There has never been a team quite like the 2025 Colorado Rockies. They are fundamentally broken on every level.
The starting pitching has the highest ERA in the league by over a full point and the fewest strikeouts. The bullpen fares better, but was one of the more overworked units in baseball to start the season.
The Rockies offense has scored the fewest runs in the league and leads in strikeouts. Their staggering -185 run differential is worst in MLB to a degree that only the next two teams combined currently surpass it.
Their defense—generally a strength—is one of the worst in baseball. The Rockies defense leads the league in errors and has the worst fielding percentage, along with an abysmal -32 defensive runs saved. This is despite a pre-season proclamation that this defense had the potential to be one of the best in MLB history.
“The infield, quite honestly — and if you like defense, (and) I like defense — will be the best defense, maybe in the history of the game.”
With a record of 9-50, the 2025 Colorado Rockies are off to one of the worst starts in not just the modern era, but in the history of the league. They are at absolute rock bottom, yet the person who made that bold proclamation is nowhere to be found.
It’s not the first such proclamation Rockies principal owner and CEO Dick Monfort has made that has blown up spectacularly in his face over what will be seven straight losing seasons. From “interpolating” the numbers to predict 94 wins in 2020 to the shamefully low bar of playing .500 baseball in 2024, the Rockies owner has a history of putting his foot in his mouth as he defends the moribund Rockies.
Yet now he is silent, and nowhere to be found.
He no longer sits in his usual seats among fans at Coors Field. He hasn’t done an interview with the media since he told fans the 2025 Rockies would be “a fun team to watch” after an event in early February. Members of the media, such as the Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders, have been unable to speak with Monfort despite multiple requests.
He is entirely absent at a time when this team and the few remaining loyal fans deserve acknowledgement that this simply isn’t working.
Other owners have managed to speak publicly early in the season.
Pittsburgh Pirates owner Bob Nutting—long the target of public scorn in the Steel City—sat down for an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to discuss the state of the team. The Pirates are off to a 22-37 start despite a strong pitching staff and relieving their long-time manager Derek Shelton of his duties a few weeks ago.
“It was clear to everyone, it was clear to every fan, everyone watching our games, this first month of baseball has been incredibly frustrating, incredibly difficult, incredibly painful to watch,” Nutting said. “So it was completely clear to everyone that a change needed to be made.”
Boston Red Sox principal owner John Henry personally flew to Kansas City earlier this season to talk with disgruntled designated hitter Rafael Devers after the slugger gave public statements about the team making unreasonable requests of him.
“We felt like it was important, based on the situation that unfolded yesterday, to come out here and have an honest conversation about what we value as an organization and what we believe is important to the Boston Red Sox and that is being great teammates for each other,” said Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. “And so we think we had a productive conversation.”
Then there are the Rockies.
On May 10th, the Rockies fell to the San Diego Padres 21-0 in a complete game shutout, something that’s only been done seven other times in the history of the league, twice since 1901, and hasn’t happened since 1939. The blowout loss at home capped off the Rockies’ third losing streak of eight or more games this season when the they weren’t even 25% of the way to the finish line.
Yet Dick Monfort was silent, nowhere to be found.
General manager Bill Schmidt has offered his sympathies to the fans while offering the usual platitude that the Rockies simply “need to play better.”
“I feel for the fans, I feel for the people around here,” Schmidt told the Denver Post. “I know we are better than we have played, but we are not good right now. We have to battle through it and get to the other side.”
Schmidt also pointed towards injuries—of which there have admittedly been many—as one of the reasons the team had been struggling and then bizarrely offered his sympathies to Dick Monfort as well.
“It’s almost like a perfect storm,” he said. “But people don’t care (about that), we have to play better. I feel for ownership, I feel for the fans.”
As if Dick Monfort is not the reason the Rockies are in this situation to begin with, despite his protestations.
“My biggest problem is I hate losing, and it is hard to debate anybody when you are losing,” he told the Denver post before the 2024 season.
He may hate losing, but it cannot be denied that the 2025 Rockies are the culmination of Monfort doing all the wrong things, the result of insularity, stubbornness, failing to learn from the mistakes of the past, and a desire to be the only one to figure out winning baseball in the Mile High City. The meddling in baseball affairs without a properly defined head of baseball operations. The ill-advised mega-contracts to Ian Desmond, Kris Bryant, and the much maligned “super bullpen.” Running the team in an outdated way that makes Colorado an unappealing destination to players. Loyalty to “his” men to a fault, demonstrated most recently in bringing back beleaguered manager Bud Black despite having the perfect opportunity for a fresh clubhouse voice at the end of the 2024 season.
The day after the Padres blowout, and despite a full-throated defense from Schmidt, Bud Black was fired.
Again, Dick Monfort refused to address the press, instead releasing a statement via press release, It remains the only statement he has made this season.
Meanwhile, the Rockies continue making dubious history in the worst possible ways.
At 9-50 the Rockies are the first team in the history of the league to not have double-digit wins this far into the season. They have four eight-game losing streaks. They’ve lost a league-record 22 consecutive series dating back to last season, and have won back-to-back games only once this year.
The Rockies are on pace to finish the season 25-137 with a run differential below -500, both of which would shatter league records in futility.
Yet Dick Monfort is silent, and nowhere to be found.
There are many questions about the Rockies and their future, and the fans deserve answers. The time has long since come for Dick Monfort to answer them.
★ ★ ★
On the Farm
Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes 3, Sugar Land Space Cowboys 2
A strong 17-strikeout performance from the Isotopes pitching staff held the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Houston Astros) at bay as the Topes take away their first series win of the season. Andrew Quezada struck out 11 batters in five innings of work while giving up just two earned runs, and the bullpen kept them off the board the rest of the way. Jack O’Loughlin, Lucas Gilbreath, and Karl Kauffmann all struck out two batters during their outings. Outfielder Sean Bouchard sealed the Albuquerque victory with an eighth inning go-ahead home run.
Double-A: New Hampshire Fisher Cats 9, Hartford Yard Goats 4
Nine hits and 10 walks neutralized the 13 strikeouts by Yard Goats pitchers as they dropped the finale and the series to the Fisher Cats (Toronto Blue Jays). GJ Hill brought in two of the Yard Goats’ four runs with his third home run of the season in the second inning while catcher Bryant Betancourt hit his fourth with a solo shot in the 6th.
High-A: Everett Aqua Sox 13, Spokane Indians 4
The Indians were walloped by the Aqua Sox (Seattle Mariners) with 13 runs of offense spread across three innings. The Aqua Sox hit five home runs as part of their 14 hits against the Indians. Jared Thomas and Skyler Messinger both hit home runs of their own, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the onslaught by Everett.
Low-A: Fresno Grizzlies 2, Visalia Rawhide 0
Everett Catlett spun his best start of the season in seven innings of shutout work against the Rawhide (Arizona Diamondbacks). He struck out a career high seven batters while giving up just one walk and two hits. Fidel Ulloa worked a scoreless eighth inning with a strikeout, and Nathan Blasick earned his ninth save of the season with a quick 1-2-3 ninth inning. A sacrifice fly by Alan Espinal and an RBI double off the bat of Felix Tena were the difference makers for the Grizzlies offense in this shutout victory.
★ ★ ★
Rockies Journal: 20 questions for owner Dick Monfort | Denver Post ($)
The Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders made a list of questions for the elusive Dick Monfort should he ever grant an interview request. The final entry is particularly interesting:
“Players are held accountable all the time. They’re sent down to the minors, cut, traded and scrutinized, often in a very public way. Should ownership be held accountable in the same manner?”
Senzatela vows to regain form amid tough stretch | MLB.com
2025 has not been kind to longtime Rockies righty Antonio Senzatela. He had another tough outing against the New York Mets over the weekend. He currently has a 7.14 ERA and leads the league in hits allowed. However, Senzatela has asked for support and is trying to find his own rhythm just like the Rockies are.
“Stay there with us,” Senzatela said. “We need your support. We are trying to win the ballgame every day. Sometimes, we just don’t win. [Schaeffer] tries to put in everybody’s mind that we are a good team. We are going to win, and we are supposed to win.”
★ ★ ★
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