Colorado Rockies: Let’s face the truth, Jeff Bridich won’t be fired

Sorry Colorado Rockies fans, I have some bad news. I regret to inform you that general manager Jeff Bridich will not be losing his job anytime soon.

By now, we all know the garbage heap of a mess that the Colorado Rockies have gotten themselves into. If not, here is a run down of the events by our own Kevin Henry. To sum it up quickly, Nolan Arenado feels disrespected and lied to by GM Jeff Bridich for the lack spending to build a championship contender around him this winter.

As fans, we all feel Nolan’s frustration with Bridich. This offseason, the Rockies have spent nothing in free agency to improve a team that won 71 games in 2019. The Rockies join the Cubs as the only two teams who have not made a splash in free agency.

Combine this with the signing busts of Ian Desmond, Wade Davis, Bryan Shaw, Jake McGee, and Daniel Murphy and it is no wonder why fans want owner Dick Monfort to fire Bridich.

Unfortunately for Arenado and the fans, history is not on their side when it comes to Monfort cutting ties with general managers.

In 27 seasons, the Rockies have had a total of three different GMs.  Bridich’s predecessor, Dan O’Dowd, had more than his fair share of failures, yet, at the time of his departure, was the longest tenured GM in the Majors.

More from Rox Pile

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: What if Todd Helton had played football instead?
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

O’Dowd took over for Bob Gebhard in the final months of the 1999 season and held the position till the end of 2014.  In his 15 full seasons as GM, the Rockies only made the playoffs two times, including the 2007 World Series appearance, and finished over .500 just four times with a combined record of 1129-1302 (.464).

O’Dowd was responsible for many free agent signing busts (i.e. Mike Hampton, Denny Neagle). He went through multiple philosophy changes (“the Piggyback Rotation” among others) to limited success and was involved in multiple controversial trades (Ubaldo Jimenez, one of the most notable) that gained O’Dowd the moniker “Dealin’ Dan.”

Despite all of his struggles, Monfort stuck with O’Dowd and he even offered him a contract extension in 2014, which O’Dowd declined and paved the way for Bridich’s promotion.

If Monfort was willing to stick with O’Dowd for all of those years, it is hard to imagine him pulling the plug on Bridich after he has had more on-field success and have reached the playoffs in 2 of the 5 seasons he has been at the helm.

No matter how much we scream and demand action, it might be time to face the brutal truth that Nolan Arenado will not be in a Rockies’ uniform in the not-so-distant future and Jeff Bridich will remain in the front office calling the shots.