Reports: Ex-Yankees Hitting Coach Kevin Long Set To Interview With Mets
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Kevin Long on the Mets' 2015 coaching staff is becoming more and more of a possibility.
According to multiple reports, the former Yankees hitting coach is interviewing with the Amazin's on Wednesday for the club's hitting-coach position.
Long, who won a World Series with the Bombers in 2009, was fired by the Yankees earlier this month. If he's hired by the Mets, he would be reunited with Curtis Granderson. The slugging right fielder was very successful under Long's tutelage, hitting 41 and 43 homers in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
In his first season with the Mets, Granderson hit 20 homers and batted just .227. But with the fences being moved in at Citi Field, Grandy will be expected to increase his homer and RBI totals in 2015.
The Mets fired hitting coach Dave Hudgens in May and then promoted Lamar Johnson — previously the organization's minor-league hitting coordinator — for the position.
In early October, the club announced that Johnson and assistant hitting coach Luis Natera would be replaced, though the duo was offered jobs in the minor-league system.
Dave Magadan was reportedly a candidate for both the Mets and Yankees' vacancies, though he's not expected to be hired by either club.
The Mets' pitching was excellent in 2014, though the team struggled to score runs. New York finished eighth in the National League in runs (629), ninth in homers (125), tied for 12th in average (.239) and ninth in on-base percentage (.308).
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