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Boston Globe
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Bud Black fired by Rockies, with 21-0 rout on Saturday the apparent last straw
'Our play so far this season, especially coming off the last two seasons, has been unacceptable. Our fans deserve better, and we are capable of better,' said Rockies owner, chairman, and CEO Dick Monfort in a statement. 'While we all share responsibility in how this season has played out, these changes are necessary. We will use the remainder of 2025 to improve where we can on the field and to evaluate all areas of our operation so we can properly turn the page into the next chapter of Rockies Baseball.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Colorado was 19½ games out of first place in the NL West before Sunday's win. The Rockies have been outscored by 128 runs this season. The only team since 1900 with a worse run differential through 40 games was the 2023 Oakland Athletics (-144). Advertisement The seventh manager in team history, Black initially found success with Colorado when he led the Rockies to back-to-back playoff appearances in 2017 and '18. They haven't finished with a winning record since, and are coming off two straight 100-loss seasons. Colorado has a .353 winning percentage since 2023. Advertisement Black's contract was set to expire following the season. He signed a one-year extension in October. Related : Black was 544-689 in nine seasons while wearing the purple pinstripes. He surpassed Hurdle last season for the team record in both games managed and wins. The easy-going demeanor of Black seemed to be a good fit for a Rockies team relying heavily on youth. The lineup features a nucleus of Gold Glove winners Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle, along with the recent call-up of highly touted outfielder Zac Veen, who has since been sent back down. On the mound, they've promoted prized pitcher Chase Dollander, the ninth overall draft pick in 2023. But little has gone right for Black and the Rockies. They allowed 10 or more runs in four straight games, culminating in the football-like score Saturday. A team owned by Monfort and run by general manager Bill Schmidt didn't make any splash moves to bolster a spiraling club. Their payroll this season is listed at $125.7 million and is 20th in the league, One reason for the Rockies' free fall has been the health of slugger Kris Bryant, who's struggled to stay on the field after signing a $182 million, seven-year contract ahead of the 2022 season. He's currently on the injured list with lumbar degenerative disk disease. Before taking over the Rockies, Black spent time in charge of San Diego. He was 649-713 in nine seasons with the Padres and was named the NL manager of the year in 2010. Advertisement In addition to his managerial stints in San Diego and Colorado, Black spent seven seasons as the pitching coach for the Angels, who made it to postseason three times and were World Series champions in 2002. Before breaking into the managerial ranks, Black spent parts of 15 seasons on the mound after the lefthander was picked by Seattle in the 17th round of the 1979 draft. He spent time with the Mariners (1981), Kansas City (1982-88), Cleveland (1988-90, 1995), Toronto (1990), and San Francisco (1991-94). He finished 121-116 with a 3.84 ERA over 398 games. Black was with the Royals when they won the 1985 World Series, making one start and a relief appearance against St. Louis.
New York Times
11-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Rockies fire Bud Black after brutal start, name Warren Schaeffer as interim manager
The Colorado Rockies fired manager Bud Black and bench coach Mike Redmond on Sunday. Third-base coach Warren Schaeffer is now the interim manager, and hitting coach Clint Hurdle will serve as the interim bench coach. 'Our play so far this season, especially coming off the last two seasons, has been unacceptable. Our fans deserve better, and we are capable of better,' said Rockies owner Dick Monfort. 'While we all share responsibility in how this season has played out, these changes are necessary. We will use the remainder of 2025 to improve where we can on the field and to evaluate all areas of our operation so we can properly turn the page into the next chapter of Rockies baseball.' Advertisement The Rockies gave Black a nice sendoff with a 9-3 victory over the Padres on Sunday, but this season has been a complete disaster. The Rockies lost 21-0 to the Padres on Saturday, and after losing 103 games in 2023 and 101 games in 2024, they seem primed to break the 2024 Chicago White Sox's record (41-121) for losses in a season after starting the season 7-33. Schaeffer joined the Rockies as a third-base and infield coach during the 2023 season after spending 10 seasons as a coach and manager in the team's minor-league system. 'I believe that Warren is the right person to lead us forward for the remainder of this season, develop our young talent at the major-league level and get our club back to playing a better brand of baseball,' said General Manager Bill Schmidt. 'He has a great ability to connect with both veterans and young players and is an excellent communicator.' The Rockies installed Hurdle as the team's hitting coach on April 17 after firing former hitting coach Hensley Meulens. Hurdle managed the Rockies for parts of eight seasons (2002-09). The team went 534-625 during his tenure and made its only World Series appearance in 2007. Hurdle also managed the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2011 until 2019, going 735-720. Black's firing comes almost a decade after the Padres dismissed him as manager. On June 15, 2015, San Diego general manager A.J. Preller, who had inherited Black the previous summer, relieved the veteran manager of his duties after a 32-33 start. Black, the 2010 National League Manager of the Year, finished his Padres tenure with an overall record of 649-713. He later declined a reportedly below-market offer to manage the Washington Nationals — the job instead went to Dusty Baker — before joining the Rockies the following offseason. The Rockies went 544-690 under Black, who managed the team to a wild-card loss in 2017, his first season as manager, and then won a wild-card game before the Rockies got swept by the Brewers in the 2018 National League Division Series. The Rockies have not made the postseason since. Advertisement Black, who pitched in 15 major-league seasons and began his big-league coaching career as the Anaheim Angels' pitching coach, oversaw a Rockies pitching staff that finished the 2017 season 17th in the majors in ERA despite playing half its games at notoriously hitter-friendly Coors Field. The next year, the Rockies ranked 20th in ERA on their way to another playoff berth. In five of the next six seasons, they finished last or second-to-last in ERA. 'I think our guys are still playing hard, and that's what I look at,' Schmidt told the Denver Post before Saturday's historic loss. 'Guys are working hard every day, they come with energy, for the most part. I don't think we are (at that point of firing Black). Guys still believe in what we are doing and where we are headed. We are all frustrated.'
