It’s (past) time for the Rockies to clean house

This year has shown that little is working at 20th and Blake.

Renee Dechert

19 Sep 2025 — 5 min read

There are many ways in which to measure just how bad the 2025 Colorado Rockies are. Their win-loss record? 41-112. Their run differential? -404. Their starting rotation ERA? .667. Although the Rockies will not finish with the worst win-loss record in the Modern Era, they may still win out in the latter-two categories.

With their 112th loss the Rockies have clenched being tied for the 5th worst 160+ game season of all time
— Chicken Puppet (@chickenpuppet.online) 2025-09-18T23:20:36.860Z

(And given how they’ve played recently, there’s a real possibility they do not manage another win and tie the Chicago White Sox for the worst record in the Modern Era.)

There’s been plenty written about how bad this team is, and more autopsies are surely in the works, so I’ll spare you the details except to add that as of right now, only 17 players out of the 57 the Rockies have rostered in 2025 have positive rWAR scores.

They’re that bad.

This marks the Rockies’ third consecutive 100-loss season, and this one will be close to 120 losses, which is substantially worse than the 103 losses of 2023 or the 101 losses of 2024. This team has been, by pretty much every measure, bad.

One bright spot is that a lot of prospects saw significant playing time though their fairly consistent lack of player development in the minor leagues suggests another problem.

On May 11th, the Rockies replaced long-time manager Bud Black with interim manager Warren Schaeffer. I’ve written about Schaeffer twice (here and here). Uniformly, the players speak highly of Schaeffer, and to give credit where it’s due, keeping a positive mood in the clubhouse of a team that is historically bad is no small feat. Schaeffer has done that.

However, consider the numbers. Black’s W-L% in 2025 was .175; Schaeffer’s is .304. Is that better? Absolutely. Is it good? Not really. Schaeffer currently has a 34-79 record, which is well below .500.

The Rockies have two big questions to answer in the near term: Will Schaeffer get the permanent position, and will Bill Schmidt continue as general manager.

Last week, Schaeffer made clear to Kevin Henry a hope to get the full-time job:

“I would love to,” Schaeffer said Thursday when asked if he wants to manage the team in 2026. “This group of guys is special to me. This organization is special to me. I feel like I can bring a culture, given an offseason and given a spring training, and not just taking over the middle year, but being able to institute some changes and some adjustments in how we do our process. You can’t necessarily do that in the middle of the year, but you can go and do stuff in the offseason. I would love to see how that culture plays out.”

Schmidt has not made public his feelings though it’s probably safe to assume he hopes to continue in his current rule. Last weekend, however, Patrick Saunders wrote that he sees it as unlikely: “The Rockies have not publicly commented on Schmidt’s future, but it appears likely that he will be fired or reassigned at the end of the season.”

Look, if anything has become clear this season, it’s that the “Rockies Way” — whatever that is — has failed. It’s time for the Rockies to bring in someone from outside the organization and empower that person to make significant change.

If that means Schmidt’s days are done, so be it. If someone besides Schaeffer looks to be a better fit as the Rockies’ manager, hire them. If there’s a market for players, trade them because the Rockies will not be competitive in the near term.

Incidentally, Baseball America released their farm system rankings earlier this week. The Rockies’ system earned a mid-season ranking of 27th and an overall grade of C+. Here’s what Mark Chairelli wrote in his evaluation:

Broadly speaking, the Rockies’ system accomplished the main objective: Graduate contributors to the majors, though it’s unclear just how impactful those players will end up being in the long run outside of Chase Dollander, who had an ERA of nearly 10.00 in home starts at Coors Field but much better results on the road. Adding Ethan Holliday and getting Charlie Condon back on track are nice boons, too. But for an organization in dire need of a talent infusion, the present ceiling of this system still seems concerningly low.

So, yes, the farm system needs to be fixed, too.

It’s well past time for the Rockies to bring in someone from the outside and provide them with the freedom and financing to begin a true rebuild that brings the Rockies into the 21st century.

Like of a lot of folks, I’ve become fixated on Thad Levine as someone to serve as the Rockies’ president of baseball operations. (I provided some background on him in an earlier article.)

Levine has tended to keep to himself though he’s half of the Rosters to Rings podcast. I haven’t listened to many of the episodes because Levine and Ryan McDonough talk to a wide range of sports experts, including front office personal, coaches, and former players from sports I’m not much interested in.

But I’ve tried to listen to the baseball episodes, and I have to say that I’ve been encouraged by what I‘ve heard.

Take for example this conversation with Detroit Tigers manager A. J. Hinch. Levine begins by discussing the Rafael Devers trade and how he generally approached working with players (and their agents). I found it enlightening.

One other note, which probably means nothing, but I think it’s interesting, Levine does not hesitate to mention his time in Colorado and what he learned as a front office staffer early in his career, and he’s very positive about it. Clearly, Levine will always be discreet, but a renewed relationship seems possible.

No one knows what Dick Monfort will do — and as I‘ve written before, a worst-case scenario involves him punting on 2026 in hopes of a new CBA that rescues the Rockies. That’s not going to happen for many reasons, but bringing in a PBO — a true baseball executive and giving them autonomy — might.

We’ll know soon enough. The Rockies’ season ends on September 28. I suspect Monfort will make his decision known soon after that.

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