Rockies: Bill Schmidt, Bud Black on trade deadline, playoff chances

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MILWAUKEE – On Sunday afternoon, the Colorado Rockies and Milwaukee Brewers played a barnburner of a game. The Rockies lost 10-9 in a game that, despite only going nine innings, was four hours and 17 minutes. The loss and the club’s two previous losses in Milwaukee were very big because it made reaching .500 before the August 2 trade deadline impossible.

Entering Monday’s series finale with the Brewers, the Rockies were 43-53 with nine games to play before August 2. They also enter the week 7.5 games back of the third and final National League Wild Card spot.

Most people would think that they would be sellers at the trade deadline. In reality, they might sell … some players … if they play poorly for the next eight games. But, despite their record, they might still be buyers at the trade deadline.

Bill Schmidt, Bud Black on the Rockies at the trade deadline

One of many things we asked Colorado Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt in a conversation on Monday at American Family Field in Milwaukee is “why do you think this current group of guys without any additions could make the playoffs?”

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – JULY 25: Yonathan Daza #2 of the Colorado Rockies hits a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field on July 25, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images) /

Colorado Rockies GM Bill Schmidt revealed that they could “make additions” to the team before the trade deadline. “That’s not to say we won’t make additions,” Schmidt told Rox Pile in an exclusive conversation. “Depends how we play here (in the next week).”

“We’ve been playing better this month,” Schmidt said. “The last (few) games, we’ll probably look back and say we should have won but you look back at how we’ve played the last few months, how we’ve played the last few weeks and we’ve played competitive games against good teams. Look at how we’ve played in our division. We’ve got a lot of games left to play in our division and we’re over .500 (21-18 on the season thus far) in our division.”

He also said that it’s a big thing when the players truly believe that they can be in the playoff hunt as well.

“It’s one thing when outside people don’t believe (the team can be a playoff team) and another if the players don’t believe it,” Schmidt said. “They go out there every night trying to win games. Any time you have a team that believes that they have a chance, that’s all you can ask. The players believe that they are a better club than what we’ve played.”

Rockies outfielder Yonathan Daza was one of many players that have said that they believe that they can get back into the playoff race.

“We’ve got a pretty good team,” Daza told Rox Pile this weekend. “Everybody knows that in the league. I think the winning is going to come really soon. I feel like my teammates are doing the best we can. We’re almost there.”

DENVER, COLORADO – JULY 13: Manager Bud Black #10 of the Colorado Rockies walks back to the dugout after changing pitchers against the San Diego Padres in the fifth inning at Coors Field on July 13, 2022 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /

As for what the additions could be, Bill Schmidt said “you always need pitching” but they “need some more offense too.” ‘We’re not a perfect club,” Schmidt said. “I said that in Spring Training but first and foremost would be on the mound.”

But they could look to sell some pieces too.

“We’ve got guys that will be free agents,” Schmidt said. “There’s been (some teams) that have expressed some interest in some of our guys so we’ll see what happens. We’re still going to try to win as many games as possible, though.”

Manager Bud Black thinks that they need to improve across the board but there is a big key to the team’s success.

“The goal is to improve in all areas but if we pitch at a high rate, that gives us a better chance at chipping away at being 10 games under .500,” Black told Rox Pile on Monday. “And that means, like, everybody pitches has to pitch well. Everybody. 13 guys. We can’t have a slip-up of one guy. We saw that last night. We saw that a couple nights ago. To win games, we need a good start and a good bullpen to finish it off. It’s hard to bounce back and win games late, statistically. “Offensively, we have to apply enough pressure every night that we don’t make it easy on the opposition either, and not make it hard on our pitching so that’s got to be there too. Teams that win consistently combine good pitching with enough offense consistently and good defense. I’m alright with the overall team defense the last six weeks (or so), which is a good thing. I’d like to think that we can chip away at this 10 games under .500 deficit that we’re in. We were hoping that these first three games would go a little differently. They haven’t … There’s a week left here in July, there’s two months of baseball and a little bit in October. We’ve got to play really well. There’s no doubt about that. There’s a lot of teams ahead of us. We’re (7.5) games back from the last playoff spot so we have to pass a number of teams. We need to do that by winning series, putting together four or five-game winning streaks, combine that with another four or five (game winning streak), win 15 out of 20, win 22 out of 30, those types of runs. But it starts with pitching.”

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – JULY 25: Kyle Freeland #21 of the Colorado Rockies throws a pitch in the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field on July 25, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images) /

For fans that have been discouraged by the team thus far, Bud Black thinks that there are a lot of players that he thinks have stepped up or will step up in the near future.

“I’d like to think that Kyle Freeland, Germán Márquez, (Antonio) Senzatela, (Chad) Kuhl, (José) Ureña, (Austin) Gomber, whoever starts, will set the tone every night,” Black said. “I think Bard and Colomé have been really consistent all year long. The first part of the game and the last part of the game, I think, are in order. Now, the middle innings we have to shore up. From a fan perspective, if you believe in the starters and you believe in the last two guys in the ‘pen and we can work the bullpen in the middle and score enough runs with (C.J.) Cron, (Kris) Bryant, (Brendan) Rodgers, (Elias) Díaz I think is on his way to a bigger second half like last year. (Ryan) McMahon, I think, is a key part of this too. His expected numbers, for me, should improve in the second half. That’s what fans should believe in.”

While they know that it will be a very difficult task to overcome, they believe their potential and some potential additions could put them over the top for the playoffs.

“We haven’t played well or to our potential,” Schmidt said. “The last few weeks, we’ve played better baseball. We didn’t play well for the most part in May, for the most part in June, but for the last month, we’ve played better. We got Kris Bryant back too. We’ve got a chance.”

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - JULY 23: Kris Bryant #23 of the Colorado Rockies up to bat during the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field on July 23, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)

The other career Kris Bryant considered besides baseball

Had things not worked out for Kris Bryant in baseball, perhaps the new member of the Colorado Rockies would have become a dentist.

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Colorado Rockies: Bill Schmidt, Bud Black on upcoming trade deadline, playoff chances

Bill Schmidt, Bud Black on the Rockies at the trade deadline

The other career Kris Bryant considered besides baseball

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