After watching the Rockies these last three games, it’s not out of the question they could be winless in this 10-game road trip.
The Rockies are 0-3 in this trip after a 9-0 loss to the Braves Wednesday night at Turner Field. In the last two games, the Braves outscored the Rockies with the score of 20-3.
The Rockies need to stop pretending they are a good team. Not when they are 38-54 after a 13-4 start in April. Not when they are seven games below .500 at 51-58 heading to Thursday evening’s game with the Braves. The problem with the Rockies is they don’t know how to win. They find creative ways to lose games. They expect to lose games, too. This is not a franchise that plays with a swag for sure based on watching them the last few years.
They have been playing bad baseball to the point one wonders if the team has quit on first-year Rockies manager Walt Weiss. If they haven’t, they probably will in the next two months. These guys have quit when it has become a lost cause in the last few years.
It’s easy to blame Weiss. He has no idea how to lead or manage. He has this deer in the headlights look when he is in the dugout. It doesn’t help Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd forces him to manage the way he wants the Rockies to be managed such as taking starters out after 99 pitches or selecting relievers on a particular game. That said, this is on the players. Their job is to lead by producing at the plate. They need to step up in big moments. They never do.
Troy Tulowitzki, Michael Cuddyer and Carlos Gonzalez are the team’s best hitters, but too many times, they ground into double plays or strike out during the middle portion of the season when the pressure is on. While it’s great to do well early on and at the end of the season, it matters when the guys produce during the summer when games have such an impact in the standings that help a team stay afloat or be in good shape heading to September baseball.
It’s easy to wonder if those three have it in them to be the difference makers. They are good players, but they are not great players. Yes, those three guys put good numbers every year, but it means nothing if they can’t produce when it matters the most.
It’s time to say those three are good players that do not have it in them to be great. The team has failed with Tulowitzki and Gonzalez in the last few years. How else can one explain why the Rockies have gone on a summer swoon in the last few years?
It has gotten to the point where either one has to be traded sooner or later. It’s hard to build a team when their stars can’t play like stars in crucial moments. Something has to give. This has gone too long. No one is untouchable when a team is likely not playing playoff baseball for the fourth straight year. No one is untouchable when a team is likely have a losing record for the third straight year.
The Rockies are at a point where they have to make hard decisions, so they don’t repeat this losing cycle year in and year out. It’s been four years of this.
The problem is that Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd is not the right guy to do trades. He has no idea how to get much in return, and he has no clue how to find talent. Odds are he rather hold on to Tulowitzki and Gonzalez than making the team better.
What the Rockies really need is major housecleaning. That means hiring a new general manager and a new manager that knows how to run a professional organization.
Problem with O’Dowd is he is guessing in finding out the right guys to win baseball games by coming up with stupid theories such as pitch count with the starters or changing rosters year in and year out. Now, he is telling Weiss how to manage a game.
The Rockies general manager has been hired since 1999, and he had one great season in 2007 with a World Series berth and one good season in 2009. Yes, it’s great to have a World Series berth on a resume, but he needs to sustain winning seasons. That hasn’t happened. If anything, O’Dowd has fielded more losing teams than winning teams.
Poor results should get a general manager fired in most organizations. Not with the Rockies, though. Dick Monfort is loyal to his general manager, so he will be hired for life. Remember O’Dowd wanted to quit until Monfort did not accept his resignation. That says something about the owner.
The problem starts at the top. If the owner is okay with this bad product, changes are never going to come. Maybe Gonzalez or Tulowitzki will be traded, but the losing won’t go away as long as O’Dowd is around.
The losing is more about the organization culture. Guys are content with mediocrity, and it filters from ownership to the front office to the players to the manager.
It’s hard to take this organization seriously when they hired a caretaker in Weiss as a manager rather than an accomplished manager who knows what he is doing.
The losing is nothing new. This year is no different than the last few years. This year is par on the course, and don’t expect anything to change in the next few years.
This is why the Rockies are irrelevant in Colorado.
Leslie Monteiro
Leslie is a contributor for Lightning Rod Sports. He covered high school sports in Bergen County out in North Jersey, and has written op-ed columns on sports such as Bleacher Report and NY Sports Digest.
