Yankees Expected to Replace Eric Chavez

The Mets made Chavez their hitting coach just a few weeks after the Yankees named him an assistant hitting coach.

The Yankees need a new assistant hitting coach after the Mets poached Eric Chavez on Thursday.

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand first reported that Chavez will become the Mets’ top hitting coach. The Yankees announced Chavez and Casey Dykes would join the team as assistant hitting coaches in mid-December, serving under new hitting coach Dillon Lawson. Now the pinstripers need a new assistant after granting the Mets permission to interview Chavez for a cross-town promotion.

The Yankees are expected to hire an additional hitting coach, according to The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler. It has become more common for teams to employ multiple hitting coaches and assistants, and Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone have expressed a desire to keep with those industry standards.

Chavez’s flip to Flushing offers him a more prominent job, as well as a chance to reunite with Mets GM Billy Eppler. The two worked together when they were previously with the Yankees and Angels. Chavez, who is believed to have managerial aspirations, will also get to work with a seasoned skipper in Buck Showalter.

Boone was excited about adding Chavez to his staff earlier this offseason. The former third baseman enjoyed a distinguished 17-year MLB career that saw him win six Gold Gloves with the A’s before winding down his career with the Yankees and Diamondbacks. Chavez then worked as a special assistant with the Yankees and Angels before becoming the Halos’ Triple-A manager.

Given Chavez’s wide-ranging skills as a player and his post-retirement experience, Boone envisioned the former Silver Slugger being more than just an assistant hitting coach.

"I kind of view him as a little bit of a Swiss Army [knife], where he's going to have a lot of different responsibilities, he's going to have his hands on a lot of different things, and it's a role that I feel like is going to evolve as he allows it to," Boone said just over two weeks ago.

That description could hint at the type of candidate the Yankees look for when replacing Chavez. It's also worth noting that his departure leaves Boone and bullpen coach Mike Harkey as the only members of the Yankees' staff with significant major league experience.

They had five such coaches last season.

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