October 11, 200520 yr Rothschild, Cubs coaching staff returns By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs retained all of their coaches for 2006, including pitching coach Admin Rothschild, who had considered reuniting with Jim Leyland in Detroit. Rothschild, 51, was on Leyland's staff in 1997 with the Florida Marlins when they won the World Series, but he opted to stay in Chicago. This will be his fifth season with the Cubs. "When Admin came here, he turned down bigger and better deals financially," Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said Tuesday. "His goal hasn't changed. He came here to help us win. He grew up in Chicago, and that had a strong influence on him. "He felt that for his sake and for the pitching aspect of it, and the staff, he felt we're still going to win here and he's got some unfinished business to do with our guys," Hendry said. "I think his intent is to get the job done here." The Cubs pitchers finished the season ninth in the National League with a 4.19 ERA. They had ranked third in the two previous seasons under Rothschild. Injuries to pitchers Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, and Chad Fox hurt the staff. Rothschild said he felt an obligation to bring a winner to Chicago. "When I was with Dave [Dombrowski, Tigers GM] and Jim before, we won a World Series," Rothschild said. "Obviously, I had a relationship with both of them and it made it tough. In the end, my obligation here was more important." Some of the Cub pitchers did call when they heard Rothschild might be leaving. "I talked to a few of them," Rothschild said of the players. "They didn't want to get involved and try to sway my decision. What they've said is they wanted me to do what was best for me and not to worry about anything else." Besides being back with Leyland, Rothschild would have been back in Florida for Spring Training. He lives in Tampa, Fla., in the offseason. "The two months that I'm in Spring Training is tough," Rothschild said. "The family obligation weighed heavily. We spent a lot of time talking about that. The truth of the matter is during spring, I'm at the ballpark the majority of days for 12, 15 hours. I wouldn't get a whole lot of time with them." "He's one of the most respected pitching coaches in the game," Hendry said. "He's got two World Series rings to show for that. I think he's got a tremendous work ethic. Nobody at the ballpark is here longer during the day than Admin. He spends countless hours trying to get them better. I think he's totally dedicated trying to get everyone to maximize their ability." The rest of the Cubs staff consists of bench coach Dick Pole, hitting coach Gene Clines, first base coach Gary Matthews, third base coach Chris Speier and bullpen coach Juan Lopez. Sonny Jackson also will return as a special assistant to Cubs manager Dusty Baker. Lopez, 45, Matthews, 55, and Jackson, 61, all return for their fourth season with the Cubs. Speier, 55, will return for his second year with the team. Pole, 55, returns for his eighth season as a Cubs coach. He also served as the pitching coach from 1988-91. Clines, 59, returns for his seventh season. He was the first base coach from 1979-81. The Cubs batters ranked second in the National League in average at .270 but were ninth in runs scored. All of the coaches signed one-year contracts with the Cubs. The Cubs pitching staff also returns nearly intact. The 2006 rotation will consist of Prior, Greg Maddux, Carlos Zambrano and Wood if healthy from arthroscopic shoulder surgery. Young relievers like Roberto Novoa, Michael Wuertz and Will Ohman also shined. "Obviously, we need to be healthy," Rothschild said. "We seem to have a handle on Mark Prior and health issues there. Carlos stayed healthy, and he pitched a lot of innings and threw a lot of pitches. We have to bring Kerry back from the injury. "With Greg, I think you saw in the second half of the year there's a lot of upside for him," Rothschild said. "He's not at the height of his career but there's still a lot of good games for him to pitch. We talked at the end of the year about certain things he could do to return to what he's done in the past. "I think we need to strengthen the pitching staff and that's one of the things Jim [Hendry] wants to do in the offseason." Expect an emphasis this spring on getting off to a good start. "We've found ourselves significantly behind the Cardinals by the month of May or the middle of May," Hendry said. "Credit them for how well they get out the gate. Certainly over the winter we'll look at avenues to try to get out of the gate better and maybe approach things differently." Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
October 11, 200520 yr Question is wiill he last thru the whole season? He's certainly going to be on a short leashe, that's for sure. Probably the front runner for "first manager to get axed in '06."
October 11, 200520 yr i dont know why everyone thinks he is such a great manager...hes never impressed me. maybe hes a good personality but thats it
October 12, 200520 yr i dont know why everyone thinks he is such a great manager...hes never impressed me. maybe hes a good personality but thats it No one thinks he's a great manager. He's absolute garbage.
October 12, 200520 yr It's bad news for Kerry Wood. His arm will probably fall completely off with another season with Dusty
October 12, 200520 yr we had to endure this piece of sh*t in SF for 10 years...it took him costing us the f***ing world series for the FO to finally let him go
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