Before hiring Joe Girardi’s successor, the Yankees wanted to fill the void created in the player development program when Gary Denbo was lured from Tampa to Miami by Derek Jeter.
According to several people with knowledge of the situation, The Post has learned that Kevin Reese, the Yankees’ director of professional scouting, will become the head of the organization’s minor league operations.
Reese was one of four people from within the organization to interview for the position. The others were Eric Schmitt (director of minor league operations), John Kremer (director of performance science) and Carlos Mendoza (field coordinator).
With Denbo’s position filled, Brian Cashman’s quest to land a new manager is next on the agenda for the GM, who hasn’t been through the vital process since hiring Girardi following the 2007 season to succeed Joe Torre.
Girardi has been gone a week, and it’s not looking like his replacement will come from within, although that could change as Cashman goes through the interview process.
Cashman has his pro scouts in New York this week for meetings.
When a new manager is tabbed, Cashman will work with him to assemble a coaching staff. It likely will look a lot different than the one that ended the 2017 season with a seven-game loss to the Astros in the ALCS after failing to win one of the final two games in Houston and advance to the World Series.
All of the coaches’ contracts from 2017 expired Wednesday. Third base coach Joe Espada has been mentioned as a possible replacement in Houston as the Astros’ bench coach. Alex Cora, the Astros’ bench coach this season, takes over as the Red Sox manager. Espada is close to Cora and also could be headed for Boston.
It would be hard to imagine Rob Thomson, who has been with the Yankees’ organization for 28 years (the last 12 on the big league coaching staff) not being part of the Yankees’ 2018 staff, but he is free to look for another job. The Mets and Nationals are looking for bench coaches, which is what Thomson has been for the Yankees the past four seasons.
In Reese, 40 in March, the Yankees are turning to someone who has limited big league playing experience but has more than Mark Newman and Denbo, the last two men to hold the position, had. Reese appeared in 12 big league games for the Yankees in 2005 and 2006, going 5-for-13 (.385). In 849 minor league games, the left-handed hitting outfielder batted .292.
After the 2008 season, Reese was hired as a pro scout. Reese was named director of pro scouting in 2016.