Pitching Coach Larry Rothschild Needs To Go Now

I am not the biggest Jayce Tinger fan as our manager, but that topic is for another blog which could be soon due to my frustration. Padres pitching coach Larry Rothschild is not helping me calm down with this team in 2021. It has come to the point where I think he needs to go with the recent pile up on injuries to the Padres pitching staff.

Here is the current injury list for the Padres pitching staff:

Yu Darvish (Back) 10-day IL

Chris Paddack (Oblique) 10-day IL

Drew Pomeranz (Forearm) 60-day IL (Season-ending surgery)

Dinelson Lamet (Forearm & Hip) 10-day IL*

* Uncertain return status for Lamet

To make matters even worse, the Padres rotation has not been doing so well and the bullpen has been used a ton thanks to manager Jayce Tingler. Keep in mind we have lost relievers including Dan Altavilla and Keone Kela to season-ending surgeries too. Larry Rothschild was hired almost immediately after the New York Yankees decided to fire him after being the pitching coach in the Bronx since 2011. To baseball experts, it is known that Rothschild is more of an old-school pitching coach and that has resulted in injuries and inconsistency for all teams he has coached for. Rothschild is now 67-years old and baseball is trying to get younger with managers. San Diego should look to go younger on the pitching coach position as well since Rothschild does not rely on advanced technology and stats to help pitchers perform better.

After acquiring Blake Snell and Yu Darvish on back-to-back days in the off-season, headlines were making way stating the San Diego had a top tier rotation and a already solid, proven bullpen. For sports, rosters always look better on paper as we assume that certain moves will make a team unstoppable. This season so far has not been perfect, but it does shove us back into reality Friar Faithful.

The Padres are 26-28 against the Rockies, Diamondbacks, Pirates, Cubs and Marlins this season. Yikes. Is that due to playing to the level of competition? Probably due to Tingler. But San Diego has lacked any kind of spark from the pitching that was provided earlier this season. The new rule that has umpires check pitchers for foreign subtances has changed the game for the better again; however, the Padres could not generate runs in the beginning of the season while pitching with perfection. Now the script has flipped. My previous article made it seem that there was hope for the starting rotation and I apologize for that as I am just as shocked as you are with the results.

As of now, San Diego ranks #5 with a combined 3.65 ERA as a club. That is great knowing the pitching struggles over the prior years but June through August have been miserable.

Padres GM A.J. Preller did not go out and grab another starter at the trade deadline. Preller stated that the team has enough pitching to contend. (You can never go wrong with "too much" pitching.) Top prospect Ryan Weathers has been awful to watch since June, Darvish has been erratic and injured, Paddack has gotten better but has now been injured, Snell has improved but is still questionable. The list goes on for San Diego at this point.

Larry Rothschild spent a good amount of time with the New York Yankees. But the team suffered many pitching injuries in Rothschild's final season as the team posted a 4.31 ERA. It was a pretty ugly divorce despite former manager Joe Girardi praising Rothschild for the work he has done.

The Padres are running out of options since the Wild Card race has been much tighter due to the Cincinnati Reds knocking on the door. Say goodbye to winning the division and even hosting the Wild Card game at Petco Park. San Diego just needs to worry about securing that playoff spot now. Recently signed Jake Arrieta will be making his mark in Denver to try and have the Padres avoid getting swept from the Rockies yet again. Arrieta has been absoluty horrific flashing me back to his Baltimore Orioles days. Maybe a change of scenery can help. (Look at Jorge Mateo with the O's!)

The former Cy Young winner has just been hit hard by opponents. Arrieta has posted a 6.88 ERA in 20 starts, a FIP of 6.12 and has already given up 21 home runs. (23 is career high in 2017) We have no choice but to keep the faith in the Padres. For an easy schedule that is not being taken advantage of, San Diego does stand at 31-20 versus teams with a +.500 record. September will be important for that statistic as they have one of the toughest schedules and could determine if they reach the postseason.

Going back to Rothschild, these injuries are nonstop and have made it a difficult summer. Young prospects who are unexpectedly being called up to try and log innings does not work as you are throwing the kid right into the fire. If Rothschild wants to stay as the pitching coach, he has no choice but to look at the advanced technology and statistics to give the Padres the consistent pitching it desperately needs. If that can't be done, expect more injuries that could be season-ending threatening. Personally, I am done with Rothschild. No this is not me overreacting though I tend to do that often. Rothschild has the injury prone history and pitching struggles over time that does not give any reason to keep him. The Padres need to go young and build around the new technology that has already made a major impact on baseball.