3 big-name hitting coach options Yankees should've targeted over Sean Casey

Remember when the New York Yankees hit too many home runs? Remember when their "patience and power" approach wreaked havoc on opposing pitchers, but never quite lined up with their own pitching to deliver the special season this fan base deserves? Ahh, memories.

Now, the Yankees rank towards the bottom of the barrel in all relevant offensive statistics, both with and without Aaron Judge. When Judge is active, he's a pretty effective wallpaper for a terrible apartment. When he's not available, this lineup is comprised of nine separate tire fires looking to pass the baton to the next puddle of gloop.

Hitting coach Dillon Lawson -- who you may remember from his ingenious philosophy "Hit Strikes Hard," which is right up there with Plato and Aristotle's best work -- was dismissed on Sunday for his efforts to turn things around. In a pair of stunners, Brian Cashman fired his first-ever coach in-season, then followed up that whammy by revealing he planned to go outside the organization to replace his previous hitting coach.

Most cynical Yankees fans assumed that anyone who replaced Lawson would be a puppet who could implement (and fail) with the same philosophy. It's far too soon to give Cashman any type of credit, but it's mildly encouraging that he's at least willing to put a completely different face on top of the team's current veteran garbage dump.

The Yankees reportedly intended to have a new hire in place when they resumed the second half in Colorado, and three major names were immediately mentioned by team insiders. Each would've brought impactful name recognition and pedigree to the team.

Clearly, that intention was real, as the new (and shocking) name leaked on Monday afternoon: MLB Network's Sean Casey, a former teammate of Aaron Boone's with the Cincinnati Reds. Casey has no discernible MLB coaching experience, though he is nicknamed "The Mayor".

The Casey Era has yet to bear any fruit, and he's only going to be with the Yankees through 2023 before another determination must be made. Still, it seemed like the other names mentioned would've been better fits.

[Also -- UGHHH -- New York obviously should've hired ex-Red Sox hitting coach Tim Hyers when he was unceremoniously dismissed a few years back. Hyers has since rejuvenated the Texas Rangers' offensive attack; the Yankees rank at the bottom of the league in all categories. Another former Red Sox guru, Andy Barkett, is now the White Sox hitting coordinator, and is also unavailable. Cool.]

3 Well-Known Hitting Coach Options Yankees Should've Hired

Eric Chavez, Mets Bench Coach

Once upon a time, Eric Chavez was nearly the Yankees' assistant hitting coach under Lawson. Two weeks after reportedly being hired, he bolted and went to the Mets instead, giving interviews about how he fundamentally does not believe that .190 hitters who combine power with strikeouts are the way of baseball's future.

The Yankees, uh, have a lot of those.

In order to speak with Chavez again, the Yankees and Mets would have to shake hands, something that hasn't been uncommon in Steve Cohen's era. He gets along with Hal Steinbrenner quite well, which is why it was so strange that Chavez bolted the Bronx in the first place.

He originally left the Yankees for a promotion. Would "bench coach to hitting coach" be viewed as another one? Would the Yankees rather speak to Carlos Beltrán, a fan favorite who's also currently one of Cohen's employees, holding a Mets front office role? Beltrán's been the more widely-discussed name in the wake of Lawson's firing (and, once upon a time, was a Yankees managerial candidate), but Chavez would also seem to make some sense, and there's a history here. Then again, the 2022 Mets offense that he oversaw famously dinked and dunked their way to 101 wins. Not ... totally the Yankee Way. Clearly, that's why New York preferred the untested Casey.

Chili Davis, former Yankees DH

Having a former player at the helm of this Yankees offense -- at least for the rest of this season -- would seem beneficial. The 2022 Yankees were better than the 2023 unit (barely, especially in the second half), and at least they hit homers and scored nearly five runs per game, when the dust settled. Some of the credit there went to Hensley Meulens, a former Yankee who left his assistant coaching perch this offseason to become the Rockies' lead hitting coach. Another promotion! Things aren't going ... fantastically in Colorado, but Meulens is missed in New York.

Since they can't have Bam Bam back, some theorized on Sunday about another well-traveled former Yankee taking over: Chili Davis, who captured rings in 1998 and '99 as New York's veteran DH.

The main issue with Davis' candidacy is that he's available ... because he was ultimately dismissed from four different stops between 2012 and 2021. He was the man behind the Oakland A's well-balanced offensive attack from 2012-2014, a semi-anonymous team that still managed to win 94, 96, and 88 games in a three-year span. That final year featured a summer collapse and Wild Card Game flameout, and he bore the brunt of it. Davis then worked with the 2015-2017 Red Sox, featuring two playoff-bound offenses, before being forced out in favor of Boston's own guru. His final two gigs came with the 2018 Cubs and 2019-2021 Mets. Both did not end fantastically.

Davis has valuable experience, and could have been a patchwork option (like Casey) for the remainder of 2023 on a prove-it deal. Unfortunately, the last time he worked with an offense this untalented, he was booed out of Flushing, Queens. Maybe it would be better to go with a Friend of Boone as the next scapegoat after all.