Padres Fire Pitching Coach Larry Rothschild

It has happened! I guess my previous article on Rothschild came at the perfect time. The San Diego Padres have fired their pitching coach in Larry Rothschild who was hired in November 2019. The pitching over the past year has gotten so much better and before the season, the Padres arguably had the best rotation and bullpen in the league. However, injures and inconsistency in this 2021 season has put the Padres season in jeopardy.

It felt like yesterday the Friar Faithful got to witness the Padres pitching staff tear through opponents. At one point, they lead the league with the lowest ERA and just overall had great numbers across the board. Despite being early in the season, April and May were magnificent. Joe Musgrove, the hometown kid threw the first ever no-hitter in Padres history. Ryan Weathers, the promising young prospect held a 0.55 ERA and was just straight up untouchable on the mound. Darvish at the time looked like a clear ace with a veteran presence and well Blake Snell was being... Blake Snell. (He has pitched better lately!)

As Padre fans, we have seen this team grow into contenders all of a sudden with so much talent built around the franchise. Darren Balsley has been the pitching coach way back from 2003 until Rothschild took the role in 2020. (I wish Balsley was still in the dugout.) It took only a year for the Padres to cut ties with Rothschild and with improvements in the pitching over the off-season, this move was quite a shock but ultimately a necessary move that had to be made since there are high expectations to be met. So, with Rothschild getting kicked out with no hesitation, what went wrong?

Inconsistency

The moment that the summer months hit starting in June, San Diego struggled with getting those consistent and reliable starts. Now, I would like to mention that the Padres offense sucked in every which way and that the pitching staff had to carry the heavy workload. (Still seems that way at times.) But man did the Padres pitching have to log so many innings of games with barely giving up runs. But every starter had a bad portion this summer and that will happen but the Padres can't afford that in the month of August where they have failed to take advantage of so far. These unreliable starts with so many injuries in the easy schedule could cost the team a playoff spot. Every starter had their struggles.

Yu Darvish, who is hopefully back from the 10-day IL for the Dodgers series has been awful in July and August. Since the All-Star break, Darvish has yet to record a win and has given up many hits which have resulted in a higher WHIP. Hanging sliders and cutters that are staying flat does not define an ace on an MLB team. Keep your fingers crossed and keep the faith for Darvish to pitch back to his old self and if he pitches against Los Angeles, that can just be a good series to try and lift the team back up.

Blake Snell has been the worst all season and there is no doubt about it. His pitch mix is not cutting it and just is getting hit hard while having no control with a league leading 65 walks. Those walks have limited Snell and his ability to go many innings. He has shown frustration with Larry Rothschild this year as it seems it has not worked out so well. Snell's changeup has been thrown too hard around 88 mph rather than his original 85 mph with better break to it.

Chris Paddack has had that oblique injury for forever now. Obliques can be tricky for baseball players and I have confidence Paddack can come back and be a force to be reckoned with. Paddack has put up more respectable stats since the All-Star break and as a team battling the injuries, we could use him rather than relying on washed up Jake Arrieta.

Ryan Weathers is young kid and I will not criticize his efforts in the big leagues. Weathers was just this secret weapon that could not be figured out until his tendencies were seen on film. With Weathers not posting a good start in a while, I think it might be a good idea to call up RHP Mackenzie Gore even though he has not dominated in the minors, why not give him a shot? Keep an eye for a future article based on Gore if he gets the call.

As for Joe Musgrove, he has been the most consistent starter hands down. In each month, Musgrove has held his ERA below four and has mixed his pitches well to still be in hitters' minds.

Dinelson Lamet has always been injury prone. It has come to the point where the Padres are considering Lamet as a reliever from now on. I do not blame them but it is still important to talk about him. If Lamet has a new role in the bullpen, I think that does hurt the starting rotation a bit. I have talked highly on him and that slider that is the best in the league. I would argue that Lamet has been the most consistent even though he has been limited. Let's hope he can come back this year.

If you take a deep dive on each starter and look at their pitch mix by game or by month, you can see that they are now overthinking by changing things up too much. Sometimes, it is better to keep it straight simple and just perform out on the mound. I have always thought Rothschild was too old for this job still and that the Padres should go younger since he is more old school as a coach. But I still gave Rothschild a chance to make this team great.

Injuries

Rothschild had a pretty ugly divorce on his way out of the Yankees organization as the pitching staff held an ERA above four in his final season there while battling injuries. It has always been known that injuries pile up when he is doing the coaching. If you look up the Padres injuries in 2021, you will see a never ending list of pitchers either on the 10-day or 60-day IL. San Diego cannot afford that to keep happening while trying to make the playoffs and prove the haters wrong in the full 162-game season. It has become so frustrating that manager Jayce Tingler says he is not sure who will be on the mound the following day almost all the time now since he basically has no options. In addition, as much as I respect GM A.J. Preller, man did we need another arm. I quickly moved on from the guy who gave up a grand slam to Daniel "Slamarena" Camarena. I was hopeful that Preller would go out and grab Kyle Gibson or Jose Berrios but the trade deadline for pitchers came at a high price.

It just seems that the window is almost closing this season since the options are running out. We should not be seeing prospects have so much to carry late into the season as they should work their way up comfortably but does San Diego have any other choice? Larry Rothschild started this mess and it has been haunting the team. Ben Fritz, who has been the Padres bullpen coach since 2019 will be taking over for the rest of the year in Rothschild's place. Fritz is only 40-years old so he is younger which I am a fan of for the club.

My guess is that Rothschild will retire at his age and his quick departure from the team. I am glad he got to work for the Padres, but this year was one to forget about with him now. It is time to move on and let's see if Fritz can get the pitching rotation back into shape. Keep the faith Padres nation!