Rockies fans were treated to two breaking news stories today, the first regarding the Rockies coaching staff and the second regarding the ongoing search for the President of Baseball Operations/General Manager.
Darryl Scott out as pitching coach
Rockies beat writer Thomas Harding reported Wednesday night that pitching coach Darryl Scott would not return to the Colorado Rockies for the 2026 season.
Scott, 57, had been a member of the Rockies organization since 2009. A former pitcher in both the MLB and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, Scott served in various minor league coaching and coordinator roles before being promoted to the big league team’s bullpen coach for the 2020 season.
The Rockies had one of the worst bullpens in baseball over the two seasons. Scott was the bullpen coach. In 2020, they had the league’s second-worst ERA at 6.77, and in 2021 their 4.91 ERA was fifth-worst.
Following the 2021 season, Scott was named the team’s new pitching coach as Steve Foster stepped down from his role and became the Rockies’ new pitching director.
In Scott’s four seasons as pitching coach, the Rockies regularly had one of the worst team ERAs in baseball. During that time, the pitching staff has the third-worst adjusted ERA and ranked last in strikeout rate and team in each of those four seasons. In each of the Rockies’ three consecutive seasons of 100 or more losses, the pitching staff had an ERA of 5.40 or higher.
Scott’s departure is yet another shakeup for a team undergoing seismic change. The team has also not yet decided whether to appoint Warren Schaeffer, who replaced the fired Bud Black during the season, as the club’s manager.
Two PBO/GM finalists named
The Rockies are in the process of deciding who will be their next head of baseball operations after both general manager Bill Schmidt and assistant general manager Zach Rosenthal resigned.
Reporting by Brittany Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal of Athletic today unveiled two finalists for the position. While Toronto’s James Click and Kansas City’s Scott Sharp are no longer considered for the role, Cleveland’s Matt Forman has moved up as the frontrunner.
The other finalist revealed is Amiel Sawdaye of the Arizona Diamondbacks, a name not previously associated with the Rockies’ hunt.
Sawdaye is the right-hand man of Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen and serves as the team’s senior vice president and assistant general manager. He followed Hazen to Arizona from the Boston Red Sox.
The surprise candidate has a number of interesting factors working in his favor. Sawdaye has experience winning in baseball. He was part of three World Series titles during 16 seasons with the Boston Red Sox, as well as the Diamondbacks’ recent National League pennant in 2023. He also has an intimate knowledge of the National League West, including the Rockies.
Both Sawdaye and Matt Forman have strong backgrounds in scouting and a commitment to analytics, as well as experience working on teams with limited payroll.
The Rockies have not confirmed any of the candidates they interviewed, and it is currently unknown if any other names are in the mix to lead their new front office.
In addition, according to Patrick Saunders of the Denver Posta league source has indicated that the Rockies do not currently plan to hire both a president of baseball operations and a general manager.
The exact title the new general manager will have is unknown, but the Rockies reportedly hope to finalize the appointment by the end of the World Series or at least prior to the general manager meetings in Las Vegas from November 10 to 13.
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