No one has ever been this good at being bad.
Entering Wednesday night, the Rockies lost 40 of their first 48 games. The only teams who started in a similar fashion played in the 1800s when bats were made with wagon tongue wood and fans arrived by horse and buggy.
However awful you think the Rockies are, they are worse. On any given night, their roster features roughly 10 big league players. They don’t do anything well. Their hitters lead MLB in strikeouts, rank second to last in on-base percentage and third worst in batting average, while posting the third fewest stolen bases. And their pitchers own the worst ERA with the most hits allowed.
To be this awful is not an accident. It is the result of several years of misguided decisions and front office employees, coaches and scouts in the wrong positions.
Worse, the Rockies’ professional incompetence comes with arrogance even as their deterioration has unfurled for all to see. The record reveals an organization that has a flawed process of identifying, acquiring, drafting and developing players that has been repeated annually without consequence for too long.
Owner Dick Monfort and general manager Bill Schmidt entered the season with delusions of adequacy. The Rockies boast a minus-153 run differential — a testament not just to a horrible team, but a full organizational failure.
With that in mind, after talking with multiple executives, former big league players and scouts, I provide five ways to fix the Rockies. The abbreviated list is a concession to space, and I fully acknowledge has no chance of happening without Monfort looking in the mirror and admitting a complete overhaul is needed:
Conduct third-party internal audit
The Rockies have done things the same way for so long, they cannot be trusted to recognize their flaws. Bring in an outside expert today — for argument’s sake, former Twins president Thad Levine — to determine what has gone wrong.
Forever, the Rockies have taken credit when players succeed and blamed the players when they fail. That type of thinking has skirted responsibility and led to repeated mistakes, and is why Schmidt must be fired sooner rather than later.
Let the outside voice establish what is wrong, and implement the recommendations. Because every day the Rockies continue business as usual only elongates what is already a historically challenging rebuild.
Hire new baseball president
Greg Feasel is woefully miscast in this position. He is not Keli McGregor. Not even close.
Feasel has been with the Rockies since 1996, and is an example of Monfort valuing loyalty over performance. They need someone with baseball acumen in this position to create a buffer between Monfort and the GM, while hiring someone separate for the business operations. A former baseball executive is required.
Interview 5-to-10 people — the Rockies reject outside voices, so this would be jarring — make them sign a non-disclosure agreement and use their pitch on succeeding at altitude to help the person who is ultimately hired.
Win in the margins
The Rockies, at their core, are a draft-and-development organization that doesn’t draft or develop well. Their most successful first-round pick since 2014 is Brendan Rodgers, a player they let walk instead of trading when he had value, joining Trevor Story and Jon Gray. Perhaps, Chase Dollander and Jordan Beck might change this, but this is the Rockies’ reality despite six straight losing seasons that netted high selections.
So, why not double-up on the scouting staff both domestically and internationally by paying more than anyone in the industry? Get extra evaluations on players. Form stronger relationships. Find out more about makeup, if a player has the fortitude to pitch and play at altitude.
The Rockies are understaffed from a scouting perspective. Unfortunately, Monfort takes pride in this lean business model, wanting a new collective bargaining agreement to cap the number of scouts to even the playing field. It won’t. That’s because good scouts matter. The more of them a team has, the less likely it is to fail repeatedly in the draft.
And overpay your minor league coaches, including adding former big league managers and coaches, if possible. These types of eyes know what it takes to reach the big leagues and can identify traits and create plans that produce more linear growth.
The Rockies love to tell everyone how the party deck has been a great return on investment. You know what else is? Winning. Treating the team like a civic institution because the Rockies would not exist without taxpayer-funded Coors Field. So, invest $6 million in scouting and minor leagues and analytics, and see what happens. It would be better than wasting money on another utility player.
Embrace technology
The Rockies have been the equivalent of a flip phone when it comes to assimilating analytics into their operation. They have a small staff and zero innovation because fresh ideas are not welcomed in an organization that operates in a silo of groupthink. It is why they burn through employees in the department. No one wants to be unseen in a competitive environment.
Coors Field is a Rubik’s Cube. It demands the best and brightest. Look at organizations that consistently succeed and poach younger minds — the old heads at Blake Street are not going to wake up and figure out this equation — from the Dodgers, Giants, Diamondbacks, Rays, Guardians and Brewers. Then, get out of their way.
Create a player profile, identity
The Rockies have no identity. Their pitching staff is full of arms who don’t get carry on their fastball, and their lineup lacks power to take advantage of Coors Field without professional vagabonds like C.J. Cron and Mark Reynolds.
So, what is the prototype pitcher and player? For years, they wanted sinker/slider arms as a way to limit home runs, but pitching to contact is a liability in MLB’s biggest field that awards balls in play and makes it impossible to hide poor defenders. You need swing-and-miss stuff with mental toughness, and a directive to starters: your job is to out-pitch the other guy, not worry about your ERA.
With hitters, getting players with long, loopy swings is not working. Pick a lane. Go after power, while demanding a two-strike approach that emphasizes contact. Or lean totally into athleticism and win with extra-base hits, stolen bases and stellar defense.
Opposing teams should be afraid to come into Coors Field. Now, they have more fans cheering for them than the Rockies. It is another example of the embarrassment that demands a completely new way of doing business.
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