Yankees fire pitching coach Larry Rothschild

The New York Yankees made a bit of a surprise move, as they fired longtime pitching coach Larry Rothschild.  Rothschild had previously been the pitching coach of the Yankees since 2011.  He was the right-hand man of Joe Girardi and was kept on when Aaron Boone became manager of the Yankees.

This was the first big move of what will be a pivotal offseason for the Yankees.  Perhaps Rothschild was fired because he had a more old-school approach to pitching.  It seems nowadays that the most successful teams in baseball focus more on the analytics of pitches, including spin rate and arm angles.

If the Yankees are going to take a more progressive approach, then this move makes sense.  Rothschild was obviously good for many years, but the Yankees had a 4.51 team ERA in the regular season.  Rothschild has also been criticized for his inability to mentor the much-maligned Sonny Gray, who wound up having a career year in Cincinnati and had openly spoke out about Rothschild.

The Yankees have a lot of work to do if they’re going to get to the World Series, but this should be the first move in an offseason of big moves.  We shall see what comes after the firing of Larry Rothschild, but it’ll most likely be the first of many dominoes to fall.