It was a trying first season under the Jeff Bridich regime, to say the least. The team plodded its way to yet another 90+ loss season, the face of the franchise was traded to a different country (although is Canada REALLY all that different from the USA?), and some fans’ apathy reached new heights. All-in-all, with the exception of the first two weeks of April, 2015 was difficult to watch.
But that’s not a reason to put Bridich on the hot seat.
It’s been one year. Just one! It’s extremely rare to see a general manager fired after just one season. That holds true in any sport (maybe with the exception of the weird structure that is European soccer). It takes more than just one year to transform a perennially losing baseball team into a winner.
This isn’t football where drafting a top-tier quarterback can immediately change the trajectory of a franchise. This isn’t basketball where signing a grade-A free agent can transform a bottom-feeder to NBA Finals contenders right away. This is baseball, a sport where getting drafted doesn’t guarantee MLB playing time. Baseball is a sport where it takes years for even the best prospects to make their debut in The Show.
So if it takes that long for a team’s most talented players to make an impact on a franchise, why should a GM be held to a different standard? The simple answer is that he shouldn’t. He should be given a chance to build a team around a new philosophy through a combination of a draft-and-develop philosophy and a good mix free agency signings. This is a long-term process. One year is not nearly enough time to judge the effectiveness of a GM.
Dan O’Dowd and Bill Geivett were criticized during much of their time in Denver because they were seen as sort of “Monfort ‘yes men'” while the prevailing feeling around the Rockies fan circles is that the Monforts don’t know baseball.
Now that Bridich has departed from what was traditionally seen as the Monfort brand of baseball (see: Tulowitzki, Troy), he is being criticized by fans for doing something different, something bold. As soon as the Tulo trade went down, there were more than a few fans on Twitter and Facebook calling for Bridich’s head, which didn’t make sense to a certain writer.
The variables for a social media overreaction were certainly present. The team traded away the face of the franchise, Nolan Arenado‘s best friend on the team, and probably the best player on the team. Denver was emotionally attached to Tulo. It made sense that there would be a kind of visceral reaction.
But to seeing it continue through August and September and into the offseason is confusing. It would be easy and probably justified to criticize Bridich for being so inactive through the waiver-trade deadline. It didn’t make sense why the Rockies would keep Jose Reyes. It didn’t immediately make sense why the team wasn’t actively shopping Carlos Gonzalez around in such a flush OF trade market.
There was a lot that didn’t make sense as the season wound to a close. But that is hardly a reason criticize a GM so heavily after his first season.
Let’s not forget the good that Bridich has already done for this franchise in less than a full calendar-year. He signed fan-favorite Nick Hundley, who had a surprisingly great season. He signed John Axford who, with the exception of an AWFUL couple of weeks was a very productive member of a very bad bullpen. He called up Ben Paulsen and helped facilitate what really amounted to a very good season for a young player. He acquired Chris Rusin, who had a good season by Rockies pitching standards.
Further, Bridich was the catalyst behind one of the best 2015 drafts. He drafted the top high school position player in Brendan Rodgers and a very highly touted pitching prospect in Mike Nikorak on top of other great players like Tyler Nevin (3B), Peter Lambert (RHP), and David Hill (RHP). For a team that seems to be making draft-and-develop one of its main strategies for success, this was a great step in the right direction for Bridich.
Bridich did indeed miss on a few of his moves. The most notable among these misses was Kyle Kendrick who compiled a 7-13 record with a 6.32 ERA and 1.525 WHIP in just 142.1 IP. Beyond the failure that was Kendrick, it could be argued that Bridich mishandled the Wilin Rosario situation by keeping him in AAA and not maximizing his value by trading him to an AL team in need of a DH. It also could be argued that Bridich didn’t handle the Eddie Butler conundrum very well. And yes, it is perfectly fair to be at least a bit skeptical about the decision to keep Walt Weiss for 2016.
Was it fair to be frustrated by these failed moves? Absolutely. But is it fair to condemn the job Jeff Bridich has done after these moves? The simple answer is no, it’s not.
The two teams playing in this year’s World Series, the Royals and the Mets can give Rockies fans a glimpse into what might be the not-so-distant future of Rockies baseball.
The Royals are one of the best examples of a team that teetered between mediocre and terrible baseball on a yearly basis. This was a team that was the butt of almost every baseball-related joke. And then, in 2014, as if out of nowhere, the Royals made a run to the World Series.
But that run wasn’t out of nowhere. In fact, it made perfect sense. General manager Dayton Moore was clear from the moment that he took the helm of what might as well have been a talent-less franchise in 2006. Even the proverbial cupboards were bare. He had to build a mid-market team from the ground up. Through a savvy draft-and-develop mindset, Moore has built the Royals into a force to be reckoned with in the American League.
In the other dugout, the Mets have experienced more recent success than the Royals had leading up to last year, but like the Royals, the Mets have always seemed to be the butt of most baseball-related jokes. In 2010, when he was hired as the Mets GM, Sandy Alderson was tasked with not only reducing payroll as much as possible, but also with building a successful franchise.
The Mets’ struggles of the past four years have been well-documented and it is difficult to tune into any coverage of the World Series without hearing about it. But the Mets’ roster is loaded with talent right now. The entire starting rotation is made up of what would be #1 starters on almost any other team and the lineup is formidable. But how did Alderson do it? You guessed it: draft-and-develop…with a solid mix of minor league talent acquisitions mixed in (see Syndergaard, Noah; Wheeler, Zack; and d’Arnaud, Travis).
This is why fans should be patient and allow Jeff Bridich’s plan to take shape. It takes time to build a contending team for a franchise that has been mired in mediocrity for so long. Now, to be clear, it would be unreasonable to say fans need to be patient until the plan works. Sometimes, for whatever reason, plans fail. And that is certainly a possibility for the Rockies. But should we call for the end to a plan without even giving it a chance to succeed?
Give Bridich another couple of years. Let some of the talent that he has acquired through the draft and strategic trades make it to “The Show.” Give the plan a chance to succeed.
So fans, I ask, nay…I implore you: Keep calm and let Jeff Bridich do his job.
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