By Katy Williams
This week the Colorado Rockies named a new manager to replace Jim Tracy, who resigned last month. Their choice? Walt Weiss, who could most recently be seen in the dugout of Regis Jesuit High School.
He has been involved with the Rockies organization before, playing shortstop for the team for three years and serving as special assistant to the general manager for six before leaving the pros to spend more time with his family.
Hiring a manager with relatively little experience is not unheard of. Just last season, the Cardinals hired former player and special advisor Mike Matheny to manage the club, and he coached them to the NLCS.
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| (Getty Images/Brian Bahr) |
Hiring a manager with relatively little experience is not unheard of. Just last season, the Cardinals hired former player and special advisor Mike Matheny to manage the club, and he coached them to the NLCS.
The difference? The Cardinals were the reigning world champions when Matheny was given the team. The Rockies, who finished last in the NL West in 2012, are anything but.
For the Rockies, the choice of Walt Weiss is just another desperate experiment in the hopes that something may finally cause a breakthrough and make them at least somewhat competitive in a division that features the world-champion Giants and high-spending Dodgers.
For the Rockies, the choice of Walt Weiss is just another desperate experiment in the hopes that something may finally cause a breakthrough and make them at least somewhat competitive in a division that features the world-champion Giants and high-spending Dodgers.
No one in baseball fully realized the extent of the Rockies desperation until the end of last season, when assistant general manager Bill Geivett was given an office in the clubhouse and involved himself in setting the roster and evaluating players. The baseball establishment saw this as an unprecedented move, as did Jim Tracy, which was largely why he resigned with one year still left on his contract.
The front office has also started tinkering with game decisions, coming up with ideas and proposals that can only be considered unusual at best, and laughable at worst. Take, for example, their pitching rotation experiment. Last summer, the team decided to only use four starters, and limit them to 75 pitches, causing a heavy reliance on the bullpen. At one point, the idea of having every single pitcher start, essentially creating a 14-man rotation, was floated, but thankfully shot down and never tried.
Even their search for a new manager provides many more questions than answers. First of all, they interviewed Jason Giambi, who is still an active player, as a serious candidate for the job. Then, after they narrowed down the field of candidates, they were left with Weiss and Matt Williams, who has been the Diamondback’s third base coach for the past two years. And they picked the high school coach.
It is true that the Rockies organization needs a facelift, and needs to see some serious changes, if they hope to win. But if Jim Tracy, who was the 2009 manager of the year, was not able to accomplish anything, I don’t see why they think a high school coach will be able to.
If the Rockies want to be taken seriously by baseball again, they need to get the front office out of the clubhouse. Because they will never be able to find an effective manager with that kind of interference.
The front office has also started tinkering with game decisions, coming up with ideas and proposals that can only be considered unusual at best, and laughable at worst. Take, for example, their pitching rotation experiment. Last summer, the team decided to only use four starters, and limit them to 75 pitches, causing a heavy reliance on the bullpen. At one point, the idea of having every single pitcher start, essentially creating a 14-man rotation, was floated, but thankfully shot down and never tried.
Even their search for a new manager provides many more questions than answers. First of all, they interviewed Jason Giambi, who is still an active player, as a serious candidate for the job. Then, after they narrowed down the field of candidates, they were left with Weiss and Matt Williams, who has been the Diamondback’s third base coach for the past two years. And they picked the high school coach.
It is true that the Rockies organization needs a facelift, and needs to see some serious changes, if they hope to win. But if Jim Tracy, who was the 2009 manager of the year, was not able to accomplish anything, I don’t see why they think a high school coach will be able to.
If the Rockies want to be taken seriously by baseball again, they need to get the front office out of the clubhouse. Because they will never be able to find an effective manager with that kind of interference.
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