The Monfort brothers are MLB’s most patient, tolerant owners. Charles Monfort has been a part of the Colorado Rockies’ ownership group since the team’s inception in 1992. That’s only a bit longer than his brother and co-owner Dick.
In all that time, the Rockies have employed just four chief execs: Bob Gebhard, Dan O’Dowd, Jeff Bridich and — since 2021 — Bill Schmidt.
Since the Rockies franchise was created, only four franchises — the Yankees, Cardinals, Athletics and White Sox — have employed fewer chief executive officers. That’s despite the fact that Colorado’s .460 lifetime winning percentage is 30 percentage points worse than any of the above-mentioned franchises in that time frame.
Over the weekend Schmidt, presumably with the acquiescence of the Monforts, reacted to the team’s embarrassing 7-33 start by firing manager Bud Black, who had run on-field operations since 2017. But Black’s firing won’t fix the systemic problems in Colorado.
The guy who needed to go was Schmidt.
The Colorado Rockies are too comfortable with losing
The principal job of a general manager is talent acquisition. In that job, Schmidt, the boss for three full seasons plus parts of 2021 and this one, has been stunningly inept.
Since 2022 — the first year Schmidt had a direct influence on the team’s roster — Colorado is 195-331, a remarkably bad .371 winning percentage, with annual last-place finishes in the NL West.
Baseball Reference charts relative player performance via positional Win Probability Added. There are 13 critical positions: the eight on-field every-day positions plus overall pitching, starting pitching, relief pitching, DH and pinch hitting.
Of those 13 positions, Rockies players rank among the bottom five at ten of them. Only one other team, the Cleveland Guardians, holds even half as many bottom-five positional ranks. At four of those positions — starting pitchers, second base, center field and DH — the Rockies rank last. No other team ranks last at more than one position.
An old boss of mine would have described that breadth of incompetence as prismatically bad, meaning bad any way you looked at it.
There are those who will blame the Monforts for failing to provide Schmidt the resources needed to build a winner. It is true that at $74 million, the 2025 Rockies are toward the low end of the MLB payroll spectrum this year, 24th to be exact for active roster spending. It should also be noted that they stand $76 million below the next-most frugal team in their division, the Padres.
But to lean heavily on those numbers is to give too much credit to money as a force. Just last season, three of the 10 most parsimonious teams — the Guardians, Royals and Tigers — attained a postseason berth.
The 2024 Rockies won only 61 games despite ranking mid-pack (17th) in payroll, a couple million behind the Royals, who won 86. Yes, the Royals played in an easier division. But 25 games? C’mon.
Plus there’s a pattern at work. In 2023, the Rockies ranked 18th in payroll but lost 103 games. They spent $15 million more than their divisional rivals the Diamondbacks but won 25 fewer games. In 2022, they outspent Arizona by $22 million but lost six more games.
The common denominator across those seasons is Schmidt.
He has wasted the Monforts’ funds. In 2022, he gave Kris Bryant a guaranteed $182 million deal that runs through 2028. To date Bryant, whose health was questionable before that deal was inked, has returned -3.9 games of value to his team as measured by Wins Above Average, while averaging only about 170 plate appearances per season.
Schmidt locked up Ryan McMahon for six seasons and has thus far gotten average results at best. McMahon is hitting .211 this year with marginally above average power.
It’s possible to run the Rockies at least as a competitive franchise. Schmidt hasn’t even approached that.
The Monforts have a long record of tolerance, patience or, if you prefer, lassitude with respect to their key personnel. Having acknowledged that, Bill Schmidt needs to go.