The Colorado Rockies ended an eight-game losing streak on Sunday. Then they fired their manager.
Bud Black and bench coach Mike Redmond were fired not long after the Rockies 9-3 victory over the Padres. Black won't finish his ninth year in charge in Colorado.
We can't exactly blame the Rockies for making the move. They're 7-33 and one day removed from a 21-0 loss at home. When you hit rock bottom like that, changes usually await. The problem is Black was only part of the problem. The root cause Colorado's issues was the one issuing the termination notice.
Dick Monfort statement on firing Bud Black
Here's how Rockies owner Dick Monfort explained the firing:
“Our play so far this season, especially coming off the last two seasons, has been unacceptable. Our fans deserve better, and we are capable of better. While we all share responsibility in how this season has played out, these changes are necessary. We will use the remainder of 2025 to improve where we can on the field and to evaluate all areas of our operation so we can properly turn the page into the next chapter of Rockies Baseball.
“I want to thank Bud Black and Mike Redmond for their contributions to the organization across their eight years here. I appreciate their hard work and dedication and wish them nothing but the best going forward.”
Rockies ownership doesn't get it
The Rockies rank 20th out of 30 teams in payroll. They have invested $45 million less than the Giants and $53 million less than the Diamondbacks in their division. They trail the Padres by $83. You could double their payroll and be just as far behind the Dodgers'.
When Black took over as manager in 2017, the Rockies were 16th in MLB payrolls. They had $14 million more on the books then than they do now.
That year, Black led the Rockies to the NL Wildcard, winning 87 games. The next year, he won 91 while finishing second in the NL West. Did the manager forget how to manage in the intervening seven seasons? Or has Colorado built a team that's not actually, as Monfort put it, "capable of better"?
I'm not here to let Black off the hook. The Rockies have been miserably bad. But that kind of poor performance is the product of years of being ground into dirt. Black hasn't been perfect. Nor has he gotten anything near the support he'd need to truly contend in the division.