Spring brings a fresh start for Rothschild

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© St. Petersburg Times
published February 5, 2002

TAMPA -- The silence has served him well. The days have been a friend.

Larry Rothschild has not filled out a lineup card in nearly 10 months and, yet, his legacy as a manager seems somehow larger today.

This is what time has done for Rothschild. It has proven the fault of a baseball team's failures should not automatically be assigned to his name.

True, the Rays were the only team to give Rothschild the opportunity to manage. They just never gave him the opportunity to win.

As consolations go, this one is admittedly small. Insignificant, maybe, to some. But it is worth remembering that the longest offseason of Rothschild's life is coming to a close.

In another week, he will leave for Arizona to begin spring training as pitching coach for the Cubs. He will be wearing the uniform of his childhood team and earning a handsome wage. He also will be at peace with himself.

"I may or may not get another opportunity to manage," Rothschild said Friday. "But I have no doubt I can do the job. And I know I worked as hard as I possibly could have to make it work here."

Let it be said that when the ax was swung, Rothschild refused to duck. No complaints, no excuses. He kept his profile low and his mouth shut.

When he walked out the Tropicana Field exit, he did not look back. Otherwise, he might have seen the traffic jam forming behind him.

The exodus of players that followed Rothschild out the door is the best evidence of his innocence in this matter. How could the manager be held responsible when the organization admitted the roster was an unholy mess?

If there was a mistake made by Rothschild it was in showing up at all in 2001. His authority had been undercut severely when management did not swiftly shout down rumors of his dismissal at the end of 2000.

Not only was the writing on the wall, but also on the contracts. Bloated, lengthy contracts that no other team in baseball would touch. The Rays had a dysfunctional group of overpaid veterans and were stuck with them.

The point was driven home during a staff meeting last spring. Rothschild apparently wanted Randy Winn to be his centerfielder, even if it meant eating Gerald Williams' $3.25-million contract.

There was no immediate response. Finally a scout suggested that if highly paid acquisitions were cast off, the front office would be next in line.

Turns out, it was Rothschild who served as the Judas Goat.

His dismissal 14 games into the season was the white flag that permitted the Rays to give up on the team's direction.

They ate Williams' contract. They ate Vinny Castilla's contract. They ate a portion of Fred McGriff's contract in order to trade him to the Cubs. By season's end, they would cut loose Albie Lopez and Mike DiFelice and made plans to rid themselves of Juan Guzman, Jose Guillen and Bryan Rekar, too. If there were takers for Greg Vaughn and Wilson Alvarez, the Rays would have chauffeurs lined up with instructions to go fast and far.

Today, the Rays have a roster filled with younger, more aggressive players. There is room for them to grow and there are lessons for the staff to impart. It is precisely the type of team Rothschild wanted to manage.

If the irony is painful to him, Rothschild hides it well. There is no future in staring at the past, so he looks in other directions.

It could not have been easy to remain in South Tampa while the final five months of the season were played out 15 miles away, but Rothschild was committed to having his children remain in their schools.

There were offers from two NL teams and one AL team to be a pitching coach, and Rothschild settled on Chicago, where his parents live in a suburb south of the city.

How much longer he remains a resident of the Tampa Bay area remains to be seen. His family will join him in Chicago when school lets out in the summer and they will see where life takes them from there.

As for the possibilities of managing in the future, Rothschild's hopes are clear. Should another opportunity arise, he will jump.

He was not without mistakes or miscalculations during his time here. Some of the qualities that served him well as a fringe player -- his intensity and relentless devotion to work -- were not as valued as a manager. He is convinced he has learned from the experience, even if it was not always pleasant.

"If I made it through this one alive," he says smiling, "I think I can handle any job."

Already, Rothschild is a fading memory in the Rays clubhouse. The turnover has been so rampant, the team scarcely resembles the one he left.

The Rays have moved on, and Rothschild is about to do the same. He has not gone in search of vindication, but it seems to have found his door.

Even if the Rays were not kind to Rothschild, perhaps history will be.

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