San Diego Padres dismiss pitching coach Larry Rothschild

The San Diego Padres have disappointed this season. They had been expected to be one of the main contenders for the World Series, only to have fallen behind the Reds in the chase for the second Wild Card. Changes needed to be made.

Those changes started on Monday. The Padres announced that they have fired pitching coach Larry Rothschild, replacing him with Ben Fritz for the rest of the year.

San Diego Padres make necessary move

The Padres rotation was expected to be the strength of the franchise. Even with Mike Clevinger on the Injured List, they had acquired Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove, and Yu Darvish to shore up their starters. San Diego appeared set to battle the Dodgers for NL West supremacy.

Instead, the Padres sit 13 games out in the division and have fallen behind the Reds for the second Wild Card spot. Darvish has been everything the Padres had hoped for, and Musgrove has been solid, but the rest of the rotation has been questionable at best. The rotation has posted a 4.37 ERA this year, 17th in the majors, in what has been a disappointing showing.

While that could be explained due to injury, there were other factors that led to Rothschild’s dismissal. Snell is in the midst of what is easily his worst season in the majors as he has been a disaster. Young pitchers Chris Paddack and Ryan Weathers have not developed as expected. While that is not entirely Rothschild’s fault, someone had to take the blame.

Such is Rothschild’s fate. He has been given the axe due to the Padres’ disappointing performance this season, with the hope that a new voice will make a difference to a rotation that has not lived up to expectations. If this does not work, and the Padres fail to make the postseason, Rothschild may not be the only member of the coaching staff on the unemployment line.

The San Diego Padres have fired pitching coach Larry Rothschild. Considering the struggles of their rotation this year, that decision is hardly surprising.