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When Bud Black was fired as manager of the Colorado Rockies on Sunday, the last limb of the acclaimed Mike Scioscia coaching tree was snapped off and stacked on the mulch pile.
Joe Maddon remains out of work after being fired by the Angels in 2022. Scott Servais was canned by the Seattle Mariners last year. Ron Roenicke hasn’t managed since 2020.
Black, who managed the San Diego Padres for eight-plus seasons before lasting another eight-plus seasons with the mostly hapless Rockies, boasts his own coaching tree. And one particular branch has become strapping and sturdy: Dave Roberts.
Black mentored the Dodgers manager from 2011-2015 as a Padres coach, and they remain close friends.
But the winds of change in Colorado caused this particular branch in Blue to rattle and sway.
“I’m bummed. I’m disappointed. I don’t think Casey Stengel could change the outcome of that ballclub,’’ a perturbed Roberts told reporters Sunday. “That’s not the manager’s fault. Obviously, they felt they needed a change in voice or direction, but for me, there’s not many people that are better than Buddy Black. It’s very disappointing. It’s certainly not his doing.’’
Dave Roberts has evolved into a superstar for the Dodgers, becoming the this generation’s Tommy Lasorda for the World Series-winning franchise.
The Rockies sent Black out a winner, defeating the Padres 9-3 on Sunday, but remain historically bad, posting a 7-33 record that includes three eight-game losing streaks and projects to a finish of 29-133 that would be the worst by any team since 1899. Only four other teams lost 33 of their first 40 games: the 1904 Washington Senators, 1928 Philadelphia Phillies, 1932 Boston Red Sox and 1988 Baltimore Orioles.
Roberts disparaging the Rockies was a bit surprising because it was akin to someone telling Mother Teresa to take a hike. A visit from Colorado cures ills. Struggling pitchers are revived. Slumps stop. But Roberts’ mentor and friend had devolved over two decades from Angels’ World Series champion pitching coach to Dodgers punching bag.
Case in point: The Dodgers hosted the Rockies for a three-game series in mid-April after they’d lost six of the previous nine games, including an embarrassing 16-0 defeat to the Chicago Cubs two days before Black and Co. arrived. Et voila! The Dodgers won all three, jump-starting a 16-8 stretch that continues with a homestand beginning Tuesday.
They don’t play Colorado again until June 24, when presumably Warren Schaeffer — the Rockies’ third-base coach until today — will remain interim manager. It is doubtful that his purple-clad charges will be much better than they were under Black.
Black, 67, led the Rockies to playoff berths in 2017 and 2018, but they haven’t had a winning season since and are well on their way to a third consecutive 100-loss season. They are already 19.5 games behind the first-place Dodgers in the NL West, and their minus-128 run differential is nearly double that of the next closest team. They are batting a dismal .219, and the ERA of the starting rotation is an MLB-worst 5.77.
“Our play so far this season, especially coming off the last two seasons, has been unacceptable. Our fans deserve better, and we are capable of better,” Rockies owner Dick Monfort said Sunday in a statement.
Tony Gonsolin pitches five scoreless innings and Freddie Freeman has four hits as Dodgers end 10-game trip with win over Arizona.
Some of the underachieving Rockies players don’t blame Black, whose even-keel temperament, attention to detail and empathetic communication skills made him a respected leader. And everyone knows the first to go in troubled times is the manager.
“It’s tough, I don’t think it was Buddy’s fault, much,” Rockies infielder Ryan McMahon told the Denver Post. “We didn’t play to our capabilities, but this is the direction the organization decided to go, so we’ll roll with it. …
“Hey, it might be a kick in the ass. Like, heads up! We’re in a spot where we need to make some moves and start doing some stuff, or things like this are going to happen.”
Black had a strong track record when he took the Rockies reins in 2017. He was the Angels’ pitching coach when they won their only World Series in 2002 and made the postseason three times in his six years. He was the National League Manager of the Year in 2010 with the Padres. A left-handed pitcher for five teams in 15 years, posting a 3.84 earned-run average over more than 2,000 innings, he won a World Series with the Kansas City Royals in 1985.
Colorado made the postseason in Black’s first two years as manager, but did not come close to .500 since then. He approximated his mentor, Scioscia, in managerial longevity but not in accomplishments. Scioscia, the Angels manager for 19 seasons, stepped down in 2018 and hasn’t returned to a major league dugout, although he was head coach of the bronze-winning USA team in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
A look back at the life of legendary Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, who died on Jan. 7, 2021 at the age of 93.
Nobody can adequately explain why so few pitchers become managers, let alone successful ones, but Black lasted longer than just about any other. Dodgers legend Tommy Lasorda is easily the most decorated. California native Bob Lemon won a World Series with the Yankees.
Hall of Fame pitchers Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Ted Lyons were much less successful as managers than with a baseball in their hands. Roger Craig finished exactly one game over .500 in 10 managerial seasons and Clyde King five games over .500 in short stints with three teams. Marcel Lachemann, Ray Miller, Larry Rothschild, George Bamberger and a few others failed to win half their games.
Black’s tally stands at 649-713, a .477 winning percentage. He didn’t address the media on Sunday, but his players ducked into his office one by one to say goodbye. Left-handed starter Kyle Freeland was probably closest to Black; his rookie year in 2017 coincided with the manager’s arrival.
“I have a lot of different emotions right now,” Freeland said, referencing fired bench coach Mark Redmond along with Black. “I have been with Buddy and Red my entire career. Both are great guys, and they have been in my corner my entire career. I love both those guys.”
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