The Real Problem for the Colorado Rockies
By Joe Morrone
Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
No one is harder on the Colorado Rockies then I am, but there’s one hard truth to any criticism leveled towards the team. None of it matters as long as Dick and Charlie Monfort own the team. We can talk about all of the issues with the Rockies but every single one of them comes back to the ownership group, and there not going anywhere.
Every Rockies fan is tired of General Manager Dan O’Dowd’s act, and most of them would pay for the plane ticket to get him out of town. The Monforts love him, however and have expressed no intention of getting rid of him. Sure they removed him from being the face of the organization because every time he opens his mouth, his foot is sure to follow.
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I firmly believe that O’Dowd is still making the decisions behind the scenes, and that should scare every Rockies fan. Dick Monfort called O’Dowd the best General Manager in sports a little over a year ago during an interview; that’s how delusional the Monforts are when it comes to O’Dowd.
The Rockies are never going to spend big on the field and in all honesty, their current payroll is respectable. It’s the Monforts unwillingness to bring in real talent in the front office that is the real problem. The Oakland A’s have a much smaller payroll than the Rockies and they are contenders every year. Why? Because Billy Beane is one of the best executives in pro sports and he has a plan and finds players who fit into that plan.
Is O’Dowd part of the problem; of course he is but it is the Monforts who continue to employ him.
A couple of years ago the Rockies announced the Bill Geivett would have more say in the day to day operations and decisions would be made by the group. Again this brainstorm was all the Monforts idea. I once worked for a boss who hated committees and I asked him why? He said because there’s no one person to hold accountable when things don’t work out. That’s the Rockies front office today, the fans don’t know who is in charge and neither do the players.
Then there’s Manager Walt Weiss, who I like and have a ton of respect for, but there’s no way he should be the leader of a Major League Baseball team. He went from coaching high school straight to the big leagues, and his inexperience shows up more than the Rockies would like to admit. Let’s be real honest here, there are only two reasons why Weiss got the job. He’s cheap and no other manager worth his salt is going to come anywhere near this dumpster fire.
Former Manager Jim Tracy turned down a contract extension because he couldn’t deal with the Mickey Mouse ownership, and front office. Think about that, a baseball lifer like Tracy turned down one of 30 managerial jobs because it was such a joke. I’m not sure there’s more of an indictment of the Monforts and the Rockies than that.
So we can all sit around and talk about why the Rockies are so bad, why their pitching is terrible, why they can’t win on the road or how incredibly bad O’Dowd is at his job but none of it matters.
None of it matters because the real problem is in the ownership box and they don’t see the problems we see. They see good crowds at Coors Field, revenue sharing and money being made off of concessions and merchandise.
They approve of the job O’Dowd is doing because, in reality, he is doing exactly what the Monforts want him to do. He’s putting a team on the field under budget and that’s his only real mandate from the ownership. As long as O’Dowd and Geivett continue to come in under budget, they will be employed and Weiss will be the Manager as long as he’s willing to work cheap.
Fans will continue to complain about O’Dowd, the pitching and everything else but as long as the Monforts own the team then all of those complaints will continue to fall on deaf ears.
Here’s the real depressing news, the Monforts aren’t going anywhere. Why would they? They are making money hand over foot and they are in the “club.” As a Rockies fan, I understand the frustration but the problem is the Brother’s Monfort and they are here to say.