Met pitchers hoping to take winning

LaTroy Hawkins knew he wasn’t pitching well. The Yankees fans who booed him knew he was struggling. The Yankees front office and the coaching staff all knew Hawkins was having a hard time. There was just no hiding it. And Hawkins, the veteran reliever, appreciated that Dave Eiland just came out and talked about it with him.

“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,” the former Met and Yankee reliever said. “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.” Eiland has been described as knowledgeable and effective, straightforward and no-nonsense by those who have worked with him in the past.

“He’s a real professional,” said one Royals front office staffer. “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.”

The rebuilding Royals let Eiland, along with Don Wakamatsu, go after six seasons last month in a staff shakeup. The Mets hired him last month and the 51-year-old native of Florida will be an integral part of any turnaround in 2018. Built around power arms that have gone off the rails since their 2015 World Series appearance — coincidentally losing to Eiland’s much less hyped stable of Royals pitchers — the Mets depend largely on the ability of those players to get back on track after a 70-win season.

Eiland, who won World Series rings with the Yankees and Royals, will be pretty familiar with what his new charges have gone through. In 2014-15, he had the Royals’ staff among the top three in the American League. In 2016-17, injuries and the loss of Wade Davis had the Royals pitching staff drop to the middle of the pack in the major leagues.

It is similar to where the Mets find themselves.

After 10 seasons with Dan Warthen at the helm of their stable of pitchers, the Mets made a dramatic change this fall. Besides naming a former pitching coach, Mickey Callaway, as their manager, they fired Warthen — and they did so over the loud protests of their pitchers.

Noah Syndergaard was pointed and emotional in his argument against firing Warthen while Jacob deGrom was quieter but just as disappointed. Matt Harvey and Jeurys Familia were also adamant in telling the front office that they wished to continue working with Warthen.

The Mets front office, however, felt that