Yankees part ways with Larry Rothschild after nine seasons as pitching coach

The Yankees made their first big move of the offseason on Monday announcing that they have parted ways with pitching coach Larry Rothschild after nine years with the club.

Rothschild took over as Yankees pitching coach in 2011 and had a year remaining on his contract before he was fired. The decision to let him go was a bit surprising but management must’ve felt it was time to move on and bring in a fresh, new voice to guide the pitching staff in 2020.

Over the course of the past nine years, the Yankee pitching staff has been one of the best in baseball under Rothschild, but in 2019 they struggled, finishing the season with a collective 4.31 ERA. That number was the worst season ERA posted under Rothschild’s tenure and a pretty big increase from their 3.78 clip in 2018.

It’s unfair to put all the blame on Rothschild for the struggles this season especially after all the injuries the Yankees suffered and I don’t think he was fired because of that. The Yanks did end up posting a very solid 2.87 ERA in the playoffs and the reason they lost in the ALCS was because of their offense, not their pitching.

I think this has more to do with the fact that nine years is a long time to be with the same club and sometimes you just need to make a change and try something different. That’s exactly what happened with former manager Joe Girardi after he spent ten years as Yankee manager before being replaced by Aaron Boone.

In a statement released by the team, GM Brian Cashman had this to say about Rothschild per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.

"“I want to personally thank Larry for his near-decade of commitment to this organization,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said.“Larry cares deeply about his craft and the pitchers under his tutelage, and he played a significant role in our successes over the past nine seasons. There’s a reason why Larry has had the type of distinguished baseball career he’s had, and it starts with experience and dedication that is difficult to emulate.”"

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It remains to be seen if Rothschild wants to continue coaching but if he does his next landing spot could be in Philadelphia with his old buddies Girardi and former Yankee bench coach Rob Thompson. As for the Yankees, it’s hard to guess who will take over as their next pitching coach but my guess is it will be someone younger who relies more on the analytics.

One name already being floated around all over Twitter is former Yankee and current YES Network broadcaster, David Cone. Hopefully, he’ll at least get an interview in the coming weeks. The fans would love it and he’s very well versed in the new-school age of analytics so I think he’d have a lot to offer.

That being said, selfishly it would be sad to see him leave the booth because he’s one of the best color guys in the business and watching the broadcasts on YES without him wouldn’t be the same.