Colorado Rockies news: Pitching coach Steve Foster resigns, status of Jon Gray returning

Nick Groke of The Athletic (subscription required) reported late Monday night that the Colorado Rockies will have a new pitching coach entering the 2022 season.

Colorado Rockies pitching coach Steve Foster has decided to step down from his post and the Rockies will name Darryl Scott, who was the Rockies’ bullpen coach for the last two seasons, will replace Foster. Foster, who has been the Rockies pitching coach since 2015, when Walt Weiss was still managing the Rockies, is resigning to spend more time with family.

But Steve Foster could remain with the Colorado Rockies in some capacity

However, Groke reports that there is “some expectation or hope” that Foster will stay with the Rockies in some capacity.

Foster could replace Mark Wiley as the Director of Pitching Operations. Wiley, 72, retired last week from his post. He has been with the Rockies since 2012 and, previously, he had been with the Rockies in a similar capacity in two other tenures going back to 2000.

Those tenures were interrupted by stints with the then-named Florida Marlins in two stints as their pitching coach with a front office stint following the pitching coach stint. Steve Foster was also the Marlins bullpen coach when Wiley was there as well.

As Groke notes, that job is meant to guide the club’s entire pitching philosophy, from the rookie levels through to the big leagues.

The Rockies, now, will look to find themselves a new bullpen coach to replace the newly promoted Scott. But if Foster leaves the organization entirely, his loss will be felt as he has been a big reason why the Rockies went from the worst pitching staff prior to 2015 to, undoubtedly, the best pitching staff in Rockies franchise history in recent years.

Jon Gray also turned down a contract extension at the end of the season

Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post also reported that Jon Gray turned down a contract extension from the Colorado Rockies toward the end of this season.

The Rockies were hoping that Gray would accept the offer before the end of the season and, therefore, before hitting free agency here this offseason, as they did with first baseman C.J. Cron. But unlike Cron, Gray turned down the offer.

However, as Saunders noted and we’ve reported in the past, Gray does truly want to stay in a Rockies uniform. But he will test the open market, even just to test the waters and see what other teams would offer to him in relation to the Rockies.

In other words, don’t be surprised if Jon Gray does re-sign with the Rockies this offseason but also, it won’t be surprising if he leaves the Rockies too. It will all depend on whether or not the Rockies have the best offer and/or if Gray is willing to accept a “hometown discount” from the Rockies.