Rockies Mailbag: One baseball person’s plan to turn things around in Colorado

Denver Post sports writer Patrick Saunders with the latest installment of his Rockies Mailbag Pose a Rockies- or MLB-related question for the Rockies Mailbag Hi Patrick Longtime fan of the mailbag I have been boycotting this company since watching upper management squander DJ LeMahieu Troy Tulowitzki and Nolan Arenado and getting nothing back for any of them In my view it doesn t matter what hot young prospects we hit on ownership and our general manager don t know how to build a franchise in the the majority basic tactics Given that what hope is there that Dick Monfort sells the squad none or appoints a qualified outsider as head of baseball operations as opposed to organizational nepotism How bad would things have to get They can t get much worse Sam Denver Sam I ve had new conversations with several people who used to be with the organization and genuinely care about the Rockies They are discouraged and embarrassed about what s happening Knowing that Dick Monfort is not going to sell the organization and is also reluctant to make sweeping changes one savvy baseball person offered suggestions According to him the Rockies should Hire a strong independent baseball mind from outside the organization to do a thorough evaluation of the franchise Examine all departments including front office scouting manager performer expansion big-league coaching analytics and even ticket sales Evaluate the organization for the remainder of the season and then implement necessary changes Hire a new crew president to oversee baseball operations someone who has the power to take largest part baseball decisions out of Monfort s hands Perhaps the new president is the person hired to evaluate the organization or maybe it s someone else Hey Patrick I m a lifelong Rockies fan and in recent days as I think we all can agree it s been quite disheartening I love our players our ballpark and childhood memories with my family at th and Blake Now I proudly represent Colorado in New York City amongst a sea of Yankees and Mets fans However lately I ve been asking myself Who am I rooting for It s feeling like I am rooting for an organization that doesn t care about me as a fan at all Which leads me to my ultimate question What can we as fans do I ve heard whispers about boycotting games I ve refrained from buying a sleek new City Connect jersey until I feel the company is headed in a better direction in order to vote with my dollar but even that all feels pointless The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different impact Somebody has to change something Could the fans be the ones to inspire a more competitive way of life Can we demand that ownership increase the analytics department Thanks for your time Erik New York City Erik I don t usually respond to such lengthy opinions questions However you effectively summarize the feelings of a multitude of fans who have reached out to me I don t have any real answers to your questions I am not an advocate of boycotting the crew because it would hurt the workers at Coors Field as well as the businesses around the ballpark Also it s not my place to tell fans how to spend their money but I utterly understand why a few fans have given up on a crew on its way to a seventh consecutive losing season and started this season - through Monday night Should the Rockies increase the size of their analytics department Yes However I m unsure how anyone can demand it Related Articles Rockies nightmare start worst ever among National League teams in modern era keeps spiraling Rockies get first-inning three-run homer by Hunter Goodman then do nothing more in seventh straight loss Rockies Ryan McMahon mired in deep slump gets rare a day off Rockies offense woeful again in - loss to Reds at Coors Field Top moments in Coors Field history as LoDo ballpark turns Zac Veen is now performing worse statistically speaking than Jordan Beck the man who was sent down to create room for Veen Should we expect the two of them to change places again Question two Do you have any good news to share about Thairo Estrada s status John Godfrey Sebastopol Calif John your question was submitted before the Rockies recalled Beck and sent Veen back down to Triple-A Albuquerque It was clear that Veen was not ready to face major league pitching The Rockies knew that but when Beck struggled so mightily to begin the season the club figured promoting Veen was worth a shot Let him test the waters But Veen was consistently getting beaten by fastballs up in the zone In games he hit with one home run and two RBIs He struck out times in plate appearances He was also unsteady in the outfield The demotion to Triple-A was needed Beck seemed to have unveiled his swing during his short stint with the Isotopes When he returned he was timing up fastballs much better and put together a nice hot streak getting a hit in six of eight games batting for with one triple five home runs and nine RBIs At this point Beck is a better overall member than Veen As for Estrada he was just now placed on the -day injured list but he s making steady progress as he recovers from his fractured wrist I don t have an exact timetable for his return but it will be in May Like a large number of I have been shocked at the inability of plenty of Rockies players to make contact with fastballs in the strike zone that are catching a good chunk of the plate We know they can t acquire good hitters Kris Bryant Daniel Murphy Ian Desmond but do you have any sense on if the failure of young Rockies hitters is more from a scouting drafting side or does it have more to do with a failure to coach and develop players along the way Or will we forget this question when Zac Veen Jordan Beck and Michael Toglia are All-Stars Isaac Bowen Fort Collins Isaac the Rockies inability to hit fastballs and put the ball in play is maddening to you me manager Bud Black the front office etc The Rockies strikeout rate is the highest in baseball In comparison the Padres strikeout rate is and the Dodgers is Plus the Dodgers have hit home runs vs by the Rockies It s a massive predicament without a simple cure Perhaps Clint Hurdle the new interim hitting coach can make a difference but he won t turn things around in a minimal months In my opinion the Rockies have done a poor job of drafting players who profile well at Coors Field Or if they did pick the right players those players haven t developed as the company hoped at the major league level However make no mistake the players themselves must also be held accountable There is a stubbornness or only an inability among various players to make the necessary adjustments Michael Toglia and Ryan McMahon come to mind Brenton Doyle is an exception After a tough season average home runs K rate he made substantial adjustments in his swing and improved dramatically in Is Scott Servais a candidate to replace Bud Black Garland McGarvey Coon Valley Wis I have not heard that Nor have I heard that Black will be fired though it wouldn t shock me or anybody if he is I have no idea if Servais would be a good fit for the rebuilding Rockies I would think that if the Rockies are going to make crucial changes both general manager Bill Schmidt and Black would be fired a new GM would be hired and he would play a major role in hiring the next manager That would be the logical way to do it if the Rockies clean house By the way Servais was in his ninth season with Seattle when he was fired by the Mariners last August He was the majors second-longest-tenured manager with the same company along with the Dodgers Dave Roberts and behind only the Rays Kevin Cash Servais was - with the Mariners What is going on with Michael Toglia The strikeouts are high of syllabus However it looks worse with the at-bats he s giving Is he being too stubborn to make adjustments to increase his contact rate Lastly if improvements do not materialize is there any chance the Rockies could move on from him next season Jason Visalia Calif Jason great question I ve been hard on Toglia because he has so much likely The Rockies believe that too The fact that he s a terrific first baseman and a switch-hitter makes him a tantalizing talent who has a lot left to prove Toglia has hit much better lately Over his last games entering Tuesday night he was slashing with one home run and six RBIs His strikeout rate was However for the season Togila is slashing with two home runs RBIs and a strikeout rate of Toglia has a long swing and long levers so he is strikeout-prone I do believe he s stubborn especially when it comes to shortening his swing and altering his two-strike approach With the hiring of Clint Hurdle is it doable he s being put in the position to take over as manager perhaps as an interim bridge to a new manager or a more permanent one Colin Orr Castaic Calif Colin there was a lot of speculation about that when Hurdle was hired as the interim hitting coach replacing Hensley Bam Bam Meulens It s viable that Hurdle could step in as manager if Bud Black is fired but I don t believe that s the reason Hurdle was hired I also don t think Hurdle wants to be the manager of the future nor do I think he should be If Black does get fired the Rockies need to hire someone from outside the organization What letter grade do you give the Rockies for their effort and record after one month of the season Better yet why that grade Ed Helinski Auburn N Y Ed the effort is a solid B The players are trying hard but the group lacks talent and experience The results are a solid F There is no other grade you can give a association that opened the season - joining the Tigers Orioles and St Louis Browns as the only teams since to lose at least of their first games After years assuming the Monforts keep control of the group what year would you honestly predict that they will first win the division What odds would make you want to bet that they will EVER win the division under current ownership WGLarry Denver WG or is it Larry Anyway that s a loaded question I have no crystal ball so let me put it this way The Rockies best shot to win a division title would come sometime in the s when or if Major League Baseball expands to teams and realigns the divisions If the Rockies were no longer in the NL West with the Dodgers perhaps they could win their first division title Is it tough to analysis on a club that is this bad year in and year out Rece Lampe Fort Collins Rece the answer is yes for several reasons First of all when a squad is as bad as the Rockies have been interest and readership goes down Secondly most of players who are already guarded when talking to the media become even more guarded Plus it s challenging to find players to talk to in a losing clubhouse Third it s not nearly as much fun to write about a losing organization Ultimately covering baseball is a grind regardless of a organization s performance Having explained all of that I have to remind myself that I have a pretty cool job I was reminded of that on Monday night when I took a group of University of Colorado students to the tournament at Coors Field I teach a sports journalism class at CU Witnessing their level of excitement reminded me that I have a cool job But it would undoubtedly be more fun covering a -win group versus a -loss crew Want more Rockies news Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis