ESPN:
ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney reports that Yankees great Ron Guidry likely won't be invited back to the team's coaching staff, even if Torre returns for a 13th season.
The New York Post first reported Wednesday that "speculation is growing" that Guidry wouldn't return if Torre is ousted.
According to the Post, the internal favorite to replace Guidry is Dave Eiland, who worked with young arms Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy in the team's minor league system.
I've always been a big fan of Ron Guidry and he'll always be a beloved Yankee, but I'm afraid he's not a very good pitching coach. Of course, the decline of the Yankee pitching staff is not entirely his fault because he didn't exactly have a lot of talent to work with the last couple of years. One can't always expect a mere mortal to turn s**t into diamonds (see: Igawa, Kei in addition to many, many others).
Nonetheless, with the revival of the Yankees' farm system and young pitching talent, I believe this is the right move and makes a lot of sense. Eiland is already very familiar with the trinity (his guidance helped turn Hughes around in September and October) and their progress and maturity as major league pitchers will likely have a very large impact on this team's success over the next couple of years.
Now, this piece did originate from a George King column, so we always have to take anything he says with a truckload of road salt. That said, I'd be surprised if this rumor doesn't turn out to be true. The writing has been on the wall ever since Eiland was sent to the big club in September to work directly with the young kids.