Bud Black let go by Rockies in ninth season as manager

DENVER -- Rare win be darned, Rockies owner Dick Monfort determined that Sunday was the perfect time to let the big shoe drop: Manager Bud Black was relieved of his duties.

Third-base coach Warren Schaeffer was instituted as interim manager. Bench coach Mike Redmond also was let go, with Clint Hurdle replacing him and shedding the interim hitting coach title he held since replacing Hensley Meulens on April 17.

After Black’s final game -- a 9-3 victory over the Padres at Coors Field to end an eight-game losing streak -- the Rockies are 7-33. That’s just a game better than the worst 40-game starts in Major League history. They are coming off consecutive 100-plus loss seasons.

Monfort calling the performances of recent years “unacceptable” was more than a shoe drop.

“It might be a kick in the [posterior],” said third baseman Ryan McMahon, the team’s longest-tenured position player. “We’re in a spot where we need to make some moves and start doing some stuff, or else things like this are going to happen.

“At the end of the day, it’s on us players to get it done. We feel like we let Buddy down a bit. So, hopefully, we can kick it up a notch and get it going.”

Such moves aren’t shocking in the sport, but are around the Rockies. The last time the Rockies made such a change in-season was replacing Hurdle, who had taken the team to the 2007 World Series, with Jim Tracy in late April 2009. The team went to the postseason that year.

Nothing of the sort is expected of this club.

General manager Bill Schmidt said “internal talks” led to the decision to make this change now. Schmidt said the team made the decision before the team’s trip to Texas for a series starting Monday, rather than doing it on the road. Schmidt, who said injuries are a factor in the start, said the decision was made regardless of Sunday’s result, but would not say that Saturday night’s cringeworthy 21-0 loss to the Padres was the final straw.

Black replaced Walt Weiss before the 2017 season and managed the team to the postseason his first two years.

The Rockies have not had a winning record since. The offensive roster disintegrated in free-agent decisions and trades, and injuries have dampened the free-agent signing of former Cubs star Kris Bryant going into the 2022 season. A group of pitchers that fueled the early success dealt with injuries and inconsistency.

The current squad is best described as a combination of rebounding pitchers and, largely, younger players unsure of their footing or even their place in the Majors.

Schmidt was careful not to blame Black.

“Buddy showed up every day with energy, work ethic -- he’s a professional,” said Schmidt, who replaced Jeff Bridich as GM during the 2021 season. “I have the utmost respect for Buddy Black and Mike Redmond, both those guys. As Buddy would tell you, it’s part of the game and it happens.

“But we have to get better and move forward. We owe it to our fans to play better baseball.”

The Rockies’ 40-game record is tied with the 1932 Red Sox, 1928 Phillies and 1904 Senators for second-worst in the modern era (since 1900). Only the 1988 Orioles (6-34) had a worse start in that span.

Left-handed pitcher Kyle Freeland, who starred for the postseason teams but has struggled on and off since, decried the team’s poor play on Thursday after pitching the first game of a doubleheader that saw the Tigers outscore the Rockies on aggregate, 21-3. On Sunday, Freeland was part of a group of players who met with Black and Redmond after the announcement.

“I love both those guys to death, and I’ll be in contact with them for hopefully the rest of my life,” Freeland said. “But clearly, some changes needed to be made to see if we can start turning this thing around.”

Righty Germán Márquez, Colorado’s only player who preceded Black’s arrival (and Sunday’s winning pitcher), said, “He always got my back, man, and he always was pushing me to be a better player, a better person, a better guy.”

Schaeffer, 40, played six seasons in the Rockies’ Minor League system and spent 10 seasons as a coach and manager in the Minors before being hired as third-base and infield coach for the 2023 season.

“I was involved in bringing him into the organization as a senior sign way back when [as a 38th-round Draft pick from Virginia Tech in 2007], so I’ve seen him as a player to a Minor League manager … it’s really how he communicates and relates to the players,” Schmidt said.

The club also confirmed that assistant hitting coach Andy González will take over Schaeffer’s third-base coach duties, and Triple-A Albuquerque hitting coach Jordan Pacheco and Minor League hitting coordinator Nic Wilson will join the Major League staff as hitting coaches. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale first reported those coaching moves.