Warren Schaeffer has won the Rockies’ clubhouse, but has he won the job?
We should know soon, but Schaeffer deserves a chance to help rebuild the team from the ashes of this season. He deserves an offseason, a spring training and a fresh start in 2026.
I write that after talking to multiple players who tell me that, despite the Rockies’ horrendous record, Schaeffer is steering the team in the right direction. I have yet to hear a discouraging word about the man.
“He’s the best, for me,” shortstop Ezequiel Tovar said. “I love that he has high expectations for us, and he pushes everybody to be better every day. That’s the main reason.
“He likes details. He’s very big on that, and that’s important. You have to do things the right way. If I have a say, then, yes, bring him back.”
Left fielder Jordan Beck, who’s had a breakout season, is adamant that Schaeffer should be back next season.
“No. 1, I would love to have him be our manager again,” Beck said. “I like the job he’s done, I like what he’s changed, I like what he brings to the table.”
Such as?
“There is real accountability and there is true conversation,” Beck answered. “You always know where you stand. It’s sometimes small things, like knowing ahead of time if you are going to start the next day. He makes guys feel really comfortable and prepared, and that’s important for a young team.”
Added All-Star catcher Hunter Goodman: “He’s made me a better player. He believes in me.”
Schaeffer, 40, was named the Rockies’ interim manager on May 11, replacing Bud Black. The Rockies were 7-33 under Black. They are 35-79 under Schaeffer. Given the dearth of talent, terrible starting pitching and key injuries, neither man could have saved the Rockies from a historically bad season.
Schaeffer played six seasons in the Rockies’ minor league system and spent 10 seasons as a coach and manager in the minors before being hired as third-base and infield coach for the 2023 season. He loves the Rockies and wants a real chance to prove he can lead them.
For now, however, he says he’s focused on finishing the season.
“Obviously, it’s natural to think of the future,” he said. “But it’s my job to be there for those guys out there, so there’s really nothing to think about. It’s just completely out of my hands.”
Schaeffer has done a solid job with the bullpen and has been creative with the lineup. He’s helped make the offense more aggressive and versatile.
Still, with a handful of games remaining in the season, Schaeffer has no idea what his future holds. If owner Dick Monfort and his son Walker, the team’s executive vice president, shake up the front office, Schaeffer could be looking for a job. If current general manager Bill Schmidt is fired, his replacement, or a president of baseball operations, would likely want to hire their own manager.
Perhaps that new manager, looking for some continuity, would keep Schaeffer on as a bench coach. It’s all very unclear right now.
Those of us who cover the Rockies regularly joke about Schaeffer’s penchant for talking about “how hard the boys fight” after their latest loss. It’s a bit maddening, and sometimes it sounds like he’s covering up for his team’s failures.
However, the truth is that Schaeffer will never publicly diss a player. It’s also true that Schaeffer knows the game, and he’s acutely aware of the Rockies’ limitations on the field — and in organization. I’ve asked him plenty of blunt, hard questions — off the record. Despite what fans might see on TV, Schaeffer is not wearing purple-colored glasses.
He has, however, found a way to keep his young team from wallowing in its losses. You could argue that many of Colorado’s young players are simply happy to be in the big leagues and therefore lack a sense of the team’s failure or what’s needed to win.
But I don’t sense that’s what’s happening. Beneath the avalanche of losses, Schaeffer is starting to build a team. I reflect on something he said in late May. At the time, before I got to know him, I thought his words sounded Pollyannish.
Now, they ring true.
“We could take this moment that we’re in right now and look back three years from now and say, ‘Boy, we used that the right way to move forward,’” he said. “But if we’re going to commiserate and wallow in our pit, that’s no way for a man to act, and that’s no way for a group of players and just a group of people to act if you want to move forward.”
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