The Mets began the offseason by swiping back pages from the Yankees by signing big name players and hiring veteran manager Buck Showalter. Now, they are stealing personnel. After the Yankees made their biggest splash of the winter by naming former Gold Glover Eric Chavez an assistant hitting coach, they have lost him to the Mets, an industry source confirmed.
MLB.com was first to report the news of Chavez leaving for the Mets.
Instead of being Aaron Boone’s “Swiss Army (knife),” of a coach in the Bronx, the 17-year big leaguer will instead be Showalter’s hitting coach with the Mets. He joins a staff that is expected to include Joey Cora as third base coach and Wayne Kirby as first base coach. Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner was the only on-field coach retained from Luis Rojas’ staff.
It is customary for coaches to be let out of their contracts/agreements for a position that is considered a promotion.
The Mets had actually considered Chavez to become their bench coach, according to multiple people with knowledge of the process. Mets brass debated whether Chavez was a better fit as the team’s primary hitting instructor, or Showalter’s man Friday. Following a tricky negotiation process with the Yankees, the Mets tabbed Chavez as their hitting coach with the intention to name a younger, analytics-driven individual as their bench coach. The Mets have not yet announced their bench coach, but are expected to fill their entire staff by the weekend.
The Yankees had announced their finalized coaching staff just before Christmas with minor league hitting coordinator Dillon Lawson promoted to hitting coach, replacing Marcus Thames. Desi Druschel went from being the team’s minor league manager of pitching development to an assistant pitching coach. Casey Dykes, the Triple-A Scranton hitting coach as an assistant to Lawson. The former Mets manager Rojas is the Yankees’ new third base/outfield coach and announced that longtime minor league coach and field coordinator Travis Chapman will replace Reggie Willits as the first base coach.
Returning to the staff are bench coach Carlos Mendoza, pitching coach Matt Blake, long-time bullpen coach Mike Harkey and catching coordinator and quality-control coach Tanner Swanson.
Boone had said that while Chavez would officially be called the assistant to Lawson, he envisioned his impact in many more ways.
“So he’s someone that I kind of wanted to dig on a little bit more and talk to, and it’s kind of this role I’ve had, in my head …. he had a great career, a prominent Major League career, the great defender, outstanding player hitter, has worn some different hats already post (playing) career from a front office standpoint,” Boone said last month of hiring Chavez.
“So I’ve kind of envisioned this role of having this guy that can kind of grow in a role, and brings the presence to the coaching staff, brings a presence to the room, and I feel like, has a lot of things to offer,” the Yankees manager continued. “As I kind of dug in and started to have conversations with him, (as) we put him through the interview process, he, in a lot of ways, blew me away.
“He’s got a really good perspective on the game. He’s very open minded. So, he’s part of the hitting crew, which he absolutely is, he’s got to be more than that, I kind of view him as a little bit of a Swiss Army (knife), where he’s gonna have a lot of different responsibilities, he’s gonna have his hands and a lot of different things.”
Perhaps most notably, Chavez would have been a voice of experience in the clubhouse. Now, Boone and bullpen coach Mike Harkey are the only two coaches who played in the big leagues.
The Yankees have instead doubled down on analytics over experience with their on-field staff. Boone, however, said he still values experience in the big leagues.
“We’re trying to find the best coaches and the best people to impact our guys,” Boone said. “I think probably for a long time, we probably were a little pigeon-holed with ‘it has to be a guy with big league service time.’ That is absolutely a value and part of a checklist that checks a box for a lot of people. Experience matters, what they’ve done matters. But we’re also probably closing ourselves off to a lot of really great coaches because in a lot of ways that was a prerequisite.”
“Ultimately players (ask) ‘Can you help me and are you helping me?'”
