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Mets Fire Hitting Coaches Chili Davis, Tom Slater

By Connor Byrne | May 3, 2021 at 10:47pm CDT

The Mets have fired hitting coach Chili Davis and assistant hitting coach Tom Slater, Tim Britton of The Athletic was among those to report. Minor league hitting coordinator Hugh Quattlebaum will take over for Davis, and farm director Kevin Howard will succeed Slater.

New York made this decision in the wake of a 6-5 loss to St. Louis that dropped the team to a disappointing 11-12. A mediocre offensive performance has played a role in the Mets’ slow start, as their hitters currently rank 17th in the majors in wRC+ (96). Prized offseason pickup Francisco Lindor, whom the Mets acquired from the Indians and then signed to a 10-year, $341MM extension, has slumped over the Mets’ first 23 games. Likewise, outfielder/first baseman Dominic Smith has fallen flat after an excellent showing in 2020, as has $40MM free-agent signing James McCann.

Of course, it’s debatable how much blame Davis and Slater deserve for the above players’ struggles. It’s also worth noting J.D. Davis (who went on the 10-day injured list Monday), Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso have all gotten off to great starts. Regardless, the Mets are taking their coaching staff in another direction in hopes of breaking a four-year playoff drought.

In Davis, the Mets are saying goodbye to a former big league slugger whom they hired before 2019, when Mickey Callaway – not Luis Rojas – was their manager. Prior to that, Davis worked as the hitting coach for the Cubs, who relieved him of duties after the 2018 campaign. Slater joined the Mets’ staff as their assistant hitting coach a year earlier than Davis.

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New York Mets Newsstand Chili Davis Hugh Quattlebaum Kevin Howard Tom Slater

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Luis Robert Shut Down For 12-16 Weeks With Grade 3 Hip Flexor Strain

By TC Zencka | May 3, 2021 at 5:05pm CDT

MAY 3, 5:05pm: Robert has a Grade 3 hip flexor strain, which is a complete tear, general manager Rick Hahn told Scott Merkin of MLB.com and other reporters. The White Sox will determine how to proceed with Robert in the coming days, but they announced he’ll go 12 to 16 weeks without baseball activities. That would seem to put Robert’s season in jeopardy, but they’re not ready to rule out a return yet.

4:31pm: Robert will sit out for “an extended period of time,” Bruce Levine of 670 The Score tweets. The team has considered surgery for Robert, and there should be more on his status soon.

MAY 2, 3:40pm: White Sox manager Tony La Russa told Fegan (Twitter links) and other reporters that Robert will be placed on the injured list.  Outfielder Luis Gonzalez will get the call to replace Robert on the active roster.

1:02pm: The White Sox are holding their breath after Luis Robert fell to the ground after running through first base today (video provided here by Ben Verlander of Fox Sports). Robert had to be helped off the field, per the Athletic’s James Fegan (via Twitter). That’s potentially devastating news for the White Sox, who are already without his running mate in the outfield, Eloy Jimenez. Supersub Leury Garcia took over in centerfield for the White Sox.

Initial X-rays are negative, however. The White Sox are saying Robert has a right hip flexor strain, and he will be looked at again tomorrow, per Fegan (via Twitter). That’s hardly definitive, but it’s good news for the time being. Robert could still end up missing time, but they seem to have avoided the worst.

Without Robert, Garcia figured to get much of the playing time in center. Billy Hamilton is also on the roster and likely to see time in the grass.

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Chicago White Sox Newsstand Luis Robert

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Rockies Name Bill Schmidt As Interim GM

By Mark Polishuk | May 3, 2021 at 1:41pm CDT

1:41PM: The Rockies have officially announced Schmidt as the new interim GM.  As per the team’s press release, “Schmidt will oversee all aspects of the club’s baseball operations,” which would perhaps imply that Feasel will either return his focus to business operations, or simply that Schmidt is the top voice in all baseball-related matters.

1:05PM: Rockies vice-president of scouting Bill Schmidt is expected to be named the club’s interim general manager, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding reports (Twitter link).  After former GM Jeff Bridich resigned last week, there had been speculation that an internal name would take on the interim position, with Schmidt and assistant general managers Zack Rosenthal, Jon Weil, and Zach Wilson all floated as potential candidates to assume the role.

Schmidt has almost four decades of experience in pro baseball, beginning as a minor league coach in the Reds, Brewers, and Yankees organizations while also working as a scout with the Reds and Yankees.  After working as a crosschecker with the Indians for four seasons, Schmidt joined the Rockies in 1999 and has become a fixture of the organization, assuming his current VP-scouting job in 2007.

Harding notes that Schmidt has been in charge of the Rockies’ drafts since 2000, which is a positive sign given how much notable homegrown talent the club has been able to find over the years.  The larger issue, of course, has been how that talent has been been developed and utilized by a Rockies franchise that has struggled to put a consistent winner on the field — the Rox have topped the .500 mark just six times in Schmidt’s 21+ seasons in Denver.  Building around that in-house talent was Bridich’s largest pitfall as GM, not to mention his falling-out with Nolan Arenado (speaking of prominent homegrown Rockies stars) that led to Arenado’s trade to the Cardinals.

The Rockies announced last week that the interim general manager would run the team for the remainder of the 2021 season, with team president Greg Feasel overseeing the baseball operations department on top of his previous responsibilities running the business operations.  A search for a permanent GM (and possibly a head of baseball operations) will take place after the season.

Schmidt faces some immediate decisions, as the 10-18 Rockies are in last place and are the only NL West team with a losing record.  If the team decides to rebuild, Schmidt might oversee some of the initial heavy lifting, such as potentially moving impending free agents Trevor Story and Jon Gray before the July 30th trade deadline.

With that in mind, the 2021 campaign could serve as something of an audition for Schmidt.  Since owner Dick Monfort is known to value continuity and familiarity, it isn’t out of the question that Schmidt could be a candidate to become the full-time GM.  Given that the Rockies have long been accused of an insular approach, the Colorado fanbase likely wouldn’t be pleased at another internal promotion, as it has been widely speculated that the Rockies would benefit from some fresh perspectives and a new approach in the baseball ops department (and less interference from Monfort).

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Colorado Rockies Newsstand Bill Schmidt

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A’s Place Jesus Luzardo On Injured List With Fractured Hand

By TC Zencka | May 2, 2021 at 1:44pm CDT

The A’s have placed young southpaw Jesus Luzardo on the injured list with a fractured throwing hand, the team announced. Adam Kolarek has been recalled from the alternate site to take his roster spot.

Luzardo knocked his hand against a desk while playing a video game before his start yesterday, and the X-ray revealed a hairline fracture in his pinkie finger, per Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). The injury occurred before his start yesterday. Luzardo lasted just three innings, giving up six runs (three earned) on five hits and two walks while striking out just one. He took the loss to Matt Harvey and the Orioles.

From a big-picture perspective, Oakland continues to suffer from poor health luck with their young arms as Luzardo joins A.J. Puk on the injured list. With Trevor Rosenthal and J.B. Wendelken also on the injured list, the A’s must make do without four arms they had hoped to play significant roles this season. Without Luzardo out, Bob Melvin’s crew will presumably power forward in the rotation with the five-some of Chris Bassitt, Mike Fiers, Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, and Cole Irvin.

Kolarek looked to be a potential difference-maker after arriving via trade from the Dodgers this winter, but he struggled in his first eight appearances this season. The lefty-specialist currently owns a 8.44 ERA/8.53 FIP through 5 1/3 innings.

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Newsstand Oakland Athletics Transactions Adam Kolarek Jesus Luzardo

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Blue Jays Designate Tanner Roark For Assignment

By Connor Byrne | April 30, 2021 at 10:57pm CDT

The Blue Jays have designated right-hander Tanner Roark for assignment, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet was among those to report. They reinstated outfielder Teoscar Hernandez from the COVID-19 injured list and optioned fellow outfielder Jonathan Davis in corresponding moves.

This certainly isn’t the outcome Toronto expected when it signed Roark to a two-year, $24MM guarantee entering the 2020 season, but the deal will go down as a major mistake for the club. When the former National and Red joined the Blue Jays, he had five seasons of 165-plus innings on his resume and was at least a useful back-of-the-rotation starter. But Roark has been a liability as a member of the Jays, with whom he has recorded a horrific 6.75 ERA/5.26 SIERA with an 18.3 percent strikeout percentage and a 10.0 walk percentage in 54 2/3 innings. The 34-year-old has also seen his average fastball drop from the 92 mph range to below 91 since he signed with Toronto.

Roark threw just seven innings and made one start over three appearances this year for Toronto, and that small workload is damning when considering the injuries the team has dealt with in its rotation. The Jays will now have a week to trade Roark, pass him through waivers or release him. It seems likely they’ll wind up releasing Roark, who carries no appeal on a $12MM salary.

Hernandez, who hasn’t played since April 8, tested positive for COVID on April 13. He went an underwhelming 6-for-29 (five singles and a home run) with 14 strikeouts against no walks before going on the IL, though Hernandez was one of the majors’ top hitters a season ago. The Blue Jays have gone without Hernandez and center fielder/designated hitter George Springer for the vast majority of the season, but both are now back in their lineup.

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Newsstand Toronto Blue Jays Transactions Tanner Roark Teoscar Hernandez

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Cubs Designate Brandon Workman For Assignment

By Steve Adams | April 29, 2021 at 2:19pm CDT

The Cubs have designated right-handed reliever Brandon Workman for assignment, per a team announcement. Left-hander Justin Steele has been recalled from the alternate training site in his place.

Workman, 32, signed a one-year, $1MM contract with the Cubs late in the offseason. The contract came with an additional $2MM of available incentives for the former Red Sox closer, but his stint with the Cubs looks to be coming to a close after just eight innings.

Workman was hit hard in that brief time, surrendering six runs on a dozen hits (two homers) and seven walks with 11 strikeouts. It’s the second consecutive rough year for the hard-throwing righty, who was clobbered for a 5.95 ERA in 19 2/3 frames between the Red Sox and Phillies last summer.

Setting aside his disappointing work in 2020-21, Workman was a solid late-inning option for Boston from 2017-19. During that time he gave the BoSox 152 2/3 innings of 2.59 ERA ball while striking out just under 29 percent of the hitters he faced. Workman led the Red Sox with 16 saves in 2019 and finished second among Boston relievers with 71 2/3 innings — all while striking out more than 36 percent of his opponents.

Workman’s average fastball has dipped by more than a mile per hour since that brilliant 2019 campaign, dropping from 93.1 mph to 91.8 mph. He’s still registered a respectable swinging-strike rate since 2020 (10.7 percent), but Workman has yielded far too much hard contact and seen his already pedestrian walk rate spike to egregious levels in recent years.

The Cubs will have a week to trade Workman, try to pass him through waivers or simply release him. Based on his track record, he should land with another club if he does hit the market, but that may well have to come on a non-guaranteed pact. Offseason interest in the righty was tepid enough, after all, that he inked the aforementioned one-year, $1MM guarantee. It’s hard to imagine that a lackluster showing with the Cubs has done any favors for his stock. Still, Workman’s dominant 2019 season is a testament to his raw ability, and other clubs around the league surely have their own ideas about how to once again coax that type of performance from him.

As for the 25-year-old Steele, he made his big league debut earlier this year and rattled off 3 1/3 innings of shutout ball. Baseball America tabs him as the organization’s No. 22 prospect, characterizing him as a potential hard-throwing reliever with some command issues. Steele was a starter throughout his minor league career, but the Cubs are looking at him in the ’pen after he was rocked for a 5.59 ERA through 11 starts in a pitcher-friendly setting at Double-A in 2019.

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Chicago Cubs Newsstand Transactions Brandon Workman Justin Steele

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Pioneer League Testing Home Run Derby In Place Of Extra Innings

By Steve Adams | April 29, 2021 at 8:40am CDT

April 29: The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan spoke with PBL president Michael Shapiro about the league’s new rules for the 2021 season. It’s an interesting look at the reasoning behind the radical adoption of the “Knock Out” tactic, which was engineered without running the idea by Major League Baseball. “We didn’t get MLB approval, nor did we ask for it,” Shapiro tells Buchanan.

Shapiro details some of the challenges that lengthy extra-innings affairs present to an independent league: the cost of keeping a park staffed and lit late into the night, the difficulty of teams finding professional quality players able to report to Montana, Idaho and other less-populated areas on short notice to lessen the toll on an overtaxed bullpen, etc.

Buchanan and other Athletic writers surveyed players and staffers around MLB for their own reaction to the changes. Hunter Pence, Willie Calhoun, David Bell, Paul Goldschmidt and Terry Francona all weighed in. The column is a terrific read and well worth a look for those who are interested in the motivation behind the changes and some reaction from those within the sport.

April 27: The Pioneer Baseball League, one of several independent leagues designated this past offseason as an official “Partner League” of Major League Baseball, announced this morning that it will install a series of rule changes for the upcoming 2021 season. The PBL will test out the usage of designated pinch-hitters and pinch-runners, and on a larger scale, the use of a sudden-death “Knock Out” format to resolve games that end in nine-inning ties (i.e., a home run derby format supplanting the traditional extra-inning format). They’ll also change the appeal process on check swings.

Per the PBL’s release, the “Knock Out” format is being implemented “to avoid excessive strain” on pitching staffs. In this new format, each team would designate one player to receive five pitches in a “sudden death home run duel.” (The release does not specify who would be throwing the pitches.) If the initial “Knock Out” round ends in a tie, each team would then designate a second hitter to compete in a five-pitch showdown. This will continue until a winner can be declared.

The designated pinch-hitter and pinch-runner function in identical fashion to one another. A bench player who has not previously entered the game can either pinch-hit or pinch-run for “an eligible roster player who may then return to his defensive position for the remainder of the game, until otherwise substituted for.” Any player used as a designated pinch-hitter or pinch-runner is “thereafter ineligible to return to the game.” Both measures can be utilized only once per game, per team.

The PBL is also implementing a new “Check Swing” rule which allows the hitter to appeal to a base umpire on a check-swing decision made by the home plate umpire. Previously, that right has only been granted to the home plate ump or the catcher.

As with all experimental rule changes, be they in the minor leagues or in one of MLB’s newly designated “Partner Leagues,” the fact that such measures are being tested out does not make it a foregone conclusion that we’ll see them in Major League Baseball anytime soon — or ever at all. The current runner-on-second rule for extra-inning play is still a polarizing one, at best, and it’s not yet clear whether it’ll be implemented for the long haul or go down as a short-lived relic of the seasons which were directly impacted by the pandemic.

The Atlantic League, another new Partner League of MLB, is also planning to experiment with some changes during the 2021 season, including a “double hook” designated hitter rule and a move of the pitching rubber to a distance of 61 feet, six inches. (You can read more about those experiments and see how MLBTR readers voted in a poll on their merits here.) Those changes, unlike today’s PBL changes, were formally announced by Major League Baseball, indicating that they’re under more immediate consideration. MLB will surely keep a close eye on how things play out in the PBL, of course, but the distinction between the manner in which the two announcements came out ought to be noted.

As with the Atlantic League experiments, I’ll include a poll for each of the new rules so readers and commenters can weigh in on whether they’re in favor of the new formats.

(Link to Knock Out poll for iOS/Android app users)

(Link to poll)

(Link to poll)

(Link to poll)

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James Paxton Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

By Connor Byrne | April 28, 2021 at 4:43pm CDT

APRIL 28: Paxton underwent Tommy John surgery in the past five to seven days, Servais announced (via Brock).

APRIL 13: Servais confirmed today that Paxton will undergo season-ending surgery (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Corey Brock). Servais did not specify the procedure, only that it would be season-ending elbow surgery.

APRIL 10: Paxton hasn’t yet decided on surgery and will seek a second opinion on his injury, Mariners manager Scott Servais told reporters (including MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer).

APRIL 8: Tommy John surgery has been recommended for Mariners left-hander James Paxton, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports. If Paxton undergoes the procedure, he’ll miss the rest of this season and at least some portion of the 2022 campaign.

Paxton began his career with the Mariners, who used a fourth-round pick on him in 2010, though after spending 2013-18 in their uniform, they traded him to the Yankees. But Paxton, 32, returned to Seattle in free agency this past offseason on a one-year, $8.5MM deal. Unfortunately, the Big Maple exited his first (and potentially lone) start of 2021 on Tuesday because of forearm troubles. The Mariners then placed Paxton on the 10-day injured list.

While Paxton has typically pitched well in the majors, evidenced by his 3.59 ERA/3.62 SIERA over 137 appearances (all starts) and 754 2/3 innings, various injuries have haunted him since he entered the league in 2013. He has never thrown more than 160 1/3 innings in an individual season, and he totaled just 20 1/3 frames last year while dealing with back issues and a flexor strain. The Yankees then elected against bringing Paxton back, though he did draw substantial interest from teams on the open market before returning to the Mariners. It doesn’t appear the reunion will be fruitful for either side, however.

The Mariners entered the season with Paxton as a key part of their six-man rotation, but it looks as if they will have to make other plans for the rest of the year. At least for now, Nick Margevicius will take Paxton’s spot in the M’s starting staff, complementing Marco Gonzales, Yusei Kikuchi, Justus Sheffield, Chris Flexen and Justin Dunn.

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Newsstand Seattle Mariners James Paxton

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Yankees Trade Mike Tauchman To Giants For Wandy Peralta

By Connor Byrne | April 27, 2021 at 10:57pm CDT

The Yankees have traded outfielder Mike Tauchman to the Giants for left-handed reliever Wandy Peralta, Jack Curry of the YES Network reports. New York will also receive a player to be named later, the team announced.

This deal sends the 30-year-old Tauchman back to the National League West, where the former 10th-round pick played with the Rockies from 2017-18. Tauchman was unable to establish himself in Colorado, which traded him to the Yankees for lefty Phillip Diehl shortly before the 2019 season.

At first, the Tauchman pickup looked like a steal for the Yankees, as he appeared in 87 games as a reserve in his initial year with the team and slashed a terrific .277/.361/.504 with 13 home runs, six steals and 2.6 fWAR over 296 plate appearances. Tauchman blended that offensive performance with great work among all three outfield positions, combining for 19 Defensive Runs Saved in the grass.

While the 2019 version of Tauchman was a gem, his production and playing time have significantly dwindled since then. Tauchman did appear in 43 games and total 111 PA last season, but he failed to hit a homer, batted a below-average .242/.342/.305 and essentially broke even in the field with zero DRS and a minus-2.2 Ultimate Zone Rating. Meanwhile, fellow Yankees outfielders Aaron Judge, Clint Frazier, Aaron Hicks and Brett Gardner each recorded far superior production, which helped lead Tauchman to fall out of favor.

With Judge, Frazier, Hicks and Gardner returning, Tauchman became an afterthought for the Yankees this year. So far, he has picked up a meager 16 trips to the plate and batted .214/.267/.286 without a homer. Now, the out-of-options Tauchman will provide versatile depth in a Giants outfield that has used Mike Yastrzemski (though he’s currently dealing with a mild oblique issue), Austin Slater, Alex Dickerson, Mauricio Dubon and Darin Ruf, among others, this season. Tauchman won’t reach arbitration for the first time until the upcoming winter, so he could be a multiyear piece for the Giants if he performs to their liking this season.

Peralta, 29, started his career in 2016 with the Reds, who lost him on waivers to the Giants late in the 2019 campaign. Despite 95-96 mph fastball velocity and a career 50.4 percent groundball rate, Peralta has typically had trouble keeping runs off the board. Through 192 2/3 innings, including 8 1/3 this season, Peralta has recorded a 4.72 ERA/4.58 SIERA with unspectacular strikeout and walk percentages of 18.5 and 10.8, respectively.

Peralta still has a minor league option remaining, though he’ll only be eligible for arbitration one more time. For now, Peralta will give the New York organization a third southpaw relief option behind closer Aroldis Chapman and Lucas Luetge. The Yankees have had to go this season without key lefty setup man Zack Britton, who’s on the mend from arthroscopic elbow surgery and probably won’t return until the summer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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New York Yankees Newsstand San Francisco Giants Transactions Mike Tauchman Wandy Peralta

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Jeff Bridich Steps Down As Rockies General Manager

By Mark Polishuk | April 26, 2021 at 10:54pm CDT

In a statement released by the Rockies, the team and executive vice-president/general manager Jeff Bridich “have mutually agreed” that Bridich will step down from his duties with the club.  The Rockies will appoint an interim GM for the remainder of the 2021 campaign and then look for a full-time general manager after the season.

The baseball operations department is now under the purview of Greg Feasel, who has now been promoted to the role of team president as well as chief operating officer.  Feasel was already COO and an executive VP since the 2010 season, and he has been a member of the organization for 26 seasons.

The news comes as the Rockies are off to an 8-13 start, and are widely seen as heading towards their third straight losing season.  A front office shakeup in late April makes for unusual timing, yet it could allow time for Feasel and the interim GM to alter the franchise’s direction as it heads towards the July trade deadline.  Assuming owner Dick Monfort signs off on the decisions, impending free agents like Trevor Story and Jon Gray could now be prime trade candidates, to say nothing of Charlie Blackmon, German Marquez, or really just about anyone if the Rockies decide that a rebuild is necessary.

Bridich has been a fixture in Denver since 2004, working his way up from his initial job as the Rockies’ manager of minor league operations to senior director roles in baseball operations and player development before being named GM following the 2014 season.  That move also came on the heels of a somewhat surprising resignation, as former GM Dan O’Dowd and senior VP of major league operations Bill Geivett both stepped down, and the Rockies seemingly didn’t perform much (if any) of a candidate search before promoting from within.

Still, a shakeup seemed necessary at the time given how the Rox were coming off four consecutive losing seasons, and Bridich began the heavy lifting of a rebuild by moving longtime shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to the Blue Jays as part of a blockbuster deal at the 2015 trade deadline.  However, it didn’t take long for Bridich to turn the Rockies into a winner, as the team reached the postseason in both 2017 and 2018 by winning wild card berths.  Colorado lost the 2017 wild card game to the Diamondbacks, but defeated the Cubs in 2018 to advance to the NLDS before being swept by the Brewers.

This ended up being the high point for Bridich, as the 2018 Rockies succeeded despite some ill-fated transactions that ended up being some of the most notable misfires of Bridich’s tenure.  It was Ian Desmond’s second season of a five-year, $70MM free agent deal that surprised many at the time of the signing, both because the Rox gave up the 11th overall pick of the 2017 draft as a compensatory pick (under the old qualifying offer system) to land Desmond, and because they were going to deploy him as a first baseman.  Desmond simply didn’t produce during the 2017-19 seasons, and he chose to opt out of playing in both 2020 and this season.

The 2017-18 offseason saw Bridich’s front office spend $106MM on three free agent relievers in Wade Davis, Jake McGee, and Bryan Shaw, none of whom succeeded in bolstering the bullpen.  Daniel Murphy’s two-year, $24MM deal in the 2018-19 offseason also backfired on the Rockies, especially since Murphy struggled and the player he effectively replaced (DJ LeMahieu) went on to become an MVP candidate after leaving Colorado to sign with the Yankees.

This focus on free agent moves was due in part because Bridich didn’t swing many trades, and yet ironically, his time with the team will largely be remembered for both the Tulowitzki swap near the beginning of his GM tenure, and the Nolan Arenado trade that came near the end.

Arenado signed a hefty contract extension prior to the 2019 season, guaranteeing the star third baseman $234MM in new money over seven additional seasons and seemingly locking him up as the Rockies’ signature star.  However, the team’s struggles in 2019 almost immediately soured the relationship between not just Arenado and the team, but Arenado and Bridich specifically.  The “disrespect” that Arenado said he felt immediately sparked speculation that a trade was inevitable, and after much speculation, Arenado was dealt to the Cardinals this winter.  Left with relatively little leverage thanks to both Arenado’s no-trade clause and his ability to opt out of the contract following the 2021 season, the Rockies ended up sending $51MM to St. Louis to help cover Arenado’s remaining salary, while receiving an unspectacular trade package of Austin Gomber and three non-elite prospects.

Beyond these public controversies, there were also plenty of issues behind the scenes, as illustrated by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Nick Groke in a wide-ranging piece published in March.  Rosenthal and Groke dove deeper into Bridich’s conflict with Arenado, the Rockies’ lack of investment in an analytics department, the failed free agent signings, and some criticisms of Bridich’s personality and demeanor from some players and former employees, specifically in regards to his communication (or lack thereof) with the team and the rest of the front office.

Beyond Bridich, however, several criticisms were also directed at Monfort, described by one source as someone who “likes the limelight, likes being in the middle of it all.”  If Monfort continues taking such an active role in Colorado’s baseball operations, it remains to be seen how a change in general manager might improve things in the Mile High City.  According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, assistant GM Zack Rosenthal and scouting director Bill Schmidt are two early candidates for the interim GM role.  It isn’t surprising that the Rockies would look to a familiar face for an interim job, though it doesn’t help shake the perception that the organization is very insular.

Feasel’s new role could be a step in a new direction, however, even though Feasel is himself a longtime Rockies employee.  This is the first time the club has has an official team president since former president Keli McGregor passed away in 2010, and Rosenthal/Groke noted that Monfort more or less stepped into the president role.  Feasel comes from a business background rather than a baseball background, and it is possible he could return to focusing on the team’s business operations after the season if the Rockies were to hire a new president of baseball ops to specifically handle the on-field product.  A new voice from outside the organization might be necessary to get the Rockies back on track.

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