Heat is on Bridich to fix what’s wrong

The decline and fall of the Rockies from playoff contenders to last-place team could be heard before it was seen. The tumble was as loud as it was ugly.

On the third night of this bummer of a season, the most disappointing year in franchise history, the Rockies lost 7-3 to the National League’s worst ballclub, the hapless Florida Marlins. Minding my own business in the visitors’ clubhouse, I patiently waited for any of the Colorado hitters who struck out an infuriating 14 times against Miami, hoping to hear an explanation for what went wrong on that Saturday night in South Florida.

But, as I waited, a noise impossible to ignore emanated from the office of manager Bud Black. The architect of this flawed team was inside, expressing his dissatisfaction with the Colorado’s first loss of the regular season, and general manager Jeff

Bridich was so loud about it, he obviously did not care who besides Black heard his rant.

To my ears, the GM losing his cool after Game 3 of 162, before the calendar had even flipped to April, was an unmistakable indication the Rockies were already in a state of panic rather than exhibiting the rock-solid confidence of the World Series contenders they were hoping to be.

And, for once, my assessment was correct. The intensely competitive Bridich can be a hothead. And his Colorado team, after falling flat on its face, losing 12 of 15 games to open the season, never got its act together, plagued by bad luck, bad freeagent signings and bad pitching.

In a word, these Rockies were: Bad with a capital “B.”

So earlier than anyone anticipated, this team must take its ball and go home. I asked Black if, at age 62, he could dissect a disappointing season more philosophically and analytically than earlier in his baseball life.

“I’m still bummed when the season’s over, because the season’s over. I’m bummed, because I love baseball,” Black said Friday afternoon. He added it’s the same bummer now, as a bigleague manager in 2019, as when he was a Little League player 50 years ago.

Black was perched on a bench in the dugout, hours prior to the final homestand of an only in Colorado season, when the Rockies are doomed to finish with 90-plus defeats, but nearly 3 million paying customers will stream through the gates of Coors Field.

We grin and bear bad baseball in Denver, as opposed to a majorleague city that takes the sport seriously, where Bridich would find himself on the hot seat.

For example: The Red Sox fired chief of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski late this summer, less than a year after winning the World Series. But Denver is not Boston.

For better or worse, Rockies owner Dick Monfort is extremely reluctant to part ways with a loyal employee. (While I appreciate the pain of disgruntled fans who have contacted me, pleading for Monfort to hire Dombrowski, his track record of spending without conscience in Boston would make him a terrible fit in Colorado.)

As the Rockies crumbled in July, losing 19 of 25 games, it allowed Black to begin turning his attention to spring training in 2020, talking with front-office staffers about how this year’s club unraveled, how the increase in home run rates have changed the game and what steps Colorado must take to become competitive again.

“We’re philosophizing. We’re talking baseball,” Black said. “We’ve had more of those conversations the last month than we’ve had the previous two years, because we’re in a way different position. We’re not talking about, ‘Hey, is Freeland going to pitching on three days’ rest, or are you good with (German) Marquez against the Cubs? Who’s going to be on the playoff roster?’ or all that stuff, which is fun.”

OK, let’s talk the philosophy of winning, and start with the lessthan-fun stuff: The culture in the Colorado clubhouse needs a tuneup.

Day in and day out during this frustrating summer, standouts Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story and even struggling pitcher Kyle Freeland were pros of the highest order, working seriously on their craft and taking the team’s setbacks to heart.

But first baseman Daniel Murphy is a cookie monster. He is fat and out of shape. The dude can hit, but if you are what you do, then Murphy would rather eat than respect the $24 million contact he accepted from Bridich. Now that’s something the GM should be really steamed about.

Bridich must also admit his expensive experiment with Ian Desmond has been a flop. Desmond might be a prince of a man in the community, but by any objective analysis, he has been both a defensive liability in the field and a below-average hitter since signing with the Rockies in 2017.

Wearing the weight of unattractive contracts, it will be difficult to move either Murphy or Desmond in trade. But if they are two of the nine starters for Colorado on opening day in 2020, the Rockies will begin the season with two strikes against them.

Pitching? Well, I don’t know how to throw a splitter, but anyone can see the Rockies are not going anywhere when their pitchers own the worst earned run average in the majors. While Black accepts responsibility for that failure, it is pitching coach Steve Foster who figures to get fired. More important to stabilization of a young rotation would be an investment in a veteran starter capable of dealing with the mind games of pitching at altitude.

On the chilly, breezy night when the Rockies began their final homestand of 2019, there was the feel of playoffs in the air but scant evidence Colorado has any real hope of playing October baseball anytime in the near future, unless Bridich can do a quick, major overhaul of this roster.

During the fifth inning of an 11-7 victory by the Rockies, while exiting the ballpark, I was startled by a steady stream of spectators walking through the gates. Why were all these people arriving in the middle of a game by a last-place team?

Then it hit me: These fans weren’t showing up for the baseball, but the fireworks show after this losing team hit the showers.

Oh, well. Maybe some things never change.

The Rockies have reverted to being same the lovable losers who first took the field in 1993. But so long as the sun shines all summer long and fireworks light up the night sky, we graciously forgive this baseball team of its sins.