Will Rockies bring back O’Dowd in 2010?
| July 15, 2009 | 1:20 PM
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The days of Trader Dan — when Colorado Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd remade the roster every couple weeks or so — are long gone. For the past three or four seasons, the Rockies have adopted a cautious, wait-and-see approached for most of the dealings, relying on homegrown prospects and other teams’ rejects — Matt Herges in 2007, 4/7 of the Rockies’ current bullpen — for minor roster makeovers. His approach has been so conservative, that O’Dowd held on to a manager that most other organizations would have let go certainly after last season, if not several seasons before that.
So, with the Rockies sitting at 47-41 when the second half starts tomorrow, nine games behind in the National League West and two games back in the wild card, O’Dowd is looking pretty good, right? He made the one move he had to make — shoving manager and close friend Clint Hurdle aside — and it’s worked wonders. He made two trades in the offseason — Matt Holliday for Huston Street, Carlos Gonzalez and Greg Smith; Luis Vizcaino for Jason Marquis — that may turn out to be two of his best as GM. His contract is up at the end of the season, and to this point there has been no extension.
Jon Heyman at SI.com ranks O’Dowd No. 11 of his list of general managers under pressure in the second half of the season.
There were folks calling for his head early this year when the Rockies looked headed for a long season. But with O’Dowd’s contract expiring at year’s end, the Rockies rallied big-time. The turnaround with the change in manager from O’Dowd’s longtime ally Clint Hurdle to Jim Tracy has been stark (Colorado’s 29-13 behind Tracy, after starting the year at 18-28 with Hurdle).
The pros and cons for O’Dowd’s future involvement with the team:
Pros:
- The organization has been completely rebuilt. In 2007, it was among Baseball America’s elite, a ranking that has diminished only because of the Rockies’ success in graduating its better prospects to the major leagues. The Rockies’ opening day lineup in 2009 was 100 percent homegrown.
- Pitching in Coors Field is no longer a dangerous, life-threatening moment for a pitcher. Most of the credit goes to the humidor, and some of it goes to Bob Apodaca and Clint Hurdle among other coaches and managers who have helped pitchers adapt to the ballpark. But some credit, too, goes to O’Dowd for not turning over the pitching staff year after year and letting pitchers like Jason Jennings, Aaron Cook, Jeff Francis and Ubaldo Jimenez grow in the ballpark and reassure other pitchers that it’s not so bad after all.
- There is little drama around the Rockies. Maybe they’re too boring, but there’s something to be said for a clubhouse of players who more or less get along for an entire season.
Cons:
- He didn’t recognize what a difference the firing of Clint Hurdle would make to the team.
- While the organization is still relatively deep and produces a couple players each season worth at least a look in the majors, the Rockies have had trouble developing dominant pitchers. Many of their best young pitchers — such as Jimenez, Franklin Morales, Manny Corpas and potentially Esmil Rogers and Jhoulys Chacin — come from the Latin America program. The team, despite several opportunities to do so, has not drafted and developed a pitcher of the caliber of Tim Lincecum, who the Rockies passed over for Greg Reynolds. They’re best work through the draft has been Francis, who, while a steady winner for the team before his injury, lacks truly dominant stuff.
- The Rockies tend to hold on to many superfluous prospects until their trade value is diminished. There was never a place on the team for Ryan Shealy and Jeff Baker, and now the Rockies have five outfielders for three spots (not including Matt Murton, who was a solid backup with the team earlier this season). When players like Shealy and Baker are finally traded, it is usually for less than they could have brought at the height of their prospectdom.
Any others? This could go either way. On the one hand, the Rockies are competitive again and O’Dowd deserves much of the credit. On the other hand, maybe he has taken the organization as far as he can and it’s time for some new eyes in the front office assessing the roster after this season.
Journals, Sports, Steve Foster
