Rothschild leaves Cubs to become Yanks coach

In the end, family trumped all.

Over the past several years the lure of being closer to his family in the Tampa, Fla., area especially during spring training has tugged at Larry Rothschild. So much so that the Cubs' pitching coach had spoken with Cubs general manager Jim Hendry on occasion about his desire to move on should an opportunity to do so ever arise.

It arose this week, and despite the Cubs recently picking up his option for next season, Rothschild instead is moving on to become pitching coach for the New York Yankees after signing a three-year contract with the Bronx Bombers, whose spring training camp is just miles from Rothschild's home.

“The opportunity presented itself here; I didn't feel like it was time to leave the Cubs,” Rothschild said. “It's hard because I'm very close to Mike Quade and have a lot of respect for him.”

The move ends Rothschild's long tenure with the Cubs.

“The Cubs would like to thank Larry Rothschild for nine years of service to this organization,” Hendry said in a statement. “We understand his reasons for pursuing the opportunity with the Yankees and agree he is making the right decision by his family.

“My baseball operations staff and Mike Quade have already begun identifying candidates to replace Larry and expect to have a major-league pitching coach in place shortly after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.”

Rothschild said the move came about rather quickly. He spent Tuesday going over extensive video of Yankees pitchers and then followed that up with an in-depth interview Wednesday.

And now it's off to New York.

“The Cubs treated me great and to allow me to do this is a rare opportunity,” Rothschild said. “It has less to do with where the Cubs are than with what I needed to do personally for the family. And also, obviously … the Yankees are involved.”