New York Yankees: Larry Rothschild returning as pitching coach in 2018

Pitching coach Larry Rothschild will return to the New York Yankees in 2018 regardless of who is hired as manager.

According to MLB.com, Larry Rothschild will return as the New York Yankees pitching coach in 2018. This news comes while the Yankees are searching for their next manager but the new skipper reportedly will have no effect on Rothschild’s status.

Rothschild has been the Yankees pitching coach for the past seven seasons and has led an underrated pitching staff. The Yankees are often called the Bronx Bombers and people think of the team as an offensive juggernaut but they’ve actually pitched well under Rothschild’s tutelage.

Since Rothschild started as the pitching coach in 2011, New York’s pitching staff has had the third-best strikeout-walk ratio in the major leagues (2.96) and the second-best walks per nine innings (2.84).

Rothschild turned a questionable starting rotation in 2017 into a solid staff. Luis Severino went from an unknown to a Cy Young Award finalist. CC Sabathia went from being an aging veteran with injury concerns to turning in his best season since 2012. And Jordan Montgomery came out of nowhere to not only win the fifth starting spot out of spring training but then became a reliable backend starter.

The only thing Rothschild couldn’t figure out during the 2017 season was how to get Masahiro Tanaka to string together consistent outings. However, Tanaka was dominant in the postseason so hopefully, he and Rothschild found something.

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Rothschild will have Severino, Tanaka, Montgomery, and Sonny Gray back in 2018. There also seems to be mutual interest between CC Sabathia and the New York Yankees about the veteran lefty coming back on a one-year deal.

Rothschild could also have a few more projects to work on this season with top prospects Chance Adams, Justus Sheffield, Domingo Acevedo, and Albert Abreu potentially making their big league debuts at some point in 2018. Shohei Otani could also join the Yankees rotation as they are believed to be one of the frontrunners to sign the Japanese Babe Ruth if he comes over to the MLB this offseason.

The Yankees bullpen, of course, is expected to be one of the best in baseball in 2018 with a ton of power arms. New York will get full seasons from David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle to go along with Adam Warren, Chad Green, Dellin Betances, and Aroldis Chapman.

It is interesting that Larry Rothschild is coming back before the New York Yankees have a new manager. Perhaps this means they will hire their next manager internally. Or perhaps not. Perhaps they’ll hire an offensive-minded manager. Or perhaps not.

We still really have no idea who will be managing the New York Yankees next year but we now know who will be the pitching coach. Larry Rothschild will return to the Yankee dugout to work with most of, if not all of the starting pitchers from last year and perhaps a few new ones, as well as a loaded bullpen.

Next: Tanaka opting in moves Yankees closer to their next dynasty

I don’t know what this news means for the New York Yankees managerial search, but hopefully, it means the Yankees pitching staff will be able to complement what should be one of the better offenses in the league in 2018.

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