The four-year tenure of Walt Weiss as the Colorado Rockies has come to an end. There’s no doubt about that.
That it was going to come to an end was also “inevitable,” Denver Post Rockies beat writer Patrick Saunders told 104.3 The Fan’s Sandy Clough Monday.
In a tweet, and later a press release, Monday, the Rockies indicated that Weiss decided to “step down” as manager following the conclusion of his three-year contract at the end of the 2016 season.
But whether it was Weiss choosing to step away from the club or the front office not renewing his contract, either way the former Rockies shortstop would no longer be the man on the top step of the Coors Field dugout come next season.
“Walt wasn’t going to come back regardless of who actually made the ultimate or the final public decision,” Saunders said. “The rift was too great.”
Saunders said Weiss had seen the writing on the wall and knew it was a situation he could no longer take part in. And instead of going through the motions of an offseason meeting, Weiss decided to end the relationship.
“There was a gulf. There was a disconnect between the front office, particularly Jeff Bridich, and Walt,” Saunders said. “That wasn’t going to be bridged, so essentially — there was no meeting or anything — Walt just ultimately decided this was not going to work. And he informed the Rockies of that, so I guess that’s why they chose to words ‘stepped down.’”
A Rockies manager stepping away on his own terms isn’t an unprecedented situation for the club. In 2012, with $1.4 million and one year left on his contract, manager Jim Tracy walked away from Rockies.
“Jim Tracy still had one year on his contract, $1.4 million, and he walked away and left it on the table because his disagreements in philosophy. And what he saw his role as a manager and what the front office at that time saw as his role were just too different,” Saunders said.
“And Jim, a very honorable man and to his credit, he said this is not the job that I want, this is not the job that I signed up for, I cannot do my job the way that I want to in this situation, and he walked away from $1.4 million.”
Tracy left as the franchise’s top manager in terms of winning percentage (.488) with a record of 294-308.
In contract, Weiss leaves the team with the lowest winning percentage (.437) in Rockies history for a manager with a 283-365 record.
But Saunders said that while Weiss deserved his fair share of the blame for the team’s poor performance during the last four seasons, which included the two worst seasons in franchise history (64-98 in 2012 and 66-96 in 2014) not all of the issues lead back to the manager.
“Walt told me this, at the end of the 2012 — the 98-loss season — the clubhouse, everything about the Rockies, was dysfunctional,” Saunders said. “… So I think, for Walt to turn that around, I think he gets some pretty high marks.”
Saunders also pointed to the bullpen issues the Rockies had this season, and which he said was not on Weiss in his view.
“That’s on Jeff Bridich because he’s the one who stocked the bullpen, particularly some of his offseason acquisitions, and they were busts,” Saunders said. “So I understand why some people get frustrated with Walt, but at the same time it all can’t be put on his doorstep.”
The Rockies had a league-worst 5.13 bullpen ERA, the highest Colorado’s finished a season since the 2004 season (5.53).
Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @johnnyhart7.
Comments
0 Comments