After numerous blunders, Jeff Bridich owes Rockies fans an apology
Sep 3, 2020, 5:43 AM
Colorado was off to a hot start this season with an 11-3 record and people were saying that Rockies fans needed to apologize to Jeff Bridich. But now, they sit at 18-19. So how did this happen?
Well, the team that Bridich assembled has shown that it’s the team he’s assembled! The offense is nearly nowhere to be found and is struggling to hit at Coors Field. Yup, read that again. The bats even aren’t working at Coors Field. That’s an issue.
We also can’t forget about the Rockies’ pitching. Colorado’s ERA is now 29th in baseball and the worst in the National League. Again unacceptable. Don’t forget about the bullpen blowing lead after lead late in these close ball games of recent.
This is what happens when Bridich doesn’t go out and spend any cash in free agency. And quite frankly it’s been mistake after mistake for the Harvard graduate.
Let’s go back to 2014. That’s when Bridich began having problems with Troy Tulowitzki. The Rockies shortstop signed a long-term deal a few years earlier, but once he realized that this franchise was showing that they weren’t willing to win, he asked for the trade.
Tulo wanted the trade because Bridich and company refused to help the franchise out in their winning ways. Bridich then traded Tulo to Toronto for pitchers that never panned out, as well as Jose Reyes, who never wanted to play for Colorado. The best pitcher in that trade was Jeff Hoffman, who struggles to stay on the Rockies’ roster year after year.
How could someone trade the best shortstop in baseball and get nothing in return?
Not to mention that Bridich has begun having issues with Nolan Arenado! How insane does a general manager have to be to go ahead and sign a player to an eight-year contract extension worth more than $250 million and still cause issues with him?
Well once again, Arenado is beginning to feel like Tulowitzki. He wants to win, but is realizing that the Rockies won’t get the right pieces to build around him.
We could give Bridich a participation ribbon for going out in one offseason and signing an aging Wade Davis and making him the highest-paid closer in MLB history. Since then, Davis has posted an ERA of 6.18 in the purple pinstripes. That’s a solid pickup, right? But wait, it gets better.
Bridich went out and signed Bryan Shaw. Teams weren’t interested in Shaw other than the Rockies. So Bridich went ahead and signed him to a $27 million deal. Shaw is no longer with Colorado after posting an ERA of 5.61 in his two years with the club. He was then signed by Seattle and then released after just six games with them this season.
We can’t forget about re-signing Jake McGee. After struggling in 2016-17, Bridich thought it was a great idea keep McGee around, who then went ahead and held an ERA of 6.49 in 2018 and 4.35 in 2019. McGee no longer plays for the Rockies.
The offseason moves have been horrific for Bridich, including not re-signing D.J. LeMehieu.
The Gold Glove-winning second baseman and NL batting champion wasn’t offered a contract from the Rockies. Why in the world would Bridich not even say a word to D.J. in free agency? It haunts the Rockies to this day because they have yet to find a successful second baseman. Don’t worry, though, Bridich gave that money to Daniel Murphy.
The same contract D.J. LeMehieu signed for with the Yankees turned out to be the same as what the Rockies gave Daniel Murphy.
Murphy was moved to first base, but that hasn’t been pretty. Murphy might be the worst-fielding first baseman in the history of baseball. It’s that bad. His bat has been fine, but nowhere near as good as LeMehieu’s. D.J. was an actual MVP candidate for the Yankees last season. Good thing the Rockies gave him up.
Another reason why the Rockies gave up the best second baseman in baseball was also because their hopeful superstar draft pick Brendan Rodgers was coming up. Well, Rodgers has been nowhere near as good as he was projected to be. Yes he has a small sample size, but he’s only hitting .196. That’s not acceptable, especially consider the fact that half of his games come at Coors Field.
The Rockies have made the postseason twice under Bridich, but he could have made better decisions that would have kept the franchise in the playoffs year after year. In a year where the Rockies had a legit chance for the playoffs, the graduate from Harvard refused to take this franchise to the next level by not spending money on the offseason or even making trades.
If the Rockies want to get to the promised land, they need to find a real baseball general manager that knows the game. But what do I know, Bridich did say that media people don’t know how to run a team. Maybe Bridich would be good in the media.
