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Well, the Yankees found their guy. Clearly, the Yankees must have been in contact with Sean Casey weeks ago, because having Dillion Lawsons replacement in less than 24 hour is quite eye opening.
That's neither here nor there. Sean Casey is the guy, and he has some big problems to fix. Per ESPN, New York's .231 batting average is 28th among the 30 major league teams, ahead of only Detroit and Oakland. The Yankees are batting a major-league-worst .218 in 31 games since Aaron Judge tore a ligament in his right big toe on June 3, going 14-17 and entering the All-Star break in fourth place of the AL East at 49-42.
How can he drastically improve the Yankees offense with Aaron Judge out? How does he fix Stanton, LeMahieu, Rizzo, pretty much everybody and turning them back into the Bronx Bombers?
We'll find out by the end of the week, but for now, here's what Alex Rodriguez had to say.
"Best communicator, likeable guy", what's not to like? I mean, his nickname is "The Mayor", and that's because of his enthusiasm for meeting and helping others, Sean Casey proved to be one of baseball's best ambassadors through his determination to benefit his teammates and community at large.
The reaction has been a mixed bag, and one of the reasons why I don't love Yankees Twitter (from time to time). The guy hasn't even started yet and there are already people claiming he doesn't no anything.
What we do know is that Casey is well respected amongst the baseball community, and had a pretty decent career playing in the MLB. Across 12 years, he was a 3x All-Star and also a member of the Reds Hall of Fame. He has a career .302 batting average, with 130 home runs and 735 runs batted in. Sean Casey hit .410 with 16 hits, 2 homers, 9 RBIs and 3 runs scored in 12 games in the postseason in his career. Not too shabby.
He retired in 2008 after playing seven seasons for the Reds, and made stops in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Boston. From there, Casey became an analyst for MLB Network, and was part of MLB Tonight, the Sprin7g Training series 30 Clubs in 30 Days, the children-focused weekly interview and demonstration show Play Ball and MLB Network's special event coverage throughout the year.
He also has ties with Aaron Boone, his former teammate in Cincy. Brian Cashman said that the next Yankees hitting coach would be someone who is in lockstep and in line with the manager, so you can consider that a positive, or roll your eyes in negativity.
Can his playing career transfer to coaching, we'll find out soon enough, but overall this is a solid hire in my book. Fresh eyes, new perspective, and hunger to prove people wrong. Change is good, and hopefully this is the first change move that occurs. Can't wait for Yankees baseball to return, and hopefully with a new sense of urgency, and more pop on the end of the bats.