Red Sox quickly promoting pitching coordinator could come back to haunt Yankees

Last January, not too many Yankees fans probably thought much of the Red Sox poaching minor-league pitching coach Ben Buck from New York. It just wasn't worth losing a whole lot of sleep over when you realize how often these types of departures happen.

But now? After seeing Buck elevated in a major way less than a year on the job? Consider us a tad alarmed. The Red Sox and Craig Breslow have tabbed Buck the organization's director of pitching after Justin Willard, who previously held that role, was hired away by the Mets.

Does this mean the Yankees let a potential gem get scooped up and maximized by a rival? Buck spent five years with the Yankees in the lower levels of the minor leagues from 2020-2024. That doesn't sound entirely impactful until you realize that ... the Yankees saw great success with their pitching at the lower levels over that span.

For example, pitchers like Cam Schlittler and Will Warren, who Beck oversaw at one point, ended up playing big roles on the MLB roster in 2025. Other names such as Beck Way, TJ Sikkema, Brock Selvidge, Brendan Beck, Drew Thorpe, Richard Fitts, Trystan Vrieling, Chase Hampton, Henry Lalane, Carlos Lagrange, Cade Smith, Jack Neely, and a few more either gained notoriety or had their trade values built up enough for Cashman to construct packages around them to improve the big league roster.

The Yankees didn't think one of the guys who was instrumental in fostering that pipeline should've stuck around? There wasn't a way to elevate him in order to prevent a defection to the enemy?

Yankees News: Former pitching coordinator Ben Buck gets promotion with Red Sox

Though we can't say Buck had a similarly influential hand with the Red Sox since Breslow's infrastructure was in place before he arrived (in addition to Chaim Bloom's success before him), it still speaks volumes that he was considered for such a promotion after making a first impression.

Breslow specifically has a background in pitching (as a former pitcher himself) and has been spoken highly of when it comes to development, so the fact he was able to identify someone like Buck to take his operation to the next level certainly feels like it's possible the Yankees whiffed on cultivating a premier front office addition.

The main reason for concern here is that the Yankees' approach from the top has been stale, lacking innovation and creativity. They typically keep people in positions of power long after their expiration dates (see Donny Rowland, who just got dismissed as director of international scouting after 15 years and next to no true, sustained successes).

Yankees fans just better hope the team didn't let a potential transformative piece of the puzzle slip away when he was right under their nose.