Coach leaving for Yankees suggests a few things about what the NY Mets are thinking

A bomb from Jeff Passan? Eh. A coaching change at this level only made bigger headlines because of the teams involved. Desi Druschel is going back to the New York Yankees after a year with the New York Mets.

Druschel seemed like a natural fit to become the next Mets pitching coach. For the purpose of continuity, elevating him to the pitching coach role to replace Jeremy Hefner was one direction to go.

Having given Druschel an opportunity to explore outside options, the Mets made it known that their coaching philosophy is just that: a thought, idea, or premise. Whoever it is they do hire will need to follow some sort of directive while giving some input in the system. The Mets didn’t build a pitching lab for nothing. It’s the science that has clearly become the preferred choice over coaching players.

The easiest Mets pitching coach replacement for Jeremy Hefner just left for the Yankees, now what?

Baseball has evolved into exactly what the Mets are doing. For better or worse, it is a sport less about personalities and more about the numbers. Blame Moneyball, Bill James, or anything else that’s not solely focused on going with gut feels and rubbing dirt on injuries to heal up faster. The Mets aren’t hiring people who can motivate players like someone might in a Disney film. They want guys who follow a pattern and who’ll stick to a script.

It seems much easier to do with pitching than it does with hitting. A batter has to take what they’re given. It’s the pitcher who decides which kind of warfare they engage in, whether it’s by land, sea, or a sink low and away.

Fans won’t be able to accurately understand any type of impact Druschel had on the players so it’s not really a matter of opinion about this move. Moving on from Hefner, who undoubtedly helped create the existing system, told us just how important they thought he was as an individual: not important enough to stick around.

Coaches seem to be hired these days as people who’ll abide by the company line. Use this player in this situation. Make sure this guy gets rest when an unknown figure in the front office tells you to sit him. Don’t swing at pitches in these situations. Put a focus on throwing this type of pitch in this count.

The Mets are no different than any team out there. The coaching purge, which is apparently still ongoing, seems to be less and less about who’s in uniform and instead about who’ll deliver the messages. The Mets pitching lab is discussed often yet mysterious. I fantasize whomever the Mets hire to become their next pitching coach will enter it in a similar fashion as one might step into Area 51. This is far from reality.

The pitching lab is just an assistant, a coach in itself. It’s up to the players to execute and even when they do, there’s a force pushing back on them. The pitching coach hasn’t become completely irrelevant to the Mets with that job should include the implementation of the data discovered in the St. Lucie lab. The organization has several internal candidates who could take over the job similarly to how Jeff Albert was elevated. Eric Jagers, a 30-year-old director of pitching development with the club right now, is someone who could be considered if in fact the job description is less about coaching and more about following a pattern. Down in Double-A, Dan McKinney has had plenty of success with young pitchers. The Mets could do worse than elevating him to the big leagues.

Despite the Mendoza connection to Druschel from their time with the Yankees, SNY's Andy Martino noted how Hefner was the one who hired him. Naturally, with Hefner now out of the picture, a move back to the Yankees wasn't difficult. The Yankees didn't wait long to welcome him back.