BREAKING: Yankees Hire Sean Casey as Hitting Coach

The Yankees are doubling down on TV personalities as coaches by hiring former MLB Network analyst Sean Casey. Former teammate of Boone too.

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A Quick Background on Sean Casey:

Sean Casey was a 2nd round pick out of the University of Richmond in the 1995 MLB Draft by the then-Cleveland Indians. He began his professional career later that season and quickly moved up the Cleveland farm system, making it to the MLB for a short cup of coffee at the end of the 1997 season while playing in just 6 games. He was then traded ahead of the 1998 season to the Cincinnati Reds for Dave Burba.

Just 4 days later, Casey was hit in the eye on a throw during batting practice, which caused him to start the year injured and in Triple-A. He would get recalled back the majors quickly and struggle before returning to the minors before coming back in June and making a case to stick around in the MLB.

From 1999-2005, Sean Casey was a mainstay in the Cincinnati Reds lineup. This included making 3 All-Star teams (1995, 2001, 2004) while hitting to a .308/.371/.467 triple-slash with 1141 hits, 111 home runs, and 551 RBI's during his 7 year peak.

He would leave the Reds ahead of the 2006 season while being traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for David Williams. This new stop would last him until the 2006 trade deadline when he was moved again, this time to the Detroit Tigers for Brian Rogers. Casey would then re-sign with the Tigers for the 2007 season and then spend his last year in 2008 with the Boston Red Sox.

Casey retired with a career .302/.367/.447/.814 quadruple-slash (109 OPS+), 1531 hits, 130 home runs, and 735 RBI's in 1405 games over 12 seasons from 1997 to 2008.

After retiring in January, 2009, Casey accepted a position with the MLB Network and has been an analyst on the network ever since. In 2012, he was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.

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What This Means:

The Yankees move to sign Sean Casey is a very interesting one. They are doubling down on two very important points for coaching with this hiring and how it plays out will say a lot about the organization as a whole.

Sean Casey was a teammate on the Cincinnati Reds with Aaron Boone from 1998 until Boone's trade to the Yankees in 2003. They will be reunited again, though this time in the Bronx as coach and manager respectively. This move is a courtesy move to the Yankees current manager Aaron Boone. They are purposefully hiring a man with a very similar resume.

Up until this announcement, Sean Casey was never considered for a coaching position in the MLB. His name was never leaked among the names of others being considered in job searches. His background as a coach matches Aaron Boone's as a manager when he came into the Yankees managerial role: none. Instead, his professional non-playing experience comes as an analyst.

The Yankees are doubling down on trying to be the first people to find the "new wave" of hiring baseball staff. This is a very important thing to follow for the league. How will two people who had no experience coming into their roles fare? For Aaron Boone, many consider his managing to be subpar and without much power (aside from a few shouting matches here and there). For Sean Casey, the jury is out.

To me, I also see this as a move to warn Aaron Boone that his job could be on the hot seat. They are bringing in a fellow person of his industry. A former teammate who was a good-to-great hitter during his time. A person who is well respected across the league.

I'm not saying Casey will take over for Aaron Boone, but this is a signal to Boone that the Yankees are going to put there eggs in his basket. They are going to support him with the people he'd like to be around for the rest of this year.

To me, this signals a message that, "If this doesn't work to right the ship, you very well could be the next to go."

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What are your thoughts on this hiring?

Do you believe Sean Casey will be the necessary change for the Yankees offense?