Yankees fire assistant coaches Meacham, Monteleone

NEW YORK -- Third-base coach Bobby Meacham and special pitching instructor Rich Monteleone were fired Tuesday by the New York Yankees.

Meacham spent six seasons as a player with the Yankees and was hired last November when Joe Girardi replaced Joe Torre as manager. Meacham had been Girardi's third-base coach with Florida in 2006, then was first-base coach with San Diego in 2007.

Meacham, who took over from Larry Bowa, is close to Girardi, and his departure is a sign general manager Brian Cashman pushed for change following a third-place finish that ended the Yankees' streak of consecutive playoff appearances at 13.

"Whenever you lose a friend on your staff it's going to be tough," Girardi said in a statement. "However, as an organization, it was time to make a change. Bobby is a good baseball man, but moving forward we realize changes are going to have to be made in various areas of the club."

Monteleone had been a pitching instructor the past four seasons after spending from 2002-04 as bullpen coach.