The Colorado Rockies continue to make front office blunders

Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post was the first to report on Wednesday that the Colorado Rockies have fired their new head of analytics, Scott Van Lenten, due to “major disagreements” between him and the club.

In the interim, Rockies assistant general manager Zack Rosenthal will oversee the Rockies research and development department that Van Lenten was doing, according to Thomas Harding of MLB.com.

Van Lenten was brought in from the Washington Nationals just a few months ago to revamp their research and development staff, a staff that was virtually barren in 2021 and is still small in comparison to other MLB teams today.

So what major disagreements did the Rockies and Van Lenten have that caused his firing?

The Colorado Rockies continue to make questionable front office moves

For the record, the Colorado Rockies would not comment on the “major disagreements” between them and Scott Van Lenten so we can only speculate based on what we currently know about the situation and past experiences.

Scott Van Lenten was brought in to change the Rockies. The Rockies have always been a team that has been behind the curve in the analytics department. Considering the challenges of pitching and hitting at elevation, the Rockies really need to be the team at the forefront of analytics because they have more inherent challenges than any other team.

They haven’t and that has been a huge factor in why a) they have failed to play with really any consistency throughout their franchise history and b) why the team is as dismal as they are on paper right now.

Seemingly, Van Lenten was fired for trying to do his job: change the Rockies for the better. But, as Rockies fans know, finding a solution to the problem is a fool’s errand.

The Rockies are owned by Dick Monfort, someone who is known to surround himself with people that are loyal to him.

Some of them are good baseball people and good baseball minds but some of them are there just because of their last name: Monfort. Some are also there just because they will say “yes” and not question anything.

The problem is that the best products and ideas don’t come to fruition like that. They come through disagreement, discussions, a willingness to adapt and change, and self-reflection.

In the Rockies front office, all of those things seem to be lacking right now and until things change, it will be the same old same old for the Rockies. And that’s why they will continue to be third or fourth in the hearts and minds of Denver sports fans.

It’s been a great week for Denver sports fans with the Broncos acquiring Russell Wilson and the Avalanche and Nuggets playing well but not to worry, the Rockies will be the team that is there to let fans down.