The New York Mets began this offseason with a huge need in the pitching department and they believe Dave Eiland is part of the answer to turning it around.
Eiland has won two World Series rings as a pitching coach, with the New York Yankees in 2009 and the Kansas City Royals in 2015. During his tenure with the Royals they had a 3.90 ERA, ranking fifth in the American League from 2012-2017.
The former big leaguer pitcher of ten seasons is now saddled with improving a pitching staff that is coming off one of the worst seasons in franchise history when they posted a 5.01 ERA, 1.49 WHIP and 1.4 HR.9 in 2017.
Former Mets pitcher LaTroy Hawkins recently had some kind words about Eiland that he told Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News, “He’s honest. Sometimes, he’s brutally honest, but he lets you know what’s going on, what he’s thinking and what the team is thinking. A pitching coach’s job is to help you get better and Dave is there to do that for you. But he won’t coddle you.”
Hawkins, a special assistent to the GM for the Twins now, pitched under Eiland with the Yankees in 2008, pitched for the Mets in 2013 and played in parts of 21 big league seasons.
“He’s a real professional,” one Royals front office staffer told Ackert. “He gets results and he’s not about eye wash. He will work with a pitcher and try anything to make them comfortable and do whatever they need to do to get through a season.”
Eiland has already gotten on the same page with new manager Mickey Callaway on an offseason throwing program that was sent out to every pitcher on the Mets 40-man roster. Before he was even officially named the new pitching coach for the Mets he had reached out to several members of the starting rotation to gauge where they were at.
The 51-year-old Eiland has been praised for his ability to mix the combination of analytics and trusting himself to know what to do is best for his pitching staffs.
Maybe the biggest thing he will be entailed with going into the 2018 season is just how to get starters like Matt Harvey, Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler back on track, and back on the mound consistently. 
