The Rockies have a new president of baseball operations (Paul DePodesta), but they’ll welcome back the same dugout leader for the 2026 season. The club announced that Warren Schaeffer, who served as interim manager after Bud Black’s firing back in May, will return as the skipper for the 2026 campaign. Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports reported the news prior to the team announcement.
Though changes are coming to Colorado, the club is going for a bit of continuity by keeping Schaeffer around. The Rockies have been free falling lately. 2025 was their seventh straight losing season, fourth straight in last place in the National League West and third straight with at least 101 losses. In that time, they developed a reputation for being loyal and insular to a fault, as well as resistant to adapting to the modernization of the game.
It seems that the historically bad 2025 season, which led to 119 losses, has prompted a shake-up. As mentioned, Black was fired in May. The Rockies and general manager Bill Schmidt parted ways at the end of the season, with DePodesta later hired to take over the front office. Owner Dick Monfort appears to be ceding some of his duties to his son Walker, who is the club’s executive vice president.
Schaeffer is also a new manager, in a sense, but he has been with the Rockies for years. As a player, the Rockies drafted him back in 2007 and he played for them as a minor leaguer through 2012. When his playing career was done, he stuck with the Rockies as he pivoted to coaching. He managed High-A Ashville from 2015 to 2017, then Double-A Hartford in 2018 and 2019. He then got bumped to the manager’s chair at Triple-A Albuquerque. The 2020 season was canceled by the pandemic but Schaeffer held that job through the 2022 campaign.
He then got the bump to the major league coaching staff in 2023, becoming the third base and infield coach for Colorado. He held that job until Black was fired in May of 2025, when Schaeffer became the interim manager. The Rockies went 36-86 the rest of the way, a winning percentage of just .295, but no one really places that at Schaeffer’s feet. The manager doesn’t get to pick the players and the roster has obviously been flawed for a long time.
With the Rockies likely a few years away from contention, in-game decisions and results are probably not the focus right now. It would make sense to prioritize things like player relationships and development. Since the Rockies have a young roster and Schaeffer was climbing through the farm as a coach until a few years ago, he will have relationships with many of the players going back to their early minor league days. Per Saunders, many players complimented Schaeffer for his communication skills and attention to detail as interim manager last year.
Time will tell how aggressive DePodesta will be in making moves to send out current players and/or bring in external options. As he makes those decisions, Schaeffer will stick around as a throughline from the previous era to the new one. It’s the kind of insular move that has led to criticism being pointed at the Rockies in the past, though it’s understandable why they would want the stability of keeping Schaeffer around as they make other changes elsewhere.
For the near term, Schaeffer’s job will be focused on getting the most of young players who are still trying to reach their potential. Eventually, the target will turn towards winning. Time will tell whether Schaeffer will stick around beyond that inflection point, whenever it arrives.
Photo courtesy of Kelley L Cox, Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images
Going all in.
No one else wanted the job
Todd Helton has to be out there somewhere itching to coach??
Why would he want to suffer in this role? It would only tarnish his legacy with the team.
LOOK EVERYONE! TODD HELTON!
The Rockies are NOT playing around next year
Who cares whose managing when you’re guaranteed to lose 100+
I think he does well with the guys, but he is the most BORING interview after the game. Bud Black had a lot of issues, but at least it was entertaining to watch him constantly interrupt questions and throw out quips . Schaeffer just doesn’t have the personality for the media. And when you are watching losses all the time, you at least want to be entertained during the post game interviews.
We call this “the ol’ Phil Nevin.”
He had a pretty decent record after taking over. 58-72. He had 7 more wins than the Dodgers did in the same period of time (51-78 for the Dodgers from May 12th onward).
I don’t think it will be as bad in 2026.
Dodgers were 67-55 from May 12th to the end of the year.
@d-rock2322
Oops, wrong sheet. I apologize.
Do you really think the Dodges won their division with >78 losses?
@VegasMoved
I was mistaken on the page I brought up on BR.
One of the worst teams in history? Keep that manager!
Yeah, the poor performance obviously was all Schaeffer’s fault.
Ok.
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
Something, something if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
I think if the Rockies were smart they would do a promotion at home where a fan got to coach the team for the day. Gotta entertain people somehow and the product on the field sure isn’t gonna do so.
One thing that could entertain fans is if instead of promotions, the owner can sell the team to a more competent and invested one.
They’re 4 years out anyway. Let the beef up his resume til holiday comes up. Then take the HC seriously
Pretty much bottom of the barrel..
Funny, I have known of every manager for every team for about 15-20 years I would guess. Then I saw this post and thought, who is he??
Future fall guy.
Continuity is so important. Don’t lose sight of that. They’ve already changed the President of Baseball Operations. If too many parts get changed at one time they will not be able to tell which change had effect. The good news is the Rockies are not likely to continue getting worse each season for much longer.
Another move of the Rockies rebuild.
Hope Warren has luck on his side