Rockies manager Bud Black and owner Dick Monfort are discussing a contract extension that would keep Black in Colorado beyond the 2024 season, per a report from MLB.com’s Thomas Harding. Harding notes that while Black and Monfort acknowledged that they are “talking” about a deal, no agreement has been reached at this point and it’s unclear if a deal will come together prior to Opening Day, which is now less than two weeks away.
Per Harding, Monfort indicated that the club’s focus remains on preparing for the regular season, but that he nonetheless hopes that the sides will be able to reach an agreement. There’s certainly reason for optimism that the sides will eventually work out a deal in some capacity, as the veteran manager has inked one-year extensions in each of the past two springs and reporting in previous years has indicated that the Rockies and Black have a long-standing unofficial agreement on a rolling year-to-year deal where either side can walk away after any given season.
Black, 66, spent nine years as manager of the Padres from 2007 to 2015 (including a 2010 season that saw him win the NL Manager of the Year award) before joining the Rockies prior to the 2017 season. He led the club to back-to-back postseason appearances in his first two years with the club but the club has struggled badly under his leadership over the past five seasons, never winning more than 74 games in a season and even suffering the franchise’s first ever 100-loss campaign in 2023, when the team lost 103 games en route to a last place finish in not only the NL West but the entire National League; only the Royals and A’s lost more games last year. With that being said, Monfort is well-known for being loyal to his employees and valuing continuity in the organization, so it’s not necessarily a surprise that he would be interested in continuing the club’s relationship with Black beyond the 2024 campaign.
More from around MLB’s West divisions…
- The Giants are set to enter the regular season with little certainty in their starting rotation behind staff ace Logan Webb. With veterans Alex Cobb and Robbie Ray starting the season on the injured list where they’ll be joined by youngsters like Tristan Beck and Sean Hjelle, the club figures to lean on offseason signing Jordan Hicks and top prospect Kyle Harrison to fill out the middle of its rotation. That still leaves two spots undecided, however, and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle noted today that manager Bob Melvin brought up right-handed rookie Mason Black as one arm the club is likely to turn to for a rotation spot this season. Black, 24, was the club’s third-round pick in the 2021 draft and posted a solid 3.71 ERA in 29 starts split between the Double- and Triple-A levels last year. Slusser adds that other possibilities for the final spots in the rotation and/or bullpen mix are fellow youngster Keaton Winn and non-roster veterans Daulton Jefferies and Spencer Howard. Of course, that could all change if the club’s reported run at left-hander Blake Snell were to bear fruit.
- The Athletics announced earlier this evening that they have optioned catcher Tyler Soderstrom to Triple-A, effectively ending the 2020 first-round pick’s bid to open the 2024 season with the club. Soderstrom, 22, was a consensus top-100 prospect entering last season as a well-regarded, bat-first catcher. Things came off the rails for the youngster upon making his major league debut, however, as he hit a paltry .160/.232/.240 in 138 trips to the plate during a 45-game stint in the majors last year. Soderstrom’s first taste of big league action saw him strike out in 31.2% of his plate appearances while recording just four extra-base hits. His struggles continued this spring as he recorded just four hits against eight strikeouts in 34 trips to the plate across 14 games, prompting Oakland to send him back to the minors for additional development time. In the meantime, the club appears likely to rely on a tandem of Shea Langeliers and non-roster invitee Carlos Perez behind the plate to open the season.
Cobb threw a 30 pitch bullpen today, and is way ahead of his scheduled return. I think mid April may depending on how built up he is.
Honestly seems inhuman how quickly he recovered
Cobb?
How old is that Dude??
He was an all star last year. Try again
36. One of, if not the most, team friendly starting pitching contract in the game. Didn’t stop him from playing busted last year and the paltry $10m he gets this year isn’t stopping him from being ahead of schedule. Legend. I still remember the mocking Zaidi copped when the Giants signed him.
How can you be bad at developing players AND bad at drafting players AND bad at identifying players on other teams. Guess this explains their record.
Giants are a mess.
lol your team’s ace has a bum elbow, your superstar CF is “beat up” in march, and you’re paying Rodón 135 million over the next 6 years.
worry about your own team lil buddy
Giants have won three championships since the last time the Yanks even reached a WS
The only good thing about San Fransisco is seeing it in your rear view mirror. Also, watch your step, nasty stuff on sidewalks.
I think he was talking about the athletics. Based off of the sodersrtom news. You just couldn’t help yourself but to bash the giants for no apparent reason.
Easy. Because fans like you think they know everything while really knowing nothing.
Well the simple explanation is that you have no idea wth you are talking about
Three World Series Championships in five years got you sour.
Poor Rocks fans. Owner Dick Monfort likens himself to be Billy Bean when he isn’t even on par with Mr. Bean.
The next emoji they come out with needs to be a Mr. Bean emoji. Great comment!
Bud black has got to go. This is going on 5 years removed. He must have some major dirt on the front office or ownership in his back pocket resulting in his own security. Either that or nobody wants this job other wise from the incompetence top to bottom going on here.
Montfort only wants to maintain the status quo of drawing 2.6-2.7MM loyal fans a year and make profits.
BINGO!!! Apologists will say Monfort is loyal to a fault. That might be true, but his focus is clearly on the turnstiles and not much else. Mediocrity is acceptable in that organization, and Black is just a symptom of the problem. Connie Mack wouldn’t be able to get much more out of that roster.
I don’t know how good or bad Bud is but it’s not like he has had much to work with. Still, I agree a change should probably occur. At the least it can’t hurt to give others a chance. Change is usually good regardless when things are so bad. It at least brings a feeling of a new era. But I’m afraid Bud is just the tip of an iceberg in reality. A very poorly run iceberg.
That isn’t remotely true. Change for the sake of change often causes more harm than good. The team is garbage. They have a terrible farm system, a terrible major league team, a terrible front office, and one of the top 5 worst owners in the sport. Bud Black is the best thing you guys got going for you.
I second that the front office is to blame, not Black. They botched the rebuild by getting nothing for Blackmon, Arenado, Story, and Lemahieu when they were all in their primes.
You lost a 100 games and want to give out an extension for a guy who hasn’t had a winning record in 5 years. Loyalty no. Obedience yes. Bud blacks the cheapest puppet the franchise can find to stay in that chair.
I agree it’s not his fault but change seemingly for changes sake often does work. Look at all the managers fired mid-season who seemed to be scapegoats and look at the teams who went off afterwards. It also is bad a lot. If you are terrible you have an opportunity to give guys a chance you wouldn’t have if you were good. You may just find your manager or the future. It’s not like keeping him has done much good to this point. I’d like to see him go win somewhere. But he is likely comfortable there. I like Bud Black.
@Rishi The problem is that the team isn’t getting better because of who is in charge above Bud Black and their foolish decisions. They’ve been one of the worst teams in baseball for almost a decade and much like the A’s what do they have to show for it, developmentally? The problem is Monfort. I’m a Dodgers fan, I don’t care if they get better, but as someone who is also a baseball fan, it would be great to see some new blood competing.
@HEHEHATE What manager in baseball isn’t a puppet of their front office?
Managers should be able to make calls on the field in their active interests. When the f/o is making them has 100 loses on a season you don’t reward him for his obedience. That’s why I don’t think you can praise black at all because he’s so stuck in it he’s not creating a solution vs contributing to the problem.
Not Black’s fault, he is the only one in upper management that has a clue.
Cobb might be in the rotation before the middle of April
It always amazes me that a player like Soderstrom can be so good in the minors and such a flop in the majors. Sure, he’s still young and could turn it around but wow, such a consistent disappointment so far.
The guy is labeled a flop after 138 ABs? That’s ridiculous. With that logic Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson were both flops after their first 150 AB’s, except the former ended up second in the RoY voting and the latter won it. The point is the Orioles have shown patience w their young players even when fans were calling for them to be sent back to the minors.
It’s often the steepest hill to climb for players taking a leap from AAA to MLB in their young professional careers. We often see people lament here why sign Player X for so much when you can bring up a minor league guy for the league min. pay. Playing MLB ball is hard.
@Don T
Soderstrom has not looked good at the plate. His demotion came as no surprise to anyone.
I’d be happy for the Rays to take a flier on Soderstrom. Him or Bart would probably hit better than Mejia or an unproven Pinto.