Ex-Yankees Hitting Coach Lands Back To Yankees With A New Role…
After being let go by the New York Yankees, Dillon Lawson, the former hitting coach for the team, returned to Major League Baseball and joined the Boston Red Sox.
At the time of Lawson’s firing on July 9, the Yankees were 49-42 and were hitting a paltry .231 while sporting a .410 slug percentage.
The Yankees’ punch and efficiency at the plate were below par, which showed in their record, even though they had trouble finding their rhythm due to injuries to players like Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton, and Aaron Judge, to mention a few.
After Lawson’s departure, the Yankees went 33-40 to close out the season. Lawson did not deserve all the blame for the Yankees’ inability to generate wins behind a strong offense but was let go nonetheless. He also noted that his daughters came first as he stepped away to care for them.
Lawson now becomes a member of the Red Sox, a team that placed 13th overall with 1,372 strikeouts in 2023 and 18th in the majors with 182 home runs. The Red Sox had a poor season as well, finishing 78-84, but they are gearing up for a comeback in 2024 because their name is frequently associated with elite free agents.
When Lawson plays for the Red Sox next season and returns to the Bronx, it will be interesting to watch him coach for a fierce rival team like the Yankees.
READ MORE:
Former GM Talks Yankees’ Yamamoto Chances
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a top pitching prospect, has met with the New York Yankees twice in free agency thus far.
Now that the 25-year-old pitcher has spent a year scouting, meeting, and investing time in him, it’s time for him to decide what his baseball future holds.
And one former baseball general manager said that the Yankees are unquestionably a contender.
Jim Bowden, formerly the general manager of three Major League teams, now works for The Athletic. On X (formerly Twitter), he provided an update of what he was hearing in the field when it came to Yamamoto’s free agency.
Based on what he’s hearing the Yankees are one of two favorites to land Yamamoto, along with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Bowden also expects the Yankees’ cross-town rivals, the New York Mets, or the San Francisco Giants, to make the highest bid for the right-hander.
Regarding compensation, he anticipates Yamamoto to sign a contract in the $250–$300 million range, with a potential eight–12 year duration. This would result in a posting fee owed to his Nippon Professional Baseball Club, the Orix Buffaloes, of about $50 million.
The wild card is what Yamamoto values — money, team situation, both or other factors?
Yamamoto has until Jan. 4 to reach a deal. Bowden expects him to have a deal this week.
Whoever signs Yamamoto will be getting a rare player, one that won three straight Pacific League MVP awards, along with three straight Sawamura Awards, which is the Japanese Cy Young.
He is only the third player to win an MVP award three straight years in the NPB, along with Ichiro Suzuki and Hisashi Yamada.
Yamamoto pitched 164 innings in 2023 and finished 16-6 with a 1.21 ERA, striking out 169 batters. In Game 6 of the Japan Series, he set a series record by striking out 14 batters, throwing his second no-hitter of the season.
Yamamoto’s record is 70-29. Although his fastball is in the mid-90s, hitters are most familiar with his variety of breaking pitches. Additionally, he won gold medals for Japan at the 2023 World Baseball Classic and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.