Via the NY Post:
Cashman spent a second day speaking with candidates for the vacancy yesterday, although he will not reveal whom he interviewed. The known contenders for the job are bullpen coach Mike Harkey, Triple-A pitching coach Scott Aldred and Gil Patterson.
I’m not sure the reason for the secrecy. On Thursday they interviewed both Harkey and Patterson so it would make sense that they interviewed Aldred yesterday. Maybe they interviewed somebody else, maybe they didn’t.
Harkey seemed pretty optimistic coming out of the interview Thursday. He spoke about considering himself a teacher and a good communicator. He also spoke at length about working with A.J. Burnett (Via the NY Daily News):
“First and foremost, I’d get together with A.J., find out what he thinks,” Harkey said. “We have a lot of veteran pitchers on our staff and they’ve pitched a lot of games. For someone to take over as pitching coach and tell them, ‘We’ll change you,’ is unfair to the individual.
“I’d do video work, too. Now is the best time, because it’s a non-pressure situation and you can get him into an environment where he can try new things and not have to worry about the results. A.J. is a great guy, he’d be open to anything to make him feel more confident and pitch with more confidence.”
Since working with A.J. is going to be a big part of what the next pitching coach does, I like what he’s had to say. I wonder what he thinks about the importance of his changeup though.
This is all I have on this now. If I come across anything else, as usual, I will pass it along.