The Rockies have announced, via Twitter, that Jim Tracy resigned as manager and the resignation is effective immediately.
"Jim Tracy is a man that has brought professionalism to the Rockies organization since 2009," said Rockies senior vice president of Major League operations Bill Geivett in a statement. "However, Jim has decided that he no longer wants to move forward as manager. We respect Jim's decision, and we wish Jim and his family the best of luck as we begin our search for the right person to become the next manager of our organization."
Geivett and Tracy began discussions on Friday regarding Tracy's future. Tracy had a handshake agreement to manage in 2013 and was due to be paid $1.4MM. Troy Renck of the Denver Post, who broke the story, tweeted there are no plans for Tracy to remain with the organization.
In a separate tweet, Renck reports bench coach Tom Runnells and Triple-A manager Stu Cole are expected to be in-house candidates to replace Tracy, but not Jason Giambi because he wants to continue his playing career.
Tracy had been under fire after leading the Rockies to a last place finish in the NL West with a franchise record for losses at 64-98. It was a tumultuous season in Colorado. Pitching coach Bob Apodaca resigned only to be replaced by co-pitching coaches Bo McLaughlin and Jim Wright. There was an experiment with a four-man rotation that has since been scrapped, although the concept of hybrid relievers and a strict pitch count will continue. GM Dan O'Dowd also relinquished day-to-day Major League duties to Geivett, who moved into an office in the Coors Field clubhouse and was with the team for every road trip.
Tracy, the fifth manager in Rockie history, also has the distinction of helping guide the Rockies to their best record (92-70 in 2009) resulting in a Wild Card berth and Tracy being named NL Manager of the Year. Since then, however, Tracy has posted a 220-266 record with declining win totals in each of those three seasons.
