After giving his future as manager of the Colorado
Rockies some thought over the past 48 hours, Jim Tracy decided to resign
from his post, the team announced on Sunday.
On Friday, Tracy had met with the team's new director of major league
operations, Bill Geivett, to discuss the vision each man had for the
direction of the club heading into 2013. After having those discussions,
it's
apparent Tracy agreed with the vast majority of Rockies fans who
view the situation as a sinking ship coming off their third consecutive
disappointing season and a franchise worst 64-98 record.
Despite that awful finish, Tracy ends his run in Colorado with a
respectable 294-308 record. Of course most of those victories were
attained in 2009 when he took over for fired manager Clint Hurdle on May
28. From that point on, Tracy helped lead Colorado to a remarkable
74-42 finish. That was good enough to clinch the wild card and earned
Tracy the National League Manager of the Year award, but in the grand
scheme of things the run may have proven to be a worst case scenario for
Colorado as it solidified Tracy's status and the status of a front
office that may have been on the way out.
Over the next three seasons Colorado would take significant steps
backwards, going from 92 wins to 83, 73 and 64 respectively. The final
two seasons were marred to some extent by injuries and unusual
circumstances. For example, in 2012 the Rockies lost Troy Tulowitzki,
Todd Helton and Michael Cuddyer for extended stretches, and they also
had an entirely new four-man rotation installed with a 75-pitch count in
June that Tracy didn't exactly endorse, but executed at the order of
then sole general manager Dan O'Dowd.
So yes, it would be entirely unfair to say Jim Tracy was the only or
even the biggest problem for Colorado. What they have experienced would
best be described as an organizational breakdown starting with their
ownership right on through their minor league development. But they were
also hampered by the same questionable decision-making Tracy made
during his stints with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates
that quickly wore out his welcome in those cities.
Now he's on the outside looking in with his third organization,
though this time he probably has a big smile on his face. He's off to a
much healthier lifestyle, while the man who takes his spot has the
unenviable task of turning around a franchise that doesn't even know
which direction its going in.
I would not expect any big names to be beating down the door for that opportunity.
