The New York Yankees recently fired hitting coach Dillon Lawson and hired Sean Casey to fill the role, and we now have more details about how long the Yankees have been interested in Lawson.

The Yankees tried over the winter to interview Sean Casey for their hitting coach position, but he could not consider the position at the time because his girlfriend was undergoing chemotherapy treatments, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Casey is a former major leaguer, he hit .302 in his career and is very good friends with manager Aaron Boone from their time playing together with the Cincinnati Reds. There reportedly was a divide within the Yankees organization regarding Dillon Lawson, as the analytics members were all in on him, while the others were likely never in, according to Heyman. The Yankees' offense has struggled mightily this season, especially since Aaron Judge's injury. Everything came to a head, and the Yankees replaced Lawson with Casey during the All-Star break.

Casey agreed to take the job for the remainder of this season, and the two sides will figure out if he would like to stay past the 2023 season when the time comes, according to Heyman.

Veteran hitters like Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton and DJ LeMahieu have struggled at many points this season. Casey will have the respect of those three, and the Yankees will need Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton and DJ LeMaheiu to turn things around in the second half if they want to make the playoffs. Hopefully Aaron Judge returns at some point as well.

The Yankees start the second half of the season in Colorado against the Rockies on Friday.