Fans of the Colorado Rockies have grown accustomed to the team operating in a certain way. Don’t confuse ‘accustomed’ with ‘pleased’ or even satisfied…more like they’re just used to things being done in a particular…and not in very often successful sort of way.
When it comes to roster moves, the Rockies ownership and by extension, the front office, have been slow to move players they themselves have grown accustomed to over the past decade. They’ve historically held on to players too long, rather than trade them when their value was highest. The latest example of that was former Rockie Ryan McMahon, whom the Rockies finally traded to the New York Yankees last summer. They had the opportunity to get more back in return had they made a similar trade involving moving the talented third baseman one or even two seasons earlier.
That’s been the “Rockies way.”
The Early Days of Dan O’Dowd Were Different
Back when former Rockies General Manager Dan O’Dowd was first put in charge at 20th and Blake, he went on a “trading spree” that included trading franchise icons Dante Bichette and Vinny Castilla. He lived up to the “Dealin’ Dan” moniker the media placed on him, but the trading slowed down as the Rockies farm system got better with draft picks like Troy Tulowitzki and Nolan Arenado.
Eventually, the trading all but dried up. By the time O’Dowd resigned after going 66-96 in a dismal 2014 season and Jeff Bridich became the GM, the Rockies had become stagnant in the trade market place. Bridich went in big on the free agent market, and those moves turned out to be flops. A couple of decent moves around the trade deadline happened during the playoff seasons of 2017 and 2018. But after Bridich was more or less forced to trade Arenado to St. Louis before the 2021 season, and Bill Schmidt replaced Bridich shortly after that, the “Rockie ways” had become a punchline. The organization became all about “Draft and develop” through the farm system.
Yes, that’s the same farm system that’s currently ranked among the worst in MLB. So there’s that.
A New Day with DePodesta and Company
After their historically terrible 2025 season, Rockies ownership finally made a big move. Walker Monfort was named Team President and he brought on board Paul DePodesta and several other front office types with impressive MLB resumes.
But fans were still wondering if a roster makeover would accompany the front office turnover.
It’s taken longer than expected, but Colorado has quietly turned over roughly half the roster that struggled so much last season. New to the organization are players like Jake McCarthy, Michael Lorenzen, Willi Castro and the latest add ons, infielder Edouard Julien and righthander Pierson Ohl from Minnesota in a recent trade. Julien is a player many believe still has great upside.
Is any of this starting to sound like it could be part of the script for “Moneyball II?”
After going through the historically bad 2025 season, almost anything will be considered an improvement for Rockies faithful. The rebuilding may have gotten off to a slow start, but at least it’s gotten started.
Colorado Rockies Fans Shocked by Multitude of Player Moves