Yanks could bolster coaching, scouting with Peterson and Towers

What better way to take your mind off the rain than with some proposed additions to the Yankees coaching and scouting staff?

After Kevin Towers lost his job earlier this month, Mike wondered whether he’d be a good addition for the Yankees. With his scouting acumen, it certainly couldn’t hurt. Earlier this week, Buster Olney noted that the Yankees might be a good fit for Towers:

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has long been friends with Kevin Towers, who was recently released from his duties as GM of the Padres, and given that relationship, there would appear to be excellent odds that Towers will land with the Yankees as a special assistant sometime in the months ahead. Towers could serve as an evaluator for Cashman, taking on responsibilities like looking for pitching — which is considered to be Towers’ specialty — or scouting minor leaguers, or helping to prepare the Yankees as they consider options before the trade deadline.

After the Padres fired him, Towers said that he’s not looking for an office gig.

“I know I don’t want to be in an office if I’m not a general manager. And I’m not looking for a job where I feel the GM might be in jeopardy, that’s not me.

“I want to be with a team where I know and trust the people I’m working with and feel I can make a contribution. I’d be happy to scout and to be the eyes and ears for a GM if that’s what is needed. I just want to be in a position where I can help a team compete,” added Towers.

That would seem to make him an ideal candidate for the Yankees. With the team running deep into the postseason, it appears Brian Cashman’s job is not in jeopardy. Towers would be free to scout, evaluate, and contribute. That’s the way he wants it, and it appears that opportunity could exist with the Yankees.

In what seems like a throwaway line in his latest column, Jon Heyman connects Rick Peterson to the Yankees. “Peterson, a New Jersey resident, also might have a chance to become a pitching coordinator for the Yankees.” This would be stupendous, especially if he’d be working with the minor league pitchers.

It might seem like this would be stepping on Nardi Contreras’s toes, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Peterson, an expert in biomechanics, could evaluate in a different way than Contreras. Plus, you can never have enough information on pitchers. For more on Peterson, check out his video breaking down the Yankees pitching, and his Pitching Perspectives archive at Full Count Pitch.

The Yankees might not add major free agents this off-season, but they’d do well to look into Peterson and Towers to boost their behind the scenes staffs. Sometimes those moves can be just as important as the player personnel ones.