The Colorado Rockies are reportedly nearing the finish line after a monumental decision and will interview finalists to run their baseball operations. It is unknown whether this appointment will carry the title of “president of baseball operations” or “general manager,” but whoever is selected will have far-reaching consequences in the coming years.
“This is one of the most critical decisions the Rockies will ever have to make.” former player and current Rockies TV analyst Ryan Spilborghs told the Denver Post.
The three candidates mentioned the Athletic reports all come from other organizations and have no previous connections to the Rockies. It is currently unknown who else the Rockies have interviewed.
Walker Monfort, the new executive vice president and eldest son of CEO and owner Dick Monfort, appears to be making good on his promise to look outside the organization following the resignations of former general manager Bill Schmidt and former assistant general manager Zach Rosenthal.
The eldest Monfort son appears to be taking over the organization’s leadership for the time being, but his father will obviously still play a prominent role as the one signing the checks.
“He’s a partner in this. He’s still the ultimate decision maker,” Walker Monfort said of his father. “Ultimately, we’re trying to get this organization back to where it needs to be. And I think we can confidently say we’ll do what we can to do that.”
Dick Monfort is indeed the “ultimate decision maker,” but what happens in the coming weeks will likely reveal whether or not he is prepared to make the ultimate decisions.
Hiring a true outsider to run the Rockies’ baseball operations would mark a dramatic shift in the front office culture, especially if they are given the title of president of baseball operations, a role that has not been filled since Keli McGregor’s death and one that Monfort has largely taken on.
In another interesting development, Walker Monfort is reportedly hiring for a new position in the front office: a Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer.
“The job of the Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer would be to grow revenues so that they can be reinvested into the baseball operations and the team,” a league source told the Denver Post.
Such an appointment would be promising, as these types of decisions have generally been directly in the hands of Dick Monfort and his inner circle… often with disastrous consequences.
Dick Monfort’s control of baseball operations has led to the albatross contracts of Ian Desmond, the much-maligned “super bullpen,” and most recently Kris Bryant. When it comes to resource allocation, voices within the organization are calling for change.
Walker Monfort seems to have heard those voices.
“I talked about a deep dive into what we do and how we currently deploy our resources,” he told The Denver Post when he was promoted in June. “Part of what we’re talking about here is looking at clubs. Milwaukee is an example. Cleveland is an example. Arizona is an example, Minnesota — teams of similar market size that have had recent success. We have to look at what they’re doing that might be different than us.”
However, for this rebuilding to have a chance, it is Dick Monfort who must be willing to relinquish control and embrace the unknown. He must make the changes happen and must be encouraged in every way to do so.
That made things confusing when local sportswriter Mark Kiszla of the Denver Gazette appeared to do the exact opposite in his column ‘Kickin’ it with Kiz’.
“Should the first requirement for the next architect of a team in Colorado be the need for Google Maps to find 20th and Blake? I don’t think so,” Kiszla wrote. “High-altitude baseball is a beast. With monumental decisions on the horizon, the Rockies need to hire someone who knows the nature of that beast. What worked in Houston or Kansas City doesn’t necessarily translate into W’s at 5280.”
Kiszla may be unintentionally repeating statements made by Dick Monfort in the past.
“(Bringing someone in from outside) is the other side of it. And I’m not saying it’s completely wrong. But when (former GM) Jeff (Bridich) left, there were a lot of people from outside who interviewed or were interested. They told me how to win at altitude and everything they mentioned, it wouldn’t have worked, or it’s all things we tried,” Monfort said ahead of the 2024 season.
The problem is that the Rockies have had 33 seasons of winning in Colorado with people who “know the nature of the beast.” They came up with nothing and are now coming off one of the worst seasons in league history.
Kiszla also criticizes the rumored candidates for president of baseball operations or general manager, especially in the way they remind him of former Rockies executives.
“Toronto director James Click studied art history at Yale, which reminds me of the know-it-all Ivy Leaguer that was Jeff Bridich,” he opined. “Kansas City’s Scott Sharp is basically a lifelong scout, which sounds eerily like the career path of the recently fired Bill Schmidt. And Cleveland assistant GM Matt Forman is a former sportswriter in love with analytics, which doesn’t get any better than Dan O’Dowd, who has learned the business side of baseball. How does either of these guys qualify as a meaningful change versus the way Colorado has always done business?”
This continues to echo Dick Monfort’s earlier sentiment that bringing in ideas from outside the organization simply won’t work, while also drawing very superficial comparisons to faces from the Rockies’ past.
Bridich wasn’t a bad general manager just because he went to an Ivy League school. He was a poor general manager because he frequently confronted both players and staff. A comparison to James Click – who has already won a World Series title as general manager of the Houston Astros – simply doesn’t apply. Likewise, Scott Sharp isn’t Bill Schmidt just because they both have scouting backgrounds.
Particularly troubling is his distaste for Guardians assistant general manager Matt Forman — who was reportedly a finalist for the Washington Nationals’ open position — because he is “in love with analytics.” The Rockies’ inability to modernize their organization and invest resources in analytics is a major reason why the team is in their current situation in the first place.
So what does Kiszla ultimately propose as his solution?
“If the Rockies really want to take a new approach, they need to hire someone who has lived and died in baseball. The San Francisco Giants recently turned over their baseball operations to former catcher Buster Posey, a seven-time All-Star. The Rangers president of baseball operations is Chris Young, who has been the winning pitcher in a World Series game. By hiring a pencil pusher, the Rockies could do something innovative and give power to a guy who has actually played. dug his cleats into a major league player’s batter’s box and took a swing with a 95 mph fastball.
While some former big league players find themselves in the front office after their careers end, it doesn’t necessarily translate into success, and it’s not particularly common. There are only a handful of current front office executives – presidents of baseball operations or general managers – with big league experience. All of them — including Kiszla’s examples in Posey and Young — spent time in baseball operations after retirement. The Rockies currently don’t have any former players in their front office who could qualify, except perhaps former pitcher Scott Oberg. Oberg has served in various roles since his retirement and currently serves as one of the team’s pitching coordinators.
“If the Rockies actually have a way of doing business, 323 losses in a three-year period suggests that their way of building a winning team may be all wrong,” Kiszla said. “That hard truth seems to have finally sunk into the stubborn skulls of Dick and Charlie Monfort.”
But what Kiszla ultimately suggests is everything that has resulted in seven years of misery for the Rockies: insularity, overly loyalism and an inability to modernize.
These are all things that Dick Monfort and the Colorado Rockies must escape if they want this rebuild to get off the ground.
Matt Holliday advocates Rockies consider hiring notable executive | Sports illustrated
Former Rockies All-Star Matt Holliday discussed his desire for the Rockies to interview Thad Levine for their open position at the top of baseball operations. It is not known whether the Rockies have or plan to interview Levine, a longtime baseball executive with ties to Colorado early in his career.
Rockies’ Walker Monfort faces ‘monumental decisions’ as front office rebuild | Denver Post ($)
Walker Monfort’s search for a new front office is necessarily progressing at a breakneck pace. The Rockies need to appoint their new head of baseball operations as soon as possible to take full advantage of the offseason. Is he making the right moves when it comes to one of the most important decisions in franchise history?
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