Before resigning yesterday from his long-time post as general manager of the Rockies, Dan O’Dowd declined an offer of a multi-year extension from the team, MLB.com’s Tracy Ringolsby reports. The offer, in fact, was made just last week, according to Ringolsby.
Needless to say, this report puts a new spin on the club’s surprising decision yesterday to promote Jeff Bridich to the GM role without undergoing any publicly-reported hiring process. Colorado also announced yesterday that O’Dowd and fellow key baseball decisionmaker Bill Geivett would be leaving the organization.
Ringolsby says that O’Dowd was not pleased with the power-sharing structure that emerged after a front office shakeup in 2012. Though O’Dowd retained the GM title, Geivett — whose title was senior VP of major league operations — kept an office in the clubhouse and was charged with running the major league club.
In yesterday’s press conference announcing the hiring (story via Nick Groke and Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post), team owner Dick Monfort said he was “excited about a fresh start.” But he did not offer substantive comments about how the changing of the guard came about, and was not made available for questions from the media. (Note that the Rockies do not presently employ a team president.)
Today’s news regarding O’Dowd also seemingly makes sense of recent reports that suggested no major changes were afoot in Colorado. But it raises yet more questions about what manner of authority Bridich will have in his new role, with Monfort having come under fire from internal sources for inserting himself into baseball decisionmaking. While Bridich is by all accounts a well-regarded young executive, it remains to be seen — as Paul Klee of the Colorado Springs Gazette explains — what kind of decisionmaking structure Monfort will set up around him.
Being a Rockies fan is so painful… The Monforts have no idea what they are doing…
O’Dowd thinking: Monfort wont let me trade Tulo or CarGo and they wont let me spend more money, whats left to do as a GM but leave.
Flew under the radar a bit, but Monfort reportedly killed a deal of Jorge De La Rosa for Eduardo Rodriguez.
No, that’s not likely what happened. Tulo’s and CarGo’s injuries keep them from being traded for anything like a healthy return. Besides, that trade talk was nearly all external, anyway.
What happened was that O’Dowd was offered an extension with even more limits on his power as GM (maybe even ceding some of it to Dick, himself.) so he left. A proper owner would have fired O’Dowd and conducted a search for a replacement that included outside candidates. Not how Dick rolls, however.
Hey Miami: Monfort for Loria?
I have been a fan who just watched a lot of baseball, all the time, for years. I never really followed contracts or management decisions, but I have been reading this blog now for about a month and it is absolutely eye-opening. The different ways management and owners seem to find to hamper the players’ opportunities to perform. Yikes.
I’ve read an article about Monfort and raised my eyebrows about half a dozen times now.
I highly recommend you click the Denver Post link in the post and watch the video. It includes footage of the press conference, which I think changes the way the actual comments read, and has a phenomenal ending. (I won’t give it away.)
Yeah, that about sums it up, thanks!
Oh boy… declined extension?
Brace yourselves fellow Braves fans…
Sad, because Colorado has had some very solid baseball people within the organization that were there for a long time..many from the beginning… and they’ve moved on away from meddling ownership
Comments below are right on the money. I lived in Colorado for 20 years and saw first hand what greedy ownership can do. The Monforts really don’t care if they go to post-season or not, as long as the money keeps flowing to them and the shareholders…of which there are many. No passion from ownership is showing up on the field. I believe O’Dowd wanted to deliver a competitive team and a winning baseball mentality but it was contrary to what his employers wanted….good move Dan; there will be many opportunities for you in MLB.