Colorado Rockies President Greg Feasel: “We had every intention” to hire a GM externally, thoughts on Bud Black

Colorado Rockies President Greg Feasel and newly minted GM Bill Schmidt, who had his “interim” tag removed today and both combined to speak to the media, including Rox Pile, for nearly 40 minutes at Chase Field in Arizona.

Both Feasel and Schmidt shed light on his hiring and the process of hiring Schmidt as full-time GM.

Colorado Rockies President Greg Feasel said that they had “every intention” to hire a GM externally but Bill Schmidt proved himself.

Colorado Rockies President Greg Feasel provided some insight into why they decided to hire Bill Schmidt as the Rockies full-time GM and Feasel admitted that they didn’t intend on hiring Schmidt full-time when he was named interim GM.

"“The best way to describe it as we had every intention of going outside (the organzation to hire a GM),” Feasel said. “But (Schmidt) would take care of this or he would go address this and just what he did over the four months and it just kept building and I mean really, he didn’t give us a choice. I mean, but the intent was, we were going to go outside, but, I mean, how many times need to be hit over the head with a bat? And he was the right guy for us at the right time.”"

Feasel provided some examples of what he believes Schmidt did well in the last few months.

"“He would go down to the clubhouse, before every game, and talk to players, talk to coaches, spend time with (manager) Buddy (Black), go see (Rockies head trainer Keith Dugger), and then he goes down after the game. I’ve been around a long time and I mean he does that every single game, I never told him to do that, (Rockies owner) Dick (Monfort) never told him to do that. You can just see things coming together. Did you guys see things kind of start coming together? I mean, how many times you need to get hit in the face with a bat to see it’s coming together? That was our intent to go outside, but just, he (proved) himself.”"

A question that was also brought up and some Rockies fans have been questioning is the “Selig Rule.” The “Selig Rule” requires MLB teams, when hiring front office and coaching personnel (including managers), to “consider” minorities and women for spots so that front offices and coaching staffs are more diverse.

When asked about this, Feasel said that the Rockies kept Commissioner Rob Manfred and the Commissioner’s office abreast of what they were going to do.

“We’ve been communicating for the last month with Commissioner’s Office,” Feasel said. “Yeah, they’re in the loop.”

Feasel said that the Rockies made it official with Schmidt “this past week” but for timing, they thought Saturday would be best for a few reasons. Chief among them is that teams are discouraged by MLB from announcing moves during the playoffs.

Greg Feasel on Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black and his performance this season

There has never been any inkling that Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black would be fired or let go, despite the team having a losing record for three straight years.

However, despite playing under .500 this year, the Rockies have exceeded most people’s expectations in the last four months, as they are 54-51 since June 1.

This is part of the reason why the Rockies decided to keep Bill Schmidt but also, why Feasel thinks that this is the best season Bud Black has had in managing in the Rockies.

"“The performance this year (of) our young pitching and, you know, the way we’ve had some guys step up and turn this thing around, I told Buddy the other night that I think this was his best year,” Feasel said. “I mean you think of all the things that the clubhouse has had to deal with. With COVID being tested, the issues with their families — their families can’t come here, they can’t (go) there. They can’t go out to dinner at this point but, oh, maybe next month you can go out to dinner. It’s been, it’s been a challenge.”"

We will have more from what Feasel and Schmidt had from Arizona in the coming days here on Rox Pile so make sure to stay tuned to our site.