Yankees Announce 2016 Coaching Staff

Mike Harkey is back as the bullpen coach of the New York Yankees. Harkey, a close friend of manager Joe Girardi, was recently relieved of his duties as the pitching coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks after a losing season in 2015. Harkey replaces the man that replaced him, Gary Tuck. Tony Pena will take over the duties of working with the catchers now that Tuck is gone.

Manager: Joe Girardi
Bench Coach: Rob Thomson
First Base Coach: Tony Pena
Third Base Coach: Joe Espada
Bullpen Coach: Mike Harkey
Pitching Coach: Larry Rothschild
Hitting Coach: Alan Cockrell
Assistant Hitting Coach: Marcus Thames

Possible Replacements for Gary Tuck and Jeff Pentland

Late Sunday night it was announced that the New York Yankees would not be bringing back their hitting coach Jeff Pentland or their bullpen coach Gary Tuck for the 2016 season. In 2016 New York will have their third hitting coach in as many years and their second bullpen coach in three years with the departures of Pentland and Tuck. Surely the Yankees have a list of possible replacements and I will take my best educated guess at this list here for you today in order of likelihood of being hired by the club.

Hitting Coach:

Alan Cockrell

Marcus Thames

James Rowson

Jason Giambi

Dave Magadan

Bullpen Coach:

Mike Harkey

Scott Aldred

Jeff Pentland & Gary Tuck Will Not Return

The New York Yankees have announced that two of their coaches from the 2015 season will not return next season. The Yankees primary hitting coach Jeff Pentland was told when he signed that he would only be around for one year while New York's bullpen coach Gary Tuck was also informed he would not return to the team in 2016.

Pentland's assistant hitting coach Alan Cockrell could get promoted to the main position while it seems like New York will head into 2016 with two hitting coaches once again. Tuck received praise from Yankees catcher Brian McCann who cited his improvement in the throwing game and defensively can be dated back to his workouts with Tuck this season.

Gary Tuck Named New Yankees Bullpen Coach

Gary Tuck was the immediate front runner for the vacant Yankees bullpen coach job when Mike Harkey left to be the pitching coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks and today that came to fruition. This is Tuck's 32nd year in professional baseball as a player, coach, scout, and manager and was most recently the Boston Red Sox bullpen coach from 2007-2012. It is also worth mentioning that Tuck was current Yankees manager Joe Girardi's bench coach in 2006 while both men were with the Florida Marlins.

Gary Tuck To Be Our Next Bullpen Coach

The New York Yankees need to replace their bullpen coach after Mike Harkey left to be the pitching coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks and we may have our guy in Gary Tuck. Tuck has been a Yankees coach in the past, and even the bullpen coach in the 90's, and looks to be all but back for 2014. Brian Cashman basically confirmed it in an interview today when asked if Tuck would be the bullpen coach:

“I don’t have it done, but more likely than not, Gary Tuck will be our bullpen coach.” 

In other Yankees coaching news former Royals manager Trey Hillman is now in the Yankees organization as a pro scout and player developer. Former Cubs manager Mike Quade is the Yankees new roving outfield and base running instructor and will work with players in all levels. Eric Hinske was a Yankees scout for about a month, you can remember him from being a Yankees player in 2009, and is now the Cubs first base coach so congratulations to him.

List Of Potential Replacements For Mike Harkey

Mike Harkey got a pitching coach job with the Arizona Diamondbacks leaving a hole in the Yankees bullpen coach seat and George A King released a list of possible replacements. The list includes internal options like Cal Eldred as well as outside of the organization replacements.

Cal Aldred is currently the Scranton Wilkes Barre pitching coach and is seemingly the early favorite to replace Harkey as the bullpen coach as he was interviewed by the Diamondback as well. The Yankees have a couple of other internal options including Greg Pavlick, Gil Patterson, Tom Nieto, and Julio Mosquera. Pavlich is a senior pitching instructor with the team and spent time as a bullpen coach in the 80's and 90's with the New York Mets. Patterson is a minor league pitching instructor in the organization with experience as a former Blue Jays pitching coach. Nieto was a big league catcher for seven seasons and was the Yankees catching instructor in the 2000 and 2001 season and was also the Mets first base coach in 2008. Mosquera has been the Yankees catching coordinator for the past eight seasons and is very involved during the Yankees Spring Training work outs.

Former Manager of the Year Dave Miley, formerly of the Scranton Wilkes Barre RailRiders and a quick term as a manager in the Dominican Winter League, is also available. Miley was a minor league catcher for seven seasons in the Red system and managed the Reds from 2003 to the mid way point of the 2005 season.

There are also a few options outside of the organization including Gary Tuck who was the Yankees bullpen coach way back in 1990 and recently was the Yankees catching instructor in the 1998 and 1999 seasons tutoring now manager Joe Girardi. Tuck was also the Marlins bench coach under Joe Girardi in 2006. From 2007 - 2012 Tuck was the Boston Red Sox's bullpen coach.

If I had to rank the candidates I would have to think that Aldred is the early favorite followed by Tuck and then a cluster of everyone else.