Via Anthony McCarron of the NY Daily News:
White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper, who was apparently the Yankees’ top choice to succeed Dave Eiland and was believed to have wanted to return to his native New York, was denied permission by the White Sox to talk to the Yankees about the position. Ex-Yankee Gil Patterson, another Brian Cashman favorite, becomes the front-runner. Patterson has served as the minor league pitching coordinator for the A’s since 2007. It’s also expected the Yankees will talk to the Brewers’ Rick Peterson, who has been given permission to explore other opportunities, as well as Scott Eldred[sic], their Triple-A pitching coach. Joe Girardi would like to promote his bullpen coach Mike Harkey, but that doesn’t appear likely.
So this thing appears to be taking shape now. Up till this point we heard that Patterson was expected to be interviewed and Harkey was the frontrunner. Everything else was speculation.
Now it appears that Patterson, Peterson, and Aldred are the main candidates for the job. It’s unclear why Harkey is no longer in the running, but perhaps it’s because he’s manager Joe Girardi’s guy and despite the fact that Girardi does have say in this, perhaps it is Cashman making the final call.
Leo Mazzone has put it out there that he would be interested in the job, but he doesn’t appear to be a candidate at all. Some fans had interest in seeing Dave Righetti return to the Bronx in that role, but he still has a year left on his contract with the Giants.
I’ll let you know if I hear anything else. Until then, who is your favorite between Patterson, Peterson, and Eldred?