Long spent the last eight seasons as the Yankees' hitting coach.
The Mets have hired Kevin Long as their new hitting coach. Long, of course, spent the last eight season with the Yankees, but he was let go after the Mets' crosstown rivals missed the playoffs for the second straight season. And the Mets, too, made changes at hitting coach, as they fired Dave Hudgens during the season and made it clear that Lamar Johnson, who took over for the rest of the season, would not be back in that role in 2015.
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson says of Long, "Kevin’s experience, success and wealth of knowledge make him the perfect fit as our hitting instructor."
Over the past few weeks, a few other names were mentioned as possibilities for the job, including Dave Magadan, Bobby Abreu, and Edgardo Alfonzo, but it's not a big surprise to see the Mets go with a candidate who has been doing the job at the major league level for a considerable amount of time.