Yankees Replace Billy Eppler, Sort Of

The New York Yankees lost their assistant GM to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in Billy Eppler this offseason but the team has wasted zero time in replacing him, sort of. Eppler was the assistant GM to Yankees GM Brian Cashman and will be replaced by former Major League player Tim Naehring. Naehring will likely sit at the same desk that Eppler sat at but he will not have the fancy plaque with the title of assistant GM attached to his name.

Naehring was hired as a scout by the team in 2007 and has been one of Cashman’s most trusted advisors on players the Yankees should look at acquiring. Naehring recommended Didi Gregorius to Cashman this winter and has been involved in other top tier signings and trades for the Yankees in his nine seasons with the team.

Naehring, 48-years old, played eight Major League seasons with the Boston Red Sox from 1990-1997 and retired at only 30-years old due to injury. Naehring entered the Cincinnati Reds organization after retiring as a director of player development before being moved to minor league field coordinator. Naehring was let go after a shakeup in Cincinnati following the 2007 season and has been with the Yankees ever since. Now he’s taking the next step to the top, congratulations to him. 

Will Kuntz Leaves Team For MLS, Martone To Replace

UPDATE: Brian Cashman confirmed that Steve Martone would be the man to replace Wil Kuntz in the Yankees pro scouting department. Martone has long been a baseball operations staffer, according to Andrew Marchand on Twitter..

There's been a change in the Yankees' scouting department. Will Kuntz, the Yankees' manager of pro scouting, has decided to take a job with Major League Soccer.

Brian Cashman said that Kuntz loves soccer, so taking the position (the specifics of which are currently unknown) isn't a surprise. And seeing as how Kuntz was unable to find any hidden gems like Bartolo Colon or Eric Chavez since taking over as the manager of pro scouting in 2011, the team wanting to move on wouldn't be a surprise either.

There's no word on who will be hired to replace Kuntz, who took over for Billy Epler when Epler was promoted to Assistant General Manager, but chances are that that somebody will come from within.

Yankees Coaching Staff Notes

Just a couple minor notes from the Yankees coaching staff in the organization:

Pro Scout Rick Williams has left the New York Yankees organization for an opportunity in the same role for the Atlanta Braves. Williams and Braves GM Frank Wren have been friends for quite some time now as they used to play baseball together and both spent time with the Florida Marlins in their organization so the deal makes sense for both sides. Williams was said to scout potential pitching pick ups at the trading deadline and since we haven't done much of that lately I guess this won't be the biggest of losses.

AA Trenton Thunder hitting coach Justin Turner is not coming back for the 2014 for an undisclosed reason. Usually do not hear about these things after a team wins a championship but maybe this is for personal reasons or reasons that better Mr. Turners career and life. Marcus Thames, the guy that hit that home run off of Randy Johnson, is currently the High A Tampa Yankees hitting coach and is likely to get the job.

New York Yankees Sign Joe Espada

The first signing since the Derek Jeter contract has been announced today when the Yankees signed Joe Espada. Who? Espada is signed to be a special assistant and scout possibly taking the place of the recently departed Don Wakamatsu. Last anyone saw Espada was when he was the third base coach and minor league manager in the Miami Marlins organization. This is obviously a behind the scenes kind of signing but if it helps us get back to the promised land then I am all for it. Welcome to the family, Joe.

Damon Oppenheimer Will Not Be Replaced

Early in the offseason for the Yankees Hal Steinbrenner and company sat down to discuss a plethora of things, namely the Yankees farm systems and lack of impact talent to come out of it lately. Almost immediately the speculation on whose heads were ready to roll and Damon Oppenheimer was one of the initial names released but Oppenheimer seems to be coming back for 2014.

According to Mark Feinsand of the Daily News the 50 year old Oppenheimer will keep his job as the teams amateur scout director until his contract expires at the end of this season. If the Yankees had not had the third best draft this season according to Baseball America I believe this post could have been written in a totally different direction but the Yankees seem to be willing to let Oppenheimer have one more shot at it.