With the dog days of summer barking, 18 of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams entered Saturday with records of .500 or better. Theoretically, all of those teams have a shot at the postseason.
The team with baseball’s best record? That would be the Brewers at 71-44 through Friday’s games. Yes, those Brewers with a $113 million payroll that ranks 23rd in baseball, according to Spotrac. Yes, those Brewers, who are headed toward their seventh postseason in eight years.
Their plus-128 run differential is best in the majors, which is impressive considering it was minus-32 after a 0-4 start to this season. That club knows how to play baseball.
Which brings us to the Rockies, who have already clinched their seventh consecutive losing season, are limping like a three-legged dog toward their third consecutive 100-loss season, and are flirting with surpassing the 2024 White Sox for the most losses in baseball’s modern era. The Rockies are on pace to be outscored by an astronomical 452 runs this season.
FYI, the Rockies’ payroll is $122 million, ranking 21st.
The Rockies’ day of reckoning is nearing, or at least it should be. Owner Dick Monfort and his son Walker, the team’s new executive vice president, must be considering making significant changes to the front office. Right? They have to be discussing that and searching for alternatives. Right? Surely they must have started the process already. Right?
Dick Monfort has admitted many times over the years that he can be “loyal” to a fault, but surely his loyalty has reached a tipping point. Right?
A longtime baseball executive, who knows the Rockies well, recently told me, “Dick doesn’t like to make big changes and won’t until he’s forced to. He won’t until the walls start crashing in on him.”
The walls have been collapsing for several years, and signing Kris Bryant to a seven-year, $182 million albatross of a contract was the wrecking ball.
Now the Rockies face unavoidable questions and decisions as they near the final quarter of their season:
• Now that the draft and trade deadline are in the review mirror, will the club make changes soon, or will it wait until the end of the season?
• Will Walker Monfort work mainly on the business side of the organization? Or will he be active on the baseball side? Early indications are that he will have at least some role on the baseball side.
• If the club fires general manager Bill Schmidt (or reassigns him), will they hire from outside the organization? They undoubtedly will, right? They have to, right?
• Will the Rockies hire a president of baseball operations to serve as the primary decision-maker? Someone who will take a hard look at how the team does things? Would that person have the power to reshape the organization?
• If so, would the president of baseball operations pick a general manager to handle the nuts and bolts on the baseball side?
• Is longtime executive Thad Levine, who helped the Twins become a winner, the man for the job? He worked for the Rockies from 1999-05, so he’s got a feel for baseball at altitude.
• Where does interim manager Warren Schaeffer fit into the Rockies’ future? Everyone I have talked to believes he’s done a good job in the face of all of the team’s injuries, youth, horrendous pitching and lack of overall talent. But if a new front-office boss is hired, Schaeffer might be out.
The players like Schaeffer’s communication skills and his attention to detail. He’s willing to shake up the lineup and has not been afraid to sit players if they aren’t performing. Michael Toglia and Brenton Doyle are primary examples of that.
In Schaeffer’s world, the Rockies would field a team like the Brewers; a team that contends with an old-school style that values pitching, defense and speed over power.
So many questions, so few answers right now. But one thing is sure: If no significant changes are made and the Rockies’ slide continues, loyal fans are finally going to say, “Enough is enough.” Right?
Right?
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