As the “Year of the Fan” comes to a thankful close, there really isn’t much for Colorado Rockies fans to celebrate. With just two games remaining in the regular season, the Rockies sit in the cellar of the National League West with a laughable record of 62-97.
The starting pitching has been awful. Injuries have plagued star field players like Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez and the front office has been its usual incompetent self. As one might expect, absolute failure in the three most important areas of baseball has given the Rockies their worst record in franchise history.
Fans are left longing for the glory days of Rocktober, when the organization had direction and promise; that was the magical autumn of 2007, when the Rockies once again captured the hearts of Coloradans and won the National League Pennant.
Instead of a feisty group of overachievers, like the ones that took the Rockies to their first World Series, the Rockies now trot out the pride of the Monfort Brothers – a bunch of guys you probably haven’t heard of with limited potential and minor league contracts.
While this may have been fine for the offense, aided and abetted by Coors Field, it clearly has taken its toll on the pitching staff. Rex Brothers, a reliever, leads the team in wins with eight. The leading starting pitcher, journeyman Jeff Francis, has five wins.
To give some perspective, Los Angeles Angels pitcher Jared Weaver has 20 wins on the year. Granted, he leads the league in this category, but to have only a quarter of his production from the Rockies’ “best” pitcher on the team is embarrassing.
While the pitchers have been embarrassing on the field, they have yet to come close to the embarrassment the ownership has caused its fans off the field. Instead of firing inept General Manager Dan O’Dowd and shaking up the entire front office, the Monfort Brothers, oft-maligned owners of the Rockies, decided to take the drastic step of altering the focuses of some employees.
As Denver Post reporter Troy Renck put it: “The Rockies shook up their front office … except, like a snow globe, all the pieces fell back into a similar place.” To pull this in the year that they designated as the “Year of the Fan” is just offensive.
“I can’t think of a general manager in baseball as good as [Dan O’Dowd],” said Rockies owner Dick Monfort on the day of the shakeup in a press conference in May. That is either a downright lie, or the result of one of the most uninformed and out-of-touch owners in all of sports.
Skimp and save on players as much as you want; this is your team. But don’t take the fans for idiots. This front office has clearly failed for the last few seasons, so don’t try to say that the main man responsible for the carnage is the best in the business.
