By Jordan Long
The Colorado Rockies will have a new General Manager next year. The current one, Jeff Bridich decided to step down. He had been the Rockies General Manager since the end of the 2014 season.
Bridich took over for Dan O’Dowd. O’Dowd guided the Rockies from 1999 to 2014. Bridich had big shoes to fill. O’Dowd was able to deliver the Rockies their first ever trip to the World Series in 2007 and earn the Wild Card for the National League in 2009. Bridich was hoping to build a World Series team.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Bridich was able to build a playoff team in 2017 and 2018. In 2018 Colorado finished 87-75. They were the 2nd Wild Card team and had to face the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Wild Card Game. Arizona ended up winning that game 11-8. The next season, the Rockies finished with a record of 91-71. They tied L.A. for the top record in the National League West but were beaten in the tiebreaker game 5-2.
Colorado had to travel to Wrigley Field for the National League Wild Card game. The winner would take on the Brewers. Colorado took the Wild Card Game 2-1 over the Cubs in 13 innings. In the National League Division Series, they were swept by the Brewers, outscored in the series 13-2, the only two seasons where Colorado advanced to the playoffs during the Bridich era.
Colorado ended up with a sub .500 record 4 times under Bridich including a 68-94 record in 2015. In 893 games that Bridich has been the Rockies’ general manager, the Rockies record is a disappointing 426-467. This year the Rockies have started slowly at 8-14, the worst in the National League.
Bridich made some puzzling moves in his time as the Rockies General Manager. The first was in 2015. Bridich traded All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and pitcher LaTroy Hawkins to Toronto for shortstop Jose Reyes and pitchers Miguel Castro, Jeff Hoffman, and Jesus Tinoco. Reyes lasted 47 games for Colorado. Miguel Castro pitched in 20 innings for Colorado with a 7.20 ERA before moving on to Baltimore following the 2017 season. Jesus Tinoco appeared in 44.2 innings. Hoffman ended up with a record of 10-16 with the Rockies from 2016 to 2020 with an ERA of 6.40. He has since moved on to the Reds.
Bridich decided to help the bullpen out after the 2017 season. He agreed to contracts with pitchers Greg Holland, Wade Davis, and Bryan Shaw. Holland was gone following the 2017 season. Shaw lasted until 2019. Davis showed promise as the closer from 2018 to 2020. During that stretch, he saved 60 games for Colorado while blowing 10.
The last straw came this past offseason. Colorado traded the top 3rd baseman in all of baseball, Nolan Arenado, to St. Louis. One of the big reasons he was delt was Bridich and Arenado never got along. Colorado didn’t build around Arenado to become a winning or championship team. That was on the ownership. The owners should have sat Bridich and Arenado down to work out their differences and then, maybe, the Rockies could have focused on winning.
According to ESPN.com, Rockies owner Dick Monfort said, “Over the last week, Jeff, Greg and I determined that it was in the best interest of Jeff, his family and the Rockies, for him to step down as general manager. I’m saddened by this, but I have accepted the fact that we must move on. … I’m grateful for his leadership, professionalism and hard work. I wish Jeff and his family nothing but the very best.”
The Rockies haven’t announced an interim General Manager yet but will do so soon. They will start a search for a permanent GM at the end of the year. The Rockies may want to look outside the organization. The last two, O’Dowd and Bridich have been in-house hires. It could be there is someone who could takeover for the Rockies as the General Manager that is in the organization. History says that hasn’t worked. Whoever the next General Manager is needs to build a winning ball club. Colorado would love nothing better than to see this franchise win a World Series.
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