You can’t give lipstick service to a pig.
Rockies CEO Dick Monfort, whose family fortune was built on meatpacking, should know that better than anybody.
If it were up to Team Grading The Week (GTW), the Monforts would purge anything and everyone from the baseball side of the worst MLB team in Denver history and the second-worst National League team of the modern era.
Do the Monforts feel shame? Do they feel … anything at all at this point?
We’re about to find out.
Because The Walker Era is upon us. And for Rockies fans who have might as well wear bags over their heads as baseball caps to Coors Field, it might be the only sliver of hope they’ve got left.
The only substantive structural change the Rockies have announced in the last three months is here. Colorado announced in late June that longtime president Greg Feasel would move on after this awful season ends, to be replaced by Walker Monfort, the CEO’s son, as executive vice president to “assume his responsibilities.”
Dick Monfort is overdue for a new voice whispering in his ear — someone high enough in the organizational chart to affect change.
Real change.
The Walker Monfort Era — Incomplete
Oh, we’ve got some ideas. Heck, yeah. If the baseball wonks in the GTW offices had their druthers, the first thing we’d do in Walker’s shoes is convince dad to reassign general manager Bill Schmidt — or remove him entirely from the top decision-making role.
The next thing we’d do is hire a GM or head of baseball operations from outside the franchise, outside the family. New eyes. New faces. New voices. New ideas.
Then we’d let them rip the baseball/talent acquisition and evaluation side down to the studs and start over. If that means ruffling the feathers of friends and alienating family, so be it.
There are tweaks and there are tear-downs. Walker’s got a chance to win back some community goodwill — and trust — for the family and his father if he treats the current crisis correctly.
Yes, the 2024 White Sox, they of 121-loss infamy, are “safe,” for whatever that’s worth. But the Rockies’ run differential of minus-416 going into the weekend looks assured to obliterate the modern-era record low of minus-349 set by the 1932 Boston Red Sox.
If there’s going to be a structural makeover, why hasn’t it happened yet? What are they waiting on? Until the Rockies stop fearing change above all else, they’re going to keep scaring Denver customers away.
Russell Wilson’s Giants Era — D
Like many of you, Team GTW kind of wanted to see Russell Wilson mess up at Empower Field on Oct. 19 when the New York Giants roll into town. Alas, it’s probably not to be. It took three weeks and three losses (0-3), but the G-Men benched the former Broncos signal-caller earlier this week and are on to rookie Jaxson Dart as their QB1, per coach Brian Daboll.
Fun fact: Over 10 mostly strong seasons in Seattle, Big Russ was 104-53-1 as a starter. Since being traded to Denver in the spring of 2022, he’s sported a record of 17-27, a 38.6% win percentage that averages out to a 6-11 record over 17 games. Broncos Country, let’s chide!
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