Rockies Name Bill Schmidt As Interim GM
1:41pm CDT
1:41PM: The Rockies have officially announced Schmidt as the new interim GM. As per the team’s press release, “Schmidt will oversee all aspects of the club’s baseball operations,” which would perhaps imply that Feasel will either return his focus to business operations, or simply that Schmidt is the top voice in all baseball-related matters.
1:05PM: Rockies vice-president of scouting Bill Schmidt is expected to be named the club’s interim general manager, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding reports (Twitter link). After former GM Jeff Bridich resigned last week, there had been speculation that an internal name would take on the interim position, with Schmidt and assistant general managers Zack Rosenthal, Jon Weil, and Zach Wilson all floated as potential candidates to assume the role.
On Monday the Jeff Bridich era officially concluded in Colorado. The abrupt announcement just one month into the season leaves the club with a general manager vacancy to fill in the front office. Darren Gonzalez recently wrote about the new era facing the Rockies and how significant deviation from the previous formula is sorely needed. Greg Feasel has been promoted to the role of President, the first step in the process, but his day-to-day baseball operations experience is not robust. Internal candidates such as director of scouting Bill Schmidt or assistant general managers Zack Rosenthal and Zach Wilson could also be in line for a promotion to interim GM for the remainder of the season. This would appear to be the plan as the team indicated it will pursue hiring a permanent candidate for the position in the upcoming off-season.
Bill Schmidt will serve as Rockies interim GM mlb.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mlb.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
So, what’s the plan?
Words fail to capture my relief that Jeff Bridich is no longer calling the shots for the Rockies. Hopefully, the era of paying sub-par free agents who are past their prime big bucks is over. Hopefully, the era of treating superstars like garbage (see Troy Tulowitzki and Nolan Arenado) or not recognizing them (DJ LaMahieu) is over. And one can only hope the condescending attitude that the front office knows best and should not be questioned is over.
The only problem is that with the Rockies front office, it’s hard to differentiate anyone’s decisions from Dick Monfort’s. How much of this is Bridich’s fault and how much is Monfort’s? Did Bridich bamboozle Monfort into bad decisions? Were they a Lloyd-and-Harry duo with a competitive debate on who is dumb and who is dumber? Or does it all come down to the micromanaging owner?
MLB Trade Rumors
7:43pm CDT
For the first time since 2014, the Rockies are in the market for a new general manager. Jeff Bridich spent the past six-plus years as the Rockies’ GM, but he and the team went their separate ways Monday. Colorado will appoint an interim GM for the rest of the 2021 campaign – likely scouting director Bill Schmidt or assistant GM Zack Rosenthal, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports – and then hire a permanent replacement for Bridich after the season.
Although Bridich has only been out of a job for a few hours, a potential successor from outside the organization has already emerged. Twins GM Thad Levine is “[t]he leading candidate” for the opening in Colorado, Nightengale writes. There’s familiarity between the Rockies and the 49-year-old Levine, who worked in their front office in various roles – including senior director of baseball operations – from 1999-2005. He then left to become the Rangers’ assistant GM, but not before earning the