Meacham and Monteleone will not return

Third base coach Bobby Meacham and special pitching instructor Rich Monteleone will not be on the Yankees' 2009 coaching staff, according to Daily News reporter Mark Feinsand.

Meacham was one of Joe Girardi's additions to the coaching staff and was with Girardi when he managed the Marlins in 2006.

Meacham struggled at third base at times last season, so I'm not sad to see him go. I don't understand the Monteleone firing - maybe the organization wants to head in a different direction regarding the pitching staff?

Hitting coach Kevin Long is the only coach from last year's staff who has a contract for next season.

Thoughts on the suspensions

If you missed the updates on the earlier post, Shelley Duncan and Melky Cabrera were suspended for three games, and Jonny Gomes was suspended for two. All three players were also fined undisclosed amounts.

In the press release announcing the suspensions, Duncan's actions were called "violent and reckless" and they "incited the bench-clearing incident."

In comparison, they said Gomes' actions escalated the brawl.

There wouldn't have been a brawl if Gomes didn't run in from right field to plow into Duncan. The Rays would have been upset that Duncan spiked Akinori Iwamura, but the benches weren't ready to empty until after Duncan was run into.

How Gomes only received two games is ridiculous.

Cabrera received the same amount of games as Duncan for throwing a punch at Evan Longoria. Cabrera wasn't even ejected from the game, but the Rays had evidence of the punch. Even if he did throw a punch at Longoria, he shouldn't have gotten more games than Gomes did.

Manager Joe Girardi will only be fined. Since managers cannot appeal suspensions, he would have had to miss his first game as Yankee manager. Coaches Kevin Long and Bobby Meacham also received fines.

Because of Gomes' actions, the Yankees will be without their starting center fielder and will have to use Hideki Matsui in left for at least the first couple of games of the season.

Yes, Duncan's play was dirty. But Gomes caused the brawl.

Duncan and Gomes to be suspended

Shelley Duncan and Jonny Gomes will be suspended two or three games for their actions in Wednesday's brawl.

Joe Girardi will only be fined, and coaches Bobby Meachan and Kevin Long are also expected to be fine.

The suspensions will be served during the regular season, so it would've been strange for Girardi to be suspended for his first game as Yankee manager.

Update - 1:00 p.m.: According to Peter Abraham, Melky Cabrera will likely be suspended as well. The Rays claimed he threw a punch and MLB found evidence.

Update - 1:30 p.m.: MLB released a press release. Duncan and Cabrera got three games each and Gomes got two games.

Girardi's coaching staff

From Tyler Kepner:

Tony Peña, the other candidate interviewed last week, will remain with the Yankees as the first-base coach, and the hitting coach Kevin Long is close to signing a three-year, $1 million deal.

Three newcomers are expected to join the staff: Dave Eiland as the pitching coach, Mike Harkey as the bullpen coach, and Bobby Meacham as the third-base coach.

Rob Thomson, a special assignment coach, will inherit Mattingly’s job as the bench coach. The Yankees had offered to let Mattingly stay in that position, but he turned down the job. (The New York Times)

Larry Bowa was likely headed to Seattle, but Peter Abraham suggests he may follow Joe Torre to Los Angeles.

I really don't have any complaints about the staff. Pena, Long and Thomson have done a good job with the Yankees in their tenures. Eiland has experience working with the younger arms, so I'm happy to see him get the job. I don't know much about Meacham or Harkey, but I do know that they both worked with Girardi in Florida.

The players can say what they want, but this team has quit

Obviously Derek Jeter won't go in front of reporters and television cameras and say, "Yeah, this team is terrible. We're 13.5 games out of first place. We have no chance of winning anything this year, so we might as well give up."

Their actions on the field are speaking louder than if they pulled a Bart Simpson and placed 20 megaphones back to back and spoke in front of them.

I knew a year like this would come soon, as they can't finish in first every year. However, I did not think that this year would be the year. The team got old really fast and caught a lot of bad breaks.

There is no way to fix this mess this year. Firing Joe Torre and Kevin Long (the hitting coach) would accomplish absolutely nothing. Torre will be gone after this year, and I want him gone. However, there is no need to fire him. The players are the problem. Johnny Damon is playing like a 45-year-old, Bobby Abreu is inept, and Jason Giambi is a recovering drug addict. However, it is impossible to trade anyone of these guys. Why would MLB general managers want to help out the big, bad New York Yankees and take on their bloated contracts?

Brian Cashman may take the fall, and he made some bad moves (Kei Igawa, anyone?), but it isn't his fault that Robinson Cano regressed and that Abreu totally fell off. The bench, bullpen, and backup catcher are his fault, and a $200 million team should be able to improve these areas. However, the construction of the roster essentially inhibited many moves from being done.

Also, there are no great replacements for Cashman. He made some decent trades this off season that were meant for the future. There are some good prospects in the minors that we should see in the next two to three years. All is not lost. However, this year is lost. It's time to pack up and move on.

The above phrase was on the Yankee Stadium marquee after a George Steinbrenner statement following the 22-0 debacle against the Cleveland Indians in 2004.