staff – a benefit the Yankees haven’t enjoyed for a week and counting. That’s because Dave Eiland has some unnamed personal issue that has kept him away from the team.
Call it cold-hearted if you must, but the world doesn’t stop because Eiland can’t show up to work and doing his job. The Yankees have to keep playing, and many of their starting pitchers are suddenly struggling.
In fact, only two starters in the last six games (the time missed thus far by Eiland) have not experienced mechanical/command issues. Those would be Andy Pettitte and Javier Vazquez in their respective most recent starts.
Everybody else – A.J. Burnett (twice), Phil Hughes and CC Sabathia – has struggled mightily to command, among other things, their fastballs.
Such problems are almost always a sign of something a little off in the mechanics and noticing such things is one of the primary responsibilities of the pitching coach.
In fact, Sabathia struggled with mechanics a few starts back. It happened while Eiland was away to “attend his daughter’s graduation.”
SIDEBAR ISSUE: In light of recent events, it seems reasonable to question whether or not that was actually the reason for Eiland’s absence.
After Sabathia struggled through that previously mentioned game, there was no mention of anybody having spotted anything off with his mechanics. That is to say, nobody until the pitching coach returned and watched the tape.
Eiland said he “immediately noticed” a small flaw in Sabathia’s mechanics that was “easily correctible.”
One can only wonder how things might have been different were Eiland on the job to “immediately notice” this “easily correctible” flaw DURING the game.
Perhaps there were also little “easily correctible” things that went unnoticed during the Yankees road trip, which saw 67% of their starting pitchers used struggle with the same types of issues.
If only there were a real pitching coach around who might notice such things. Instead, the Yankees are trying to, in their words, “get by as best (they) can” with a bullpen coach serving as their pitching coach while Eiland’s absence continues with no end in sight.
General manager Brian Cashman, in fact, was specifically asked if Eiland might miss the rest of the season. His answer made it clear that the GM has no idea when or if Eiland might be ready to return.
“(Eiland) is taking some personal time and is expected to return as soon as practical,” Cashman said.
It is past time for the New York Yankees to once again have a fulltime and fully-invested pitching coach on staff. If Dave Eiland isn’t capable of showing up for work and/or doing his job, replace him with somebody who can.
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