By Jordan Long
The Colorado Rockies face the Texas Rangers tonight. Colorado stands at 53-70, 32 games behind the L.A. Dodgers for 1st place in the National League West Division. Colorado is also 14.5 games back of the 3rd Wild Card spot which is currently held by the San Diego Padres. It’s another lost season and it’s time for the Rockies to fire Manager Bud Black once the year ends.
Black has been the Colorado Rockies’ manager since 2017. Colorado had just let Walt Weiss go, He was hired even though he hadn’t had any previous managerial experience. Weiss was a disappointing 283-365, a winning percentage of .437. Black at least was a manager in this league with the San Diego Padres from 2007 to 2015. The Padres never earned a playoff spot with him but Black finished 649-713 with the Padres. Colorado thought he was the best candidate out there.
In Black’s first two years, 2017 and 2018, Colorado earned a playoff spot as one of the two Wild Card teams. In 2017, Colorado faced the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Wild Card Game but their season ended with an 11-8 loss. The very next year, Colorado knocked off the Chicago Cubs in the Wild Card Game 2-1. Colorado was then swept by the Brewers in the Division Series, outscored 13-2.
After that, it has been downhill for the Rockies. In 2019, Colorado’s record was 71-91. 2020 of course was the COVID shortened season and Black guided the Rockies to a 26-34 finish. Last year, Colorado ended the season at 74-87. In both of those years, Colorado missed the playoffs.
Right now, Colorado is 53-70, another season that will end in disappointment. It hasn’t been all Bud Black’s fault. He is not the general manager in charge of personnel moves. That is Bill Schmidt. He is the one who signed outfielder Kris Bryant in the offseason but didn’t do anything else to improve this ball club.
The problem is Bud Black’s job is to set the lineup and help this team. If the season was just built on offense, Black’s job would not be in danger. Colorado is the best hitting team in Major League Baseball with a batting average of .262. It helps they play at Coors Field, a hitter’s ballpark. At home, Colorado’s batting average is .285. On the road, their hitting isn’t as high with an average of .236, 18th in baseball.
The pitching is where this teams struggles. Black is slow to take starting pitchers out of the game when they don’t have it that day. Even when Black changes pitchers, the bullpen can’t do its’ job to shut down the opponents from scoring. The overall team ERA is 5.05, and only one team is worse, the Washington Nationals with an ERA of 5.16. Starting pitchers’ ERA sits at 5.24, 29th in baseball. When it comes to the bullpen, their ERA is 4.81, again second to last in the whole league. This is why Black should be gone. The pitching hasn’t been there all year and it has cost the Rockies in the standings.
The Rockies finish the season on October 5th in L.A. Once that game is over against the Dodgers, the Rockies need to make the move and fire Black. The Rockies aren’t a competitive team. Letting him go will allow the Rockies to start over. There is only one reason to keep Black and that is his contract. He has one more year left. Colorado will have decisions to make in the offseason but it is clear that Black is not the manager for this team moving forward.
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