(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
The New York Yankees are last in the AL East with a 50-47 record.
Their offense is stuck in mediocrity without the injured Aaron Judge: as of Friday afternoon, they rank 20th out of 30 MLB teams in runs scored with 422 and 22nd in OPS with a .705 mark.
The offensive struggles have been real, especially of late.
They were so bad that the organization decided to fire hitting coach Dillon Lawson several days ago, appointing former big leaguer Sean Casey as his replacement.
What drove the Yankees to dismiss a coach in-season, something they rarely do?
Well, MLB insider Jon Heyman shed some light on the situation, via Fireside Yankees on Twitter.
THAT was your tipping point, Hal?… #RepBX pic.twitter.com/foLEF4lWRM
— Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) July 21, 2023
Jameson Taillon, who pitched for the Yankees in 2021 and 2022, has a horrible 6.05 ERA in 77.1 innings with the Chicago Cubs.
However, on July 7, he blanked the Yankees for eight innings.
It was his first scoreless outing since April 15.
That apparently drove Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner crazy and pushed him towards dismissing Lawson just two days after the outing.
Lawson had no big league experience as a hitter but did boast an incredible background in analytics work.
Casey, on the other hand, was a brilliant hitter back in the day and had been working as an analyst and commentator for MLB Network for years.
He hasn’t had too much fortune on his side in his first few days on the job, though.
Still, it’s still very early into his tenure to draw any conclusions.
If the Yankees can get back Judge soon (he is getting closer to returning from a toe injury), they have a shot at turning around their season.
If not, they could be watching the postseason on TV.
The post MLB Insider Reports What Drove The Yankees To Fire Hitting Coach appeared first on The Cold Wire.