Walt Weiss Named Manager of the Rockies

Image: Tim Heitman-US PRESSWIRE

The Colorado Rockies have hired former Major League shortstop Walt Weiss to be the club’s new manager, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post.

The Colorado managerial search wound up being quite the motley crew of candidates. Weiss was selected over finalists Tom Runnells, who had served as the club’s bench coach, Arizona third base coach Matt Williams, and still-active first baseman Jason Giambi, who had said he would retire in order to take the job.

It may not be surprising that Colorado went off the radar in their search, however. Last season, in the midst of a historically bad campaign by their pitchers, the Rockies scrapped the traditional starting rotation in favor of one in which starters were limited to 75 pitches per outing. The decision, along with turmoil in the front office, lead to the resignation of manager Jim Tracy and pitching coach Bob Apodaca, who left mid-season.

According to Drew Silva’s post on Hardball Talk, Weiss spend the 2012 season coach a high school varsity team in the Denver area. So he’s got that going for him. Which is nice.