Josh Bard to be Yankee Bench Coach

Josh Bard, the onetime journeyman Catcher, and 2005 Aaron Boone teammate in Cleveland will be his first Bench Coach. Bard's been working for the Dodgers since his retirement, and was recently their bullpen coach.  It wasn widely expected that an old manager would be the bench coach, but Bard hasn't managed. Rothchild has, as both Cash and Boone pointed out, and it seems like he wil be relied on to provide some mentoring.  That could actually make sense, since the tricky part is switching pitchers and Rothchild can handle that.

Not only was he a teammate of Aaron Boone, but was also CC Sabathia's Cleveland Catcher. Who knows if that will mean anything. I'm now thinking Boone, who is only 44, might be looking for guys his age or younger for his staff.  Bard is 39.

Update:  And Phil Nevin will be the 3rd Base Coach.

Further Update: and Mike Harkey will be back as Bullpen coach.  This concerns me because both Chapman and Betances went through terrible periods last year and we're not changing the pitching coach or the bullpen coach.  I think if we don't win, we can trace it to this.