Dave Eiland lands with Rays

One of the original Rays returns home

Former Yankee pitching coach Dave Eiland has found himself employment, but not somewhere Yankee fans will be happy about. Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News has the details:

Dave Eiland is back in the AL East. The former Yankee pitching coach was named a special assistant for Tampa Bay Wednesday. He’ll work in scouting and player development for the Rays, the team he pitched for from 1998-2000.

Eiland’s duties will include amateur, minor-league and big-league scouting, although his knowledge of the Yankees may be his biggest asset. “Absolutely, whatever I can give ‘em to help, I can do that,” Eiland told the St. Petersburg Times. “And I’ve got plenty of (secrets to share). They’re the enemy now.”

There’s only one thing left for the Yanks to do. Bring this man back.

In all seriousness, I don’t think this means much. Pro scouting reports have pitcher’s repertoire, tendencies, weaknesses, etc. Everyone in Baseball knows each others players along with what they do well and what they don’t, if anything the job of a pitching coach is to manage that profile and try to help the player overcome what everyone already knows about him. On the professional level in most sports, it really comes down to execution. Dave lives down in Florida, and with the personal issues he had last year that forced him to take a month off mid-season it appears he wanted to be close to home. I always liked Dave Eiland and I wish him well on a personal level, if not the team he now works for.