It would appear that the time for a much needed ground-up rebuild for the Colorado Rockies has come at last. After seven straight losing seasons, three straight seasons with 100 or more losses, and the worst
season in franchise history, the shakeups are here.
What makes it surprising—albeit welcome—is that the Rockies have long avoided such moves. Former general manager Dan O’Dowd once said as much himself, stating “we’re an organization that values stability more than we value change” back in 2009.
In 33 seasons, the Rockies have had just four general managers, all of whom completed at least five seasons at the helm. This includes Bill Schmidt, who was the interim general manager in 2021 but served the entire season in the role before having the tag removed at the end of the season.
The Rockies have also had just seven managers running the clubhouse in team history, only two of which—Jim Leyland and Buddy Bell—weren’t given at least four seasons in charge. 2025’s interim manager Warren Schaeffer is the eighth manager in franchise history, and it’s currently unknown if he will have the interim label removed heading into the 2026 season.
Between the manager and the general manager are a great deal of team employees that have been with the organization for many, many years. If you take a look at the team’s Front Office directory on their website, you see a veritable cavalcade of organizational lifers:
- Bill Schmidt, General Manager: 1999
- Greg Feasel, Club President, Chief Operating Officer, and Executive Vice President: 1996
- Kari Anderson, Vice President of Marketing: 1997
- Jeff Benner, Vice President of Ticket Sales and Premium Seating: 1992
- Rolando Fernandez, Vice President of International Scouting and Development: 1993
- Kent Hakes, Vice President of Ticketing Operations, Services, and Technology: 1993
- Kevin Hahn, Vice President of Ballpark Operations and Chief Customer Officer: 1994
- Jim Kellogg, Vice President of Community and Retail Operations: 1994
- Danny Montgomery, Vice President and Assistant General Manager of Scouting: 1991
- Paul Egins, Senior Director of Major League Operations: 1991
Yes, the Rockies have been a stable organization. However, our own Skyler Timmins put it best:
“Stability is nice when times are good, but when times are bad like they are now, change is not only a necessity but an obligation.”
Skyler said that in the early days of the 2024 season with the Rockies reeling from their first ever 100 loss season. Since then, things have only gotten worse and all of the Rockies’ woes culminated in a historically awful season that made fans miserable and turned the attention of the national baseball media onto Dick Monfort’s club in Denver.
Things haven’t been the best in the Mile High City for most of the Rockies’ existence. They have more losing seasons in 33 years than their rival Los Angeles Dodgers have in 100. They’ve made the World Series just once—in which they were quickly swept by the Boston Red Sox—while their four other playoff berths were marked by quick exits. They’ve frequently struggled to develop star players and get the most out of the talent they draft.
Yes, the Colorado Rockies were stable, but when you have stability without progress or results, there’s another word for it: stagnation.
It’s something we’ve discussed many times before. The Rockies haven’t been stable, they’ve been stagnant. They have been an organization stuck in the past while the rest of the league passes them by, spinning their wheels without doing anything different and wondering why they’re not going anywhere.
What the 2025 season did was make things impossible to ignore any longer.
When the Rockies got off to the worst start in the modern era—and would end their first 50 games at 8-42—and all eyes were on Coors Field, manager Bud Black and his bench coach Mike Redmond were relieved of their duties. The Rockies hadn’t fired a manager mid-season since Clint Hurdle in 2009 and had only done so twice in their history. Hurdle was named manager after Buddy Bell was fired partway through the 2002 season.
Soon after, the Rockies announced that Greg Feasel was expected to retire at the end of the year. Feasel has been with the organization since 1996. He has served as their chief operating officer and executive vice president, and was named club president in 2021. Dick Monfort’s oldest son Walker Monfort was promoted into the executive vice president role.
Following the end of the season, the Rockies announced that general manager Bill Schmidt—who had been with the club since 1999—was resigning from his position. Soon after, assistant general manager Zach Rosenthal—who joined the Rockies in 2006—also resigned.
Interestingly, I see the resignation of Rosenthal to be an important sign. After Schmidt resigned, Walker Monfort stated that the team would be searching outside the organization for their next general manager and head of baseball operations. Rosenthal—an obvious internal candidate for the position—leaving the team is a good sign that the Rockies intend to make good on Walker Monfort’s words.
We won’t know for sure until around or after the World Series. Rockies beat writer Thomas Harding believes the team will name their new general manager by this year’s GM meetings in Las Vegas.
Whomever the Rockies name will create an immediate domino effect with even more changes. There is a strong likelihood other members of the front office will leave or be replaced, and the new general manager will also ideally be choosing the Rockies’ coaching staff for the 2026 season.
If the Rockies do bring in a new voice from outside the organization, it will go a long way towards ending the organization’s stagnation and hopefully creating some new, true stability. The stability that comes with revitalizing the Colorado Rockies and bringing the team kicking and screaming into the modern era of baseball.
The Milwaukee Brewers, with a small payroll and plenty of talent on both sides of the ball, are gunning to take down the Los Angeles Dodgers and head to the World Series. Kyle Newman of the Denver Post zings the Rockies in one succinct sentence:
“For a team that relies largely on young, cost-controlled talent, Brewers GM Matt Arnold has played chess while everyone else is playing checkers and former Rockies GM Bill Schmidt played Hungry Hungry Hippos.”
Rockies’ biggest offseason Q: Who will lead this group moving forward? | MLB.com
Thomas Harding breaks down the major questions the Rockies will be facing this off-season. The biggest one? Who will be the Rockies’ new GM and lead the team out of their misery?
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