Long Excited to Join "On the Rise" Mets

Former Yankees Hitting Coach Kevin Long is excited to join the Mets.

Long, 47, was hired for the same position by New York's NL representative yesterday. In eight seasons with the Yanks, in spite of his struggles lately, Long often proved contributive, helping the club average at least 4.5 runs per game each year from 2007-2012.

"I'm excited to get the opportunity to work with a team that I think is on the rise," Long said yesterday, via MLB.com. "I had a great meeting with [GM] Sandy [Alderson] and [manager] Terry [Collins] yesterday, and I can't wait to get started and help in any way I can."

Alderson also expressed confidence in Long switching boroughs, calling the move to acquire him a "very positive step" for the team. 

"Kevin's experience, success, and wealth of knowledge make him the perfect fit as our hitting instructor," he said. 

As those attributes should, with Long's Yankees only batting lower than .260 twice during his tenure with them. Nonetheless, since that duo did unfortunately come over the last two seasons it's basically a mystery how Long's offenses will perform now that he's in Queens, especially since the Mets are obviously a lot younger going into 2015 than their crosstown rivals.