“What should the Rockies do to fix this mess?” asked a friend the other day. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard this question, in some form, recently.
“If I had the sure answer,” I told him, “I’d have been hired by now.”
The sad truth is: There’s no quick fix.
Firing the manager has already been tried, with little difference if Warren Schaefer’s first five weeks indicate anything.
Under Bud Black, Colorado’s winning percentage in the first 40 games of 2025 was .175. Through the next 30 under Schaefer, it was .200.
Together, that’s .186.
Which takes me back to my friend’s question.
Perhaps you recall that I’m the guy who, coming out of Spring Training, wrote that a third straight season with triple-digit losses was unlikely. Keep that in mind as I attempt to answer credibly.
I’m embarrassed to have been so wrong, but who would have predicted:
That Ezequiel Tovar would be on the injured list twice during the first half of the season and play in only 32 of the first 70 games?
Or that Brenton Doyle would revert to his rookie season at the plate after improving from .203 to .260 last season?
Or that Michael Toglia, who hit 25 homers in 116 games last year, would have only six after 54 this season, along with 81 strikeouts in186 at bats, and be sent back to Triple-A?
Or that Austin Gomber would be making his first start in mid-June, and Ryan Feltner would have missed two months’ worth of starts by then?
A lack of offense is the first issue I would address. In their first 70 games, these Rockies scored two runs or less in 35—exactly half. In fairness to Black’s interim successor, 30 of those 35 were under Bud. So, the offense arguably has improved—slightly.
But if I were in charge, I’d try to revive Bob Gebhard’s approach at the team’s inception: Bring in as many big bats as possible and shoot for pitchers whose goal is to keep their teammates in the game long enough for the sluggers to come alive, as they did in the ‘90s and could again—ERA be-xxxx’d.
Go for winning as many 9-7 games as you can, realizing there will be numerous ugly losses, too.
The Gebhard approach might not produce a World Series champion. It didn’t the first time.
But it might revive exciting, “never-out-of-it” baseball and maybe produce a playoff team, as it did when the Rockies reached the postseason in just their third season in 1995.
At the least, it will be fun again to go to Coors Field and hope for thunder.
“What about the humidor?” my friend countered.
“Tweak the settings, if you have to,” I said. “Figure it out.”
Returning to Bomber-style baseball requires a team-wide makeover that begins immediately, since the 2025 season’s trade deadline already is only six weeks away.
Other than Tovar, Hunter Goodman, Doyle, maybe Jordan Beck or Ryan Ritter, and a few young pitchers, everyone who has worn purple pinstripes this season is available.
That includes Ryan McMahon, German Marquez, Gomber, and, yes, Kyle Freeland. Even Jake Bird, as good as he’s been so far in ’25.
So long as the return meets the goal of adding fence-busters and arms that will keep the game in reach.
It’s not likely that Colorado’s trade chips will bring another Dante Bichette, and a Larry Walker in today’s market likely would be considerably out of the Rockies’ price range without a new, much deeper-pocketed owner.
But Vinny Castilla was, at best, a prospect when he was snared in the expansion draft—and a shortstop, at that. And many in baseball thought The Big Cat’s best years were behind him, not still to come.
It’s the job of the Rockies Scouting Department to find those sleepers, and General Manager Bill Schmidt’s to land them, whether in return for players every fan has heard of and may want to keep, or some other way.
A huge obstacle to overcome, as most Rockies fans grumble about continuously, is owner Dick Monfort.
Can he bring himself to part with players he personally considers family?
Roster aside, can he set the tone in the front office that might produce a return to Bomber Days?
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Denny Dressman’s 17th book, a collaboration with Kansas City artist Anthony High titled Black Baseball’s Heyday – Capturing An Era in Art and Words, will be published in late summer. You can write to Denny atdennydressman@comcast.net.