Colorado Rockies Have A New GM: What To Expect

The Colorado Rockies finally have a new general manager. What will that mean moving forward?

As the trees in the Mile High City turn from dark green into brilliant colors of reds, yellows and oranges, another season of Colorado Rockies baseball has come and gone.

It comes as no surprise that the Rockies failed to win a division title, make the playoffs, or just stay competitive throughout the dog days of August and September. What may have come as a surprise was finishing 29th out of 30 teams in Major League Baseball with an abysmal record of 66-96, beating out only the Arizona Diamondbacks (64-98.) What may have come off as an even bigger surprise, was the quick change in the front office and dare I say it….a new GM?!

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On October 8th, 2014, Dan O’Dowd and Bill Geivett stepped down and resigned as General Manager and Vice President respectively, and within just a few mere hours Jeff Bridich was named both Senior Vice President and General Manager. Bridich was promoted from within the organization from his former role of Senior Director of Player Development in which in 2013 he earned the Rockies the Topps Organization of the Year. To his direct credit the Single-A affiliate Asheville Tourists won the South Atlantic League Championship in 2012 and 2014.

From this early of a perspective it is hard to tell if Bridich will just be another Monfort puppet, or if the new GM will run things the way HE wants to. Many are skeptical in Denver, wondering out loud why the organization did not conduct a national search and simply promoted the next man up. So far all signs seem to be pointing in the right direction as Bridich openly admitted the team is not yet competitive, but the plans are to be competitive soon.

As quoted from his press conference on October 8th in which he was named to his new position within the organization, Bridich stated, “We are not where we want to be. We know that. We are not where we expect to be, we know that. But we do have people who are determined to get there. Make no mistake, this organization wants to win and this organization is determined to win.”

In any case that seems to be a bit more comforting than just simply “Trusting the organization.” Many questions will be asked and hopefully for Colorado Rockies fans, answered and answered in the near future. One of the biggest questions I have encountered so far is what is his opinion on pitching? Will Bridich be able to land a top notch pitching free agent in hitter’s friendly Coors Field?

“…Make no mistake, this organization wants to win and this organization is determined to win.” – Jeff Bridich

Possibly more importantly, will Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez be members of the Colorado Rockies next summer? The two sluggers have a lot of money tied up in the organization and some feel that the team may need to try and move at least one of the All-Stars in order to afford the quality pitching.

A change of face in the top ranks of the organization may be just exactly what this team needed to try and stay competitive within the NL West with the likes of the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers. As with anything, only time will tell but I feel there is some hope within the city and the state that things are headed in the right direction.

In any case, 2015 should be a season to that will undoubtedly bring an air excitement around Coors Field.

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