Open Mouth: Insert Foot: Dick Monfort Does it Again
By Joe Morrone
Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort was interviewed by the Denver Post on Tuesday; Rockies owner Dick Monfort sat down with @psaundersdp to discuss the state of the franchise.
Once again, Monfort opened his mouth and made the situation worse. Doesn’t he have public relations people to help him not look like a fool every time he speaks? If not, it might be a good idea.
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In all honesty, I’m tired of writing about the Rockies and their current state. If you’ve read any of my recent articles on the Rockies, then you know what my position is. However, some of the stuff that came out of Monfort’s mouth cannot just be allowed to pass without comment.
To be fair, some of Monfort’s answers were straight forward. He did say that they would look at things at the end of the season and decide if any changes need to be made. That may not sound like much, but for Monfort that’s a pretty big concession.
Monfort also stated the team is not looking to trade Troy Tulowitzki or Carlos Gonzalez and for reasons unknown to me, I tend to believe him. While a couple of his responses felt genuine, most of his answers were a farce and an insult to Rockies’ fans.
He asked about the status of General Manager Dan O’Dowd and Bill Geivett. Monfort said “I think they are really good baseball people. I think, if you are looking to make a change, there has got to be a better option. I am criticized by you guys for saying (O’Dowd) is a good baseball man. But I think Dan does a good job.”
What is his definition of a good job? O’Dowd has been in Colorado for 14 years and the Rockies have made the playoffs twice. During his tenure, the Rockies regular season record is 1101-1259. That’s a winning percentage of .466 and that’s a good job? That winning percentage gets every other General Manager or coach fired after two seasons, let alone 14. Thankfully Monfort doesn’t own the Denver Broncos, otherwise Josh McDaniels would still be in charge.
As for a better option, does Monfort really believe that there’s not anyone out there who could do a better job? If so, than that’s just sad. There are thousands of baseball people who are qualified to lead a Major League team and to assume that the Rockies can’t do better than O’Dowd is a loser’s mentality. They don’t want to change because they have a comfort with O’Dowd.
So for those of you, who want to see O’Dowd gone, forget it because according to his boss he’s doing a “good job.” Sure wish I could find a job where I make millions of dollars for being terrible at what I do, wonder if Monfort is hiring?
The second answer that really stood out to me in the article was when Monfort indicated that the Rockies could get back in the playoff race this season. “I think so. Our schedule is a lot easier the second half. June was a brutal schedule. I mean, we played Milwaukee home and away. We played Washington there. We played St. Louis here. We played the Dodgers two or three times. We played San Francisco out there. So it was a brutal schedule and it seemed like we faced good pitching every night.”
I understand that owners are always going to be optimistic but there has to be a dose of realism too. The Rockies will be lucky if they don’t lose 95+ games this season, and Monfort wants you to believe that they can still make a run at the playoffs. Did I miss the press release from Major League Baseball about adding 10 more wild card teams?
The Rockies, on any given day, have the worst record in the sport and the fans are supposed to believe that they will be contending in September? Monfort is either delusional, clueless or both.
Then there’s this, there’s also an e-mail floating around social media where Monfort tells a fan not to come to the games. A concerned fan e-mailed Monfort complaining about the product on the field over the holiday weekend and this was the owner’s short response: “If you don’t like the product on the field or the experience, then don’t come.” Are you serious?
That’s his response to a concerned fan who took the time to express his frustrations. That response alone should be enough for some fans to say, I’m done. It’s rather obvious from that e-mail that the Monforts don’t care about the fans, they don’t care if the fans show up or not and they don’t care enough about the fans to treat them with respect.
I wrote a couple of days ago that the biggest problem with the Rockies is the ownership and Monfort validated my beliefs by opening his mouth on Tuesday. He believes that the Rockies are still on the right track and doesn’t care one bit about the fans, his actions prove that. Unbelievable!