Yankees lose vaunted catching instructor to Mariners in another coaching purge

You know how the New York Yankees' stubborn front office that regards itself as elite, but somehow never loses personnel to post-campaign brain drain, always manages to stay even keel? At long last, the Yankees are beginning to be poached. But not from upper management. From the ranks of the behind-the-scenes instructors who've managed to create real advantages for the Yankees, outside of the spotlight.

In recent seasons, Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake has established himself as an elite instructor, able to heighten the senses and specialties of both the game's elite pitchers and its also-rans. Blake creates Paul Blackburns and coaches up Max Frieds. He does everything that's asked of him and more in building a data-driven lab that's atop the game's myriad competitors.

The Yankees have not been able to find an offensive version of Blake, no matter how hard they'd tried. But they've managed to set a silent gold standard in catching. Their defensive infrastructure is second to none. They've helped mold Austin Wells into a Gold Glover after all his initial scouting reports rendered judgment upon him indicating he'd be bat-first his whole life. They built Carlos Narvaez, Ben Rortvedt, Agustin Ramirez and others into pipeline-thinning, but valuable, pieces. Their stylistic advantage is courtesy of Tanner Swanson. their catching instructor who, like Blake, was a free agent this winter.

Unlike Blake, he found a new home. He'll be heading to Seattle to be the Mariners' bench coach, returning home to the pacific northwest. We feared he'd be the manager there. He won't, but he'll still be a consigliere, and he'll leave the Yankees without a crucial edge.

Tanner Swanson follows Shelley Duncan out the door to Yankees' American League competitor

Swanson has had much more of an impact on the Yankees than Duncan has at Triple-A, molding the RailRiders, but both men felt like the team's two strongest internal candidates to eventually take the reins in the Bronx. Swanson, a specialist and guru, has built his case brick by brick, and would clearly like to expand his responsibilities and horizons as he seeks gainful employment as a manager someday. Duncan? He saw his path blocked by Aaron Boone, and took his gruff former player sensibilities to a big-league dugout with the Yankees' harshest rival.

While the retention of Blake was the Yankees' 1A challenge this winter, and revamping their hitting department is a clear No. 2, keeping continuity with Swanson was crucial. Instead, the Yankees' front office - again, un-purged! - will have to find the next innovative coaching mind rather than keeping the man who's given them a silent edge for years.

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