The Kansas City Royals hired former
New York Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland, who worked with the
staff that won the 2009 World Series during three years in the
Bronx.

Eiland, 45, was replaced by Larry Rothschild in New York
following the 2010 Major League Baseball season and spent this
year as a special assistant for the Tampa Bay Rays. Eiland
succeeds Bob McClure in Kansas City and is the final addition to
the Royals’ coaching staff.

The Royals had a 4.44 earned run average this season,
ranking 27th out of 30 major-league teams, and allowed an
American League-high 557 walks during a 71-91 season.

The 2009 Yankees’ staff registered 103 regular-season wins
and struck out 1,260 batters, the second-most in franchise
history. Before replacing Ron Guidry in 2008, Eiland spent five
seasons as a pitching coach in the Yankees’ minor-league system.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Erik Matuszewski in New York at
matuszewski@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at
msillup@bloomberg.net.

By Matthew Hays

– Staff Writer

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Oct 26, 2011 – As first reported back on October 13th, the Kansas City Royals had interest in former Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland. On Tuesday afternoon it all came to fruition as the Royals officially named Dave Eiland as the successor to Bob McClure.

I won’t claim to know all that much about Eiland’s work with the Yankees as pitching coach, and we already profiled him back on the 13th, but one thing is true. If you are someone who was hired to work for the Rays by Andrew Friedman, chances are you are doing something right. In recent years, the young Friedman has proven to be one of the top executives in all of baseball.

Baseball Nation’s Rob Neyer was not a fan of the Royals recent hire, but I will hold judgement until I see what he can do with the young Royals pitchers. We have all witnessed the wonders Kevin Seitzer has done at the major league level with the Kansas City batters.

Lastly, Will McDonald wrote of the hire at Royals Review.

Read More: New York Yankees, Kansas City Royals, Tampa Bay Rays

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KANSAS CITY — Royals manager Ned Yost said last month that he wanted to find a new pitching coach who managed to have a long career in the major leagues despite having “mediocre stuff.”Dave Eiland precisely met those qualifications.The former Yankees pitching coach was added to Yost’s staff Tuesday. He’ll be tasked with helping to develop a young starting rotation that was long on talent but too often short on results this season, when the Royals finished 71-91 and 24 games out of first place in the AL Central.“This is a team that’s going to make some noise as we move forward,” said Eiland, who spent the past season as a special assistant to Rays general manager Andrew Friedman. “We feel like if we all do our part, this is a team that can contend within the next year or two.”Eiland takes over for Bob McClure, who was let go after five seasons with the Royals.McClure oversaw the development of former Cy Young winner Zack Greinke, now with the Brewers, along with current starters such as Luke Hochevar and Danny Duffy. But he was often criticized for a pitching staff that walked far too many batters — the Royals were fourth in the majors and led the American League with 557 walks — and consequently struggled to get deep into games.“You have to teach guys how to pitch into the seventh, eighth and ninth inning, and how to finish games, and that’s what we want to do out there,” Eiland said Tuesday.Eiland has spent most of his career in the Yankees organization, first as player and later as a pitching coach. He worked his way up through the minor league system before joining the staff of Yankees manager Joe Girardi in 2008, and helped the franchise win its 27th World Series title the following year, when New York pitchers struck out the second-most batters in franchise history.Eiland also started his pitching career with the Yankees in 1988 and later played for the Padres and Rays, compiling a 12-27 record and 5.74 ERA while appearing in 92 games over 10 seasons.In short, just the kind of “mediocre stuff” that Yost was seeking in a pitching coach.“Instead of mediocre stuff, my stuff was a little south of mediocre,” Eiland said with a laugh.Eiland said he visited Yost on the manager’s Georgia ranch a few weeks ago and came away feeling like they were on the same page. That feeling was affirmed a few days later when Eiland met with Royals general manager Dayton Moore to discuss the job.Eiland said he doesn’t know a whole lot about the Royals’ young pitchers, aside from what he remembers from viewing them across the diamond from the opposing dugout.He expects a shipment of videos to arrive at his home soon, and Eiland said he’ll set about dissecting each pitcher in the organization in the coming days.

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Kansas City, MO (Sports Network) – The Kansas City Royals named Dave Eiland
pitching coach on Tuesday.

The 45-year-old Eiland, who replaces Bob McClure, spent the past season as a
special assistant to Andrew Friedman, Tampa Bay’s executive vice president of
baseball operations.

“We are delighted to have Dave join our coaching staff,” Royals general
manager Dayton Moore said. “He is an extremely talented pitching coach and a
proven winner who has the ability to relate to the young pitchers who are
transitioning to the Majors. He has also shown effectiveness in working with
established pitchers. (Manger) Ned (Yost) and our entire baseball operations
staff have strong convictions about Dave’s ability to make a positive
difference with our pitching staff.”

Eiland was the pitching coach with the Yankees from 2008-10, helping New York
win a World Series title in 2009. He had previously served as the
organization’s minor league pitching coach.

The Royals ranked 27th in staff earned run average (4.44) in 2011.

The Sports Network

By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer

In Print: Wednesday, October 26, 2011

---

ST. PETERSBURG — Dave Eiland liked working again for his hometown Rays as a scout and minor-league instructor. But what he really wanted was to be a major-league pitching coach again, and he got that opportunity with the Royals, agreeing to a two-year deal announced Tuesday.

“I’m very happy; it’s what I do,” Eiland said. “I wouldn’t have left Tampa Bay for any pitching coach job. It had to be the right fit, and Kansas City felt like a very good fit.”

Eiland, 45, grew up in Zephyrhills and pitched parts of 10 seasons in the majors, the last three with the Rays. He then went into coaching, working his way up to be the Yankees pitching coach in 2008-10. He spent last season as a special assistant with the Rays and would have returned if he hadn’t gotten a big-league job.

“In 25 years in the game, those were some of the smartest, brightest, sharpest baseball people I’ve been around,” Eiland said. “It’s really hard to leave.”

Also, director of baseball operations Dan Feinstein left the Rays to return to the A’s as director of professional scouting and baseball development. Feinstein, a native of Lafayette, Calif., worked for Oakland from 1994-2004. With the Rays, he assisted executive VP Andrew Friedman with contracts, arbitration, trades, rules and budgets.

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