Aaaaaaand He’s Gone.

It wasn’t just the local media picking up the story: http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/mlb/Y_Sports_MLB/13674770 (though these guys weren’t demanding Hurdle be fired). They make a good point that Hurdle was the first manager in MLB history to have a losing record their first five seasons and NOT be fired for it. Really makes me think that he had his chances, way more than most people would have been given, and this was long overdue.

While I agree with your comments from last episode that he seems to make good decisions in the course of games, we can all agree that this team is too talented to have the record they have, to be playing the way they are. Sure, a lot of it comes down to the Monforts not splashing out a bit more cash, I think particularly on pitching, but at the end of the day a manager’s job is to do well with the resources he has, and apart from that blessed month and a half in September and October of 2007 when there were actually other people in the stands of Coors Field with me, Clint (as much as I like him), hasn’t done a lot with what he was given.

Besides, take a look at the 2008 Rays. They had a payroll of $44,000,000, $24,500,000 less than the Rockies, and they do made it to the World Series (and won a game, too!). They did so not by having one extraordinary month where they needed to be perfect, but by surprising everyone and sustaining good baseball for the course of the season, winning the division in convincing fashion. If Joe Maddon could do it, why can’t Clint Hurdle?

I’m not saying I expect the Rockies to make it to the World Series every year, I’ve been to enough games (at least one a year every year since ‘93! Yay!) to know that we’re not that kind of organization. But we all know that the talent is there, so I think we can use the 2008 Rays as a template and say that a successful manager of a low-budget team does two things: actually gets his young talent to perform to the level they’re capable of, and gets the team to collectively sport some awesome hairstyles.

At the end of the day, though, Clint Hurdle was an entertaining guy, and I too am sad to see him go, at least on a personal level. On a less-personal level, though, I think this was the right move. He hasn’t really done much, and we all knew this was going to happen eventually, so why not rip the band-aid off now and start moving forward? I think it’s healthier for a a team to get out there and play the games when they’re not under a cloud of knowing the manager might go any minute, especially as I think that that knowledge might start making a manager pull some desperate moves in games to show he’s trying, and that’s just not good. At least this way there’s some hope, and that’s a really nice feeling (we’ll see how long it lasts). I’m flying back home to CO in July, and will get to see a week’s worth of games, so I’ll be paying close attention to see what whoever is managing at that point does during games. Should be quite interesting.

Now, a question: is it cynical of me to think that Hurdle got fired now, halfway through the year, because even though his contract was up at the end of the year, so was Dan O’Dowd’s, and O’Dowd is hoping that things perk up and therefore the Monforts don’t hold HIM responsible, too? Also, do we think O’Dowd will be around next year? Do we think he SHOULD be? I’ll give you guys time to ponder that one.

Until then, here’s hoping it’s a rejuvenated, stronger, winning team playing to the level they’re capable of that greets me in July. I hope it works out best for the Rockies, and I hope things work out for Clint Hurdle and his family. All the best to them.

P.S. Yes, it’s entirely unfair to place all of the blame on Hurdle, but he’s the manager. He signed up for this gig knowing that if things went wrong, he was probably going to be the first to go. All managers know that. It’s the nature of sports. And until we can replace Dan O’Dowd and the Monforts (oh, PLEASE can we replace the Monforts!?), getting rid of Hurdle is the best step toward changing things.

Sad to see him go, but I guess it’s good to see that maybe the higher-ups in the Rockies organization don’t find it acceptable to be trending towards two consecutive losing seasons after getting to the Series. They had O’dowd on KOA this afternoon and he had a couple interesting points: first he acknowledged that while historically firing a manager may lead to a short outburst of wins it doesn’t usually translate to a season turn-around. Second, he emphasized that the 2009 Rockies just don’t have an identity as baseball team. I think it’s a great point, you can’t really say at all what kind of game the Rockies play, is it small ball, is it power hitting, or some combination thereof?

I think that lack of identity, of a specific way of approaching a game to try to win it probably explains a lot of the Rox wild inconsistency this season. They have the talent to get some huge innings now and again, but can’t put up runs day in and day out. I think they’ve got all the pieces to put together a winning team (except middle relief, but really, who has middle relief?), so here’s to hoping Tracy can figure things out.

Great comments guys… Nothing more for me to say. At least Hurdle can take away that he was the first manager to lead the team to World Series. That’s definitely something to be proud of. So, all the best to him; and great success for Tracy.