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Eiland joins Royals, talks about leave of absence

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(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

As the Cubs and Red Sox were busy introducing their new President of Baseball Ops and GM on Monday, respectively, the Royals very quietly announced that they had hired Dave Eiland to be their pitching coach. Eiland, of course, filled that same role with the Yankees from 2008-2010, getting the job because he was familiar with the team’s young pitchers (Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy) after serving as their pitching coach in the minors.

During his final season in New York, Eiland took a month long and still unexplained leave of absence from the team, forcing bullpen coach Mike Harkey into pitching coach duties for the month of June. Although we still don’t know why he had to leave the team, Bob Dutton of The KC Star spoke to Eiland about the absence after the Royals announced his hiring…

Eiland took a 25-day leave of absence for personal reasons stemming from family issues in June 2010 from his job as the Yankees’ pitching coach. He was fired after the season and joined the Rays as a special assistant to general manager Andrew Friedman.

“It was something that if it happened in the off-season,” Eiland said, “nobody would have known anything about it. It was something I had to take care of. I came home, got everything where it needed to be and moved on.

“All is well, and I couldn’t be happier from a personal or professional standpoint. As I told Ned (on Monday), I wish spring training was starting tomorrow.”

When the Yankees decided to fire Eiland (technically they didn’t fire him, his contract expired and they decided not to renew it) after last season, Brian Cashman would not go into detail about the decision other than to say it was made for “private and personal” reasons. “He knows why [he was let go]”, said Cashman. “He was given conditions that needed to be followed. So he knows why.” Eiland spent last season with the Rays, scouting amateur pitchers prior to the draft.

Like A.J. Burnett’s black eye, Eiland’s leave of absence is one of the Yankees’ great unsolved mysteries. It was blamed for Burnett’s disastrous June last season (11.35 ERA and a 2.26 WHIP in five starts), but after his awful performance carried over into 2011, I think it’s safe to say the only person that deserves blame for that is A.J. himself. Eiland may be a public figure, but frankly his personal life is none of our business. We’re curious and we can’t help but wonder about the juicy details, but as if often the case with these kinds of things, the reason is something a) not all that juicy, or b) better left unsaid.

Link Dump: Granderson, 2008 Draft, Eiland

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The Yankees are done playing and the workday isn’t quite over, so here’s some links to help you pass the time…

Man of the people. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Granderson Steps Up

New York City banned the use of aluminum bats in high school leagues about four years ago, making the game safer but much more expensive to play. Curtis Granderson stepped in to help out last week, donating 300 Louisville Slugger bats to baseball and softball programs in the Public Schools Athletic League according to Mitch Abramson of The Daily News. The contribution is valued $50,000 or so, which means those are some seriously expensive bats. Good job by the Grandyman, we need to hear more about this stuff.

Aside: If you’re feeling charitable, consider participating in our pledge drive.

Reviewing The 2008 Draft

It’s already been three years since the Yankees drafted and failed to sign not only Gerrit Cole, but second rounder Scott Bittle as well. Cole is in the mix for the first overall pick this season, but concerns about Bittle’s shoulder proved prophetic as the right-hander missed all of last season after blowing out his shoulder. The Yankees turned the compensation picks for the failed signings into Slade Heathcott and J.R. Murphy the next year, which is better than nothing.

But what about the rest of the draft? Marc Hulet at FanGraphs reviews the 2008 AL East draft haul, noting that the Yankees added depth to their farm system with David Adams, Corban Joseph, David Phelps, Brett Marshall, and D.J. Mitchell among others. Mikey O’Brien is starting to make a name for himself at the lower levels, though Jeremy Bleich (the team’s highest signed pick) blew out his shoulder and over-slot signing Garrison Lassiter has fizzled. The jury is still out on Matt Richardson, another over-slot guy. Failing to sign two of your top three picks is a recipe for a disaster draft, though Phelps, Adams, etc. could still salvage the class if they prove useful in some way, even as trade bait.

What’s Dave Eiland Up To?

It’s not quite a case of Where Are They Now?, because we already know that former Yankees pitching coach hooked on with the Rays over the winter in some front office capacity. This is more like: What’s He Doing Exactly? Buster Olney has an update on Eiland today (Insider req’d), reporting that he is cross-checking amateur pitchers for the Rays in advance of their should-be ridiculous draft. The Next Joe DiMaggio Rocco Baldelli is cross-checking position players. A cross-checker is essentially one level up from an area scout, they go in a little later in the spring just to verify previous reports and get a second set of eyes on a player, stuff like that. Tampa holds 12 of the first 89 picks in this June’s draft, so I’m sure those two have been keeping busy.

Yankees Daily Briefing

Just a heads up, friend of RAB Rebecca Glass is doing some work with ESPN New York this summer, posting a daily recap of news and notes from around the Yankees. Here’s today’s entry. There’s no dedicated RSS feed as far as can tell, so you’ll have to schlep though the blog each day, but it’s worth it.

Eiland catches on with the Rays

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Via Joel Sherman, former Yankee pitching coach Dave Eiland has been hired by the Rays to work in an executive capacity, though the team has not announced it yet. I presume he’ll be able to stay in Tampa all year round, which is where he probably lives after spending so many years in the Yankees’ organization. After his month long absence this past June, maybe this is exactly what he wanted. I’d wish him good luck, but not when he’s employed by a direct competitor. Sorry Dave, nothing personal.

Rift between Girardi and Eiland shot down

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You may have seen this report yesterday, indicating that former pitching coach Dave Eiland felt his opinions were “de-emphasized” after his return from a month-long personal leave of absence this past June. Well, Mark Feinsand spoke to Eiland himself, who said the report was “absolutely ridiculous and simply not true.” Glad he cleared that up. He also declined to speak about the circumstances of his dismissal, which should come as no surprise.

Even if the the relationship between Girardi and Eiland did deteriorate after the leave of absence, it’s still pretty much a non-story. When established big leaguers like A.J. Burnett and Javy Vazquez pitch as poorly as they did down the stretch, they’re to blame. Not the coaching staff.

Friday Notes: Pitching Coach, Payroll, Lineup, CC, More

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Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman spoke to the media via conference call today and hit on a few topics, so lets’ round it all up. All the info below comes courtesy of RAB fave Marc Carig…

  • Girardi and Cashman have brainstormed about potential pitching coaches, but so far they have not yet reached out to anyone nor have they scheduled any interviews. Cashman doesn’t expect the process to move quickly, which is kinda surprising. He added that bullpen coach Mike Harkey and Triple-A Scranton pitching coach Scott Aldred are candidates for the job.
  • Cashman on hitting coach Kevin Long: “I think he’d like to stay. We’d like to keep him. I think he’s exceptional at what he does.” K-Long’s contract is up, and I suspect he’s seeking a considerable raise and multiple years. He deserves it.
  • “Nothing’s really going to happen until I sit down with my bosses,” said Cashman. He’ll meet with Hal Steinbrenner and whoever else on Monday and Tuesday in Tampa. The 2011 payroll will be hashed out during those meetings.
  • Beyond pitching, Cashman doesn’t think the team “needs a lot of changes.” The only change they need as far as the lineup goes is for certain guys to get back to performing up to their full potential. That’s the biggest upgrade they could make.
  • “Our lineup is maybe something that could change next year,” said Girardi. I think that’s code for “Derek Jeter won’t keep hitting leadoff if he doesn’t get on base more than 34% of the time,” or at least I hope it is.
  • CC Sabathia was dealing with his knee issue since early in the season, and it had no bearing on why he wasn’t used in relief in Game Six of the ALCS. They suspect it may have affected his mechanics, which is kinda crazy since he still had a Cy Young caliber season. Sabathia had surgery to repair the minor meniscus tear in his right knee today and will need three weeks to rehab, as expected. It won’t hurt his offseason training at all, he usually doesn’t start throwing again until after Christmas anyway.
  • As far as leaving for the Cubs, Girardi said he “didn’t really think about leaving the Yankees.” The idea of him bolting for Chicago was mostly fan and media speculation, anyway. Two and two made three, then we tried to squeeze it into four.

Cashman: Eiland will not return as pitching coach

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Via Mark Feinsand and Marc Carig, Brian Cashman told reporters this afternoon that Dave Eiland will not return as pitching coach in 2011. Cashman said Eiland was not being blamed for the way the pitching staff fell apart down the stretch, and that reasons for his decision to go in a different direction are “private.”

Eiland had been the team’s pitching coach since the 2008, and before that he held the same role with the club’s various minor league affiliates. His contract was up, so technically he isn’t being fired. They’re just not going to bring him back. Eiland missed basically the entire month of June for undisclosed personal reasons this year, and I wonder if that played a role in the move.

Eiland to return Tuesday

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Finally, our long national nightmare is over. Marc Carig reports that pitching coach David Eiland will return from his personal leave of absence on Tuesday when the Yankees begin their series against Seattle. The Yanks are off Monday following tonight’s rubber game against the Dodgers. Hopefully everything worked out well for Eiland, but for selfish reasons I’m glad he’s back.