The Yankees have been busy this afternoon, announcing a three-year extension for general manager Brian Cashman and letting go of two long time coaches. According to Mark Feinsand, the team has fired hitting coach Kevin Long and will not retain first base coach Mick Kelleher. The Long news doesn't really come as a surprise after a season where the offense stayed mainly healthy but failed to hit to expectations. Long wasn't blamed for the offensive fiasco that was 2013, but the team obviously felt like it was the right time to make a move after another season of lackluster offense.
Mick Kelleher being let go makes less sense. Not sure what the Yankees saw that made them feel like his services were no longer needed as first base coach, but obviously they felt like they needed a change there as well. Unfortunately, there has been no word yet of third base coach abomination Rob Thomson being let go. After the Yankees were routinely thrown out at the plate in 2014 because of questionable sends I would have thought that his firing would have been one of the first dominoes to fall.
Long has served as the team's hitting coach since 2007 after serving as the hitting coach for the team's Triple-A affiliate in Columbus from 2004 to 2006. Kelleher was a defensive coordinator in the Yankees' minor league system before taking Tony Pena's spot as first base coach when Pena took over as bench coach.
Feinsand also suggests that more changes are coming:
Look for Mike Harkey to return to the Yankees as bullpen coach. Gary Tuck could become Girardi's bench coach again, which he was in Miami.
— Mark Feinsand (@FeinsandNYDN) October 10, 2014The Harkey/Tuck concept is purely my guess; not based on any solid information. In that scenario, Tony Pena could become the 1B coach.
— Mark Feinsand (@FeinsandNYDN) October 10, 2014Do you agree with the Yankees' decision to let both Long and Kelleher go? What other personnel changes do you think they need to make this offseason?