Rothschild should be revered

Often-criticized pitching coach proved his worth during Cubs' chaotic season, writes GORDON WITTENMYER

There was something lost in all the gushing over the Cubs' regular-season success and in all the furor over the quick playoff exit.

It was this: The often vilified last-man-standing from the 2006 field staff purge -- the guy booed by fans at the Cubs Convention -- quietly became one of the bigger success stories of the season for the worst-to-first Cubs.

Not that pitching coach Larry Rothschild seeks validation for a respected career, but the 2007 results of the No. 2 pitching staff in the National League (4.04 ERA) should amount at least to vindication in the face of some of the knee-jerk criticism and calls for his head the last two seasons.

''Unfortunately, everything's based on what [the staff does],'' Mark Prior said Thursday. ''In '03, our staff was great, and Larry got a lot of the credit. Unfortunately, with the injuries last year, Larry takes a lot of the heat.''

And that's the most unfair kind of criticism, say his pitchers.

''It's not his fault I got hit with a line drive [in 2005] or I ran into [Marcus] Giles [in 2003],'' Prior said. ''That's nobody's fault. That type of heat is unfair to anybody. That's just playing, that just kind of happens.''

Rothschild, who first became a major-league coach for the 1990 World Series-champion Cincinnati Reds as manager Lou Piniella's ''second'' pitching coach, said it doesn't matter whether the criticism is fair or unfair -- it's part of the job.

''If you're in this business long enough, you're going to get criticized, and I've been in it long enough,'' he said. ''I just look at it as you do things right, professionally, you work your job, try to cover everything that needs to get covered and make sure that communication's open, and the rest of it -- you don't have a magic wand.''

He does have a track record that defies some of the attacks, starting with a three-year stretch as the Florida Marlins' pitching coach in which a young staff improved each season, culminating in the 1997 World Series championship.

''Larry's been one of the best pitching coaches in baseball for a long time now,'' general manager Jim Hendry said. ''He was never the root of any problem. It goes with the territory, though. When it doesn't go well, it's easy to play pile-on.''

But if you blame him for a 2006 staff that broke down physically, had 14 pitchers make starts, ranked third from the bottom in the league in team ERA (4.74) and couldn't achieve big-league traction for any of the young pitchers from the system who came his way, then you have to give him credit for an '07 staff that returned just one starter in April from its '06 opening rotation and yet:

•   •   Didn't miss a start because of injury.

•   •   Had four pitchers surpass 190 innings.

•   •   Had Rich Hill and Sean Marshall make major contributions to the rotation.

•   •   And underwent a bullpen reorganization six weeks into the season that became a major part of the Cubs' surge into contention, led by the emergence of converted starter Carlos Marmol -- probably the team's future closer.

''The way things are nowadays, everything is analyzed to the 'nth' degree, especially day in and day out,'' Prior said. ''I think if you looked at him collectively as this season and collectively in his career, most of his staffs are really good. So I think you just have to look at that and understand what he really is.''

Rothschild's six Cubs staffs have included three that finished in the top three in the league in ERA, and the last five finished in the top five in opponents' batting average.

He's respected enough in the industry that Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland tried to hire him away when taking over the team before last season -- for a hefty increase in salary -- and respected enough by those who have pitched for him that Greg Maddux advised Jason Marquis to seek out Rothschild in Florida after an ugly finish to the 2006 season with the St.Louis Cardinals -- long before the Cubs went after Marquis as a free agent.

''He's been huge,'' said Marquis, who previously pitched for two of the premier pitching coaches in the game: Leo Mazzone, then with the Atlanta Braves, and Dave Duncan with the Cardinals St. Louis. ''I don't know what Larry went through here with his other pitchers. But it's been nothing but positive this year.''

If he was blamed for the young pitchers' poor job during baptism-by-fire-pitching in 2006, consider that Rothschild stayed on top of Marquis enough to get 12 wins out of him this year and spent much of the season playing nursemaid to volatile ace Carlos Zambrano.

That doesn't count his impact on a sometimes shaky Hill, who survived his first full season well enough to earn a spot in the playoff rotation, and a 28-for-31 save rate for closer Ryan Dempster, whose confidence was nearly tapped by a horrendous finish to last season.

''I've had a lot of really good pitching coaches, and he's as good as anybody I've ever had,'' Dempster said. ''Sometimes [in Chicago], whether it's the surroundings or whatever, times can turn on you or tend to go in a negative direction real fast. And he always keeps you positive and believing in yourself and trusting yourself.''

BETTER DAYS

21-27 W-L 18-27

39 Saves 29

3.76 ERA 4.04

491 IP 562

228 BB 255

476 SO 553