Changes are coming to the Colorado Rockies . . . right?

Maybe . . . and maybe not.

Renee Dechert

28 Jun 2025 — 6 min read

Walker Monfort

Last week, I wrote about pitchers the Colorado Rockies might move prior to the July 31 trade deadline, and it was my intention this week to focus on position players. However, earlier this week, the Rockies made a move in their front office that’s invited speculation, so I’m going to use this newsletter in an attempt to sort through some of that and the questions I think the move raises.

Walker Monfort gets a promotion

The news broke around 9:00 Thursday morning: President & Chief Operating officer Greg Feasel was on his way out while Walker Monfort, the Rockies current Vice President for Corporate Sponsorships and owner Dick Monfort’s oldest son, would move into Feasel’s office.

The transition should be completed by the end of January 2026.

Walker, who is 36, told Thomas Harding, “As I take this next step, I transition a little bit by leading by voice and example, trying to provide direction for this club. . . . I do have a plan in place. It’s something my dad and I have talked about in the past – that I think it could benefit us if we look at things a little bit differently.”

(Just so you know, one weird thing about all the nepotism is that I’m having to use first names when writing about various members of the Monfort family, which is not my favorite thing.)

Evan Lang and I wrote about the move here, but mostly we describe what happened and point to fan skepticism — which, to be clear, is justified. In this newsletter, I’m more interested in speculating about what it might mean.

Things are changing (maybe)

I realize that the Rockies have a long history of being an insular organization that is resistant to change, a point that Dick Monfort acknowledges.

However, when fans voice skepticism, I would point out to them that the Rockies have already made some fairly substantial changes this season: They fired hitting coach Hensley “Bam Bam” Muelens in addition to manager Bud Black and bench coach Mike Redmond.

Granted, Monfort’s old friend Clint Hurdle has an increased presence with these moves, which suggests on Monfort’s part a lingering resistance to embrace an all-out change. The Meulens firing did not surprise me; the Black firing did, especially so early in the season. I assumed he would be allowed to finish 2025.

Still, the Rockies have made some changes, and they ought get credit for that.

By the way, I think an undervalued factor in all of this is just how hard all this losing is — on the players, the coaches, the front office, and the entire Rockies and Coors Field staffs. Being historically bad is exhausting, and it’s something Dick Monfort surely understands.

I tend to believe all the losing is spurring him to action he might have otherwise delayed or avoided.

Too, I’ve been thinking about this passage from a Patrick Saunders article published on Thursday:

Walker, 38, spoke to The Denver Post and MLB.com about his promotion Wednesday night. He declined to discuss any other specific personnel changes in the front office that might occur in the coming months and did not address the status of general manager Bill Schmidt. 

“Ultimately, we’re open to anything, and I think that’s where I want to keep it,” Walker said in a wide-ranging interview. “I think we’re open to whatever it takes to make the Colorado Rockies better. But I would say it’s really about maximizing our resources, right? And if we don’t have the right resources in place, we should figure out a way to get the right resources in place. That’s not just from a staffing perspective, it’s really everything.”

“Ultimately, we’re open to anything.” Clearly, this is not an endorsement of current general manager Bill Schmidt — and Walker could have done that if he wanted to.

I have trouble seeing Dick Monfort firing Schmidt so close to the MLB Draft and trade deadline, but maybe. This is a weird year at 20th and Blake, and historic losing changes everything. After all, the Colorado Rockies baseball team is not the only one in uncharted territory: Dick Monfort’s organization is as well.

Plus, we know from a conversation Charlie Monfort had with Patrick Saunders last week that the other Montfort brother believes it’s time for change.

“I think we need a new set of eyeballs,” he said. “We need to give someone the opportunity. Someone who knows baseball and has lived and breathed baseball, and sometimes, died with baseball. 

“Someone who knows everything that all of the good teams we face do, from grassroots on up. Someone who is going to stand by their decisions because they are going to live with it.”

Last week, Dick admitted the Rockies were an insular organization and agreed with Charlie. He told Saunders, “[I]t probably is time to have somebody who has a fresh opinion, a fresh set of eyes. . . . I’m not opposed to bringing people in from the outside.”

The question becomes, then, if promoting Walker ranks as a significant change, “a fresh set of eyeballs.”

In a podcast that dropped Thursday, Ryan Spilborghs, whose takes on these things I tend to trust, gives Walker a vote of confidence. For Spilborghs, Walker has earned the opportunity and may, perhaps, become an advocate for change — as in advocating for bringing in an outside evaluator.

Yesterday, he added this:

Can Walker “help facilitate change?” That’s the key question.

Here’s what I think (which is worth what you paid for it)

Walker’s promotion comes as zero surprise.

He’s been training to fill this position for years, and it was always going to happen. Plus — and this is unclear — if Walker’s influence is largely limited to the business side of the Colorado Rockies, not the on-field product, then this promotion just doesn’t seem like a big deal. (And perhaps Walker understands that a winning team generates more revenue than a losing one does.)

Moreover, this is how extraordinarily wealthy people pass down their wealth, and Dick has always been clear that his children will be the Rockies primary owners when he steps down.

For those speculating that Dick’s other son, Sterling, who’s currently the Director of Professional Scouting Operations, will become the next general manager, I just don’t see it. (He was moved into the position in 2022 and is 33 years old.)

First, he’s young and inexperienced. Second, the Rockies are a mess. If you are a parent who wants your child to succeed — and I assume Dick Monfort wants that for Sterling should he become the general manager or president of baseball operations — you need to set them up for success. It will take a seasoned GM to right the ship, and Sterling lacks that experience.

The Rockies, it seems to me, have no choice except to bring in someone from outside the organization to do the work that needs to be done. (On Thursday, Troy Renck floated Thad Levine, which is an intriguing possibility.)

As for Dick, I don’t expect him to step aside in any significant way prior to 2027. He might be willing to turn the Rockies day-to-day business over to a new president of baseball operations, but he’s going to stay as the owner of the rockies until the CBA expires at the end of the 2026 season. He’s been clear that he has a goal of a salary cap and revenue sharing, and I think he believes he’s the person to get that done. (I am significantly less confident of his ability to do that than he is, but whatever.)

But that’s looking ahead. Let’s return to the present moment.

Right now with the season exactly half over, the Rockies are 18-64. They have not made significant improvement under interim manager Warren Schaeffer (though, in fairness, exact comparisons are impossible). They need to be looking forward: Which players will they draft? Which players will they trade? How are they planning for the future?

I remain skeptical of those who say the Rockies will sit this trade deadline out. Again — sorry to sound like a broken record on this — do not undervalue the stress that goes with being this historically bad. It’s real, and I think it’s driving more decisions than many casual observers realize.

July, it turns out, is going to be a pivotal month for the Colorado Rockies.

What they will do, only Dick Monfort knows.

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