Report: Colorado Rockies working on extension for Bud Black
Mar 17, 2024, 5:39 PM
The Colorado Rockies are looking to keep manager Bud Black in his role for the foreseeable future. Dick Monfort is working on an extension for his longtime skipper, according to MLB.com.
The two sides are “talking,” per the report but neither commented on the specifics. Black is entering the final season of his current contract and it seems as though there’s some movement toward getting this deal done before Opening Day later this month.
Black, 66, is entering his eighth season at the helm in Colorado where he has led the Rockies to a 476-556 record. Initially hired in 2017 as a well-respected voice to help push the Rockies into the playoffs, Black did just that leading Denver Nine to two postseason appearances in his first two years. But the Rockies only won a single game outside of the regular 162 and a collapse soon followed. The Rockies bottomed out last year with a franchise-worst 59-103 record, a season many experts are projecting may repeat itself in 2024.
Still, Black is not looked at as an issue in Denver. The talented group Black inherited was slowly gutted highlighted by the trade that sent Nolan Arenado to St. Louis. Injuries and letting the wrong pitchers walk have diminished a once-strong pitching staff to one of the worst in the National League. Last season the Rockies finally moved a bunch of veterans so that Black would play a crop of young players who have been interesting but not necessarily amazing. Without a highly-ranked farm system and not many pitching prospects on the horizon, the direction of the Rockies as a whole has been puzzling.
Black found himself in a similar situation when he was fired by his hometown Padres 65 games into the 2015 season, his ninth in San Deigo where he never managed a playoff game. Black is a former World Series champion pitcher with the Royals, who is regarded as one of the best pitching coaches in MLB, winning another championship filling that role with the Angeles.
Black’s first deal was for three seasons with a mutual option for 2020 that was scrapped in favor of another three-year deal. The Rockies signed Black to additional extensions in 2022 and 2023, taking him up to this year’s contract
