Dick Monfort has dissolved parliament

Separation of Powers

In 1629, beset by mismanaged wars, a desire to change taxation, and a religious squabble, Charles I disbanded parliament and began an 11 year personal rule that set in motion the English Civil War. Charles, a notoriously stubborn monarch, believed he was given divine right to operate without a parliament and didn’t need noble approval so long as he didn’t start any new wars and need massive amounts of funding. He was right and, well, very wrong. Obviously it ended with his head chopped off and Oliver Cromwell attempting to install a rudimentary republic but he did get 11 years of governing all of England’s affairs without any hassle from a legislature. Win some, lose some as they say.

The Colorado Rockies are not a government or a nation of peoples. They are a corporation. Also, they could be described as a baseball club, depending on who you ask or what time of year it is. However, like many corporations, the Rockies have operated with some semblance of a balance of power. Dick Monfort, the stubborn monarch at the top, owned the club and managed many of it’s finances. Though he often has meddled in team building and player evaluation, he’s always had someone there to really do that job for him. Even if that person was mostly a crony or would never dare to step against the King’s wishes, it was still an advisor that operated a separate branch of the company. This has always been a General Manager.

After the firing/quitting/retiring/trebuchet-ing of Bill Schmidt from the organization last month, the Rockies began a process of trying to hire a President of Baseball Operations. This is a relatively modern title teams have created to give a minor separation in the structure of the baseball team on the field and the business at large. The Rockies have lacked a PBO thus far and have operated with simply a GM, a team president managing over everything, and Dick, the owner. Now, with both the indication they would be going “outside of the organization” and the title of PBO being floated around, it was safe to approach this as a signal that the Rockies were willing to enter the modern age of baseball. Maybe, just maybe, they’d start to operate like a normal team. They began the process of interviewing, with Team President-who-definitely-worked-for-that-job Walker Monfort leading the job search.

For a while, it all seemed pretty normal. The Rockies quietly interviewed candidates around the league and eventually settled on two names, Cleveland Guardians AGM Matt Forman and Arizona Diamondbacks AGM Amiel Sawdaye. The Rockies had leaks out that they would be announcing their selection shortly. Only, that shortly didn’t come. You’ll remember in my last post that I figured they’d just be waiting for the World Series to finish. Silly, but ok. I fully expected Matt Forman to get the role. Walker and Dick have been vocally supportive of Cleveland’s project and the two clubs seem to have a pretty good relationship. But, they didn’t announce anything.

Then, Jon Heyman tweeted.

This was followed up by Patrick Saunders posting:

Finally, The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli posted a full article stating that Forman and Sawdaye were no longer being considered.

Troy Renck, the former Rockies beat writer now a Denver Post columnist added his thoughts on Facebook on Monday afternoon.

All of this is to tie it back to the top, Dick Monfort appears to have dissolved parliament.

Industry sources mentioning the Rockies don’t want to overhaul before the new CBA in 2027 is, in a word, idiotic. If you want two words, fucking idiotic. What a mess is right. The team had a semblance of a chance to signal to fans that they had learned from 119 losses and the bottom of the barrel. Whether or not Forman actually was given full autonomy over player personnel is beside the point to me because ANNOUNCING you’re going external, ANNOUNCING you’re adding a President of Baseball Operations role, and then backing off on that as soon as the offseason starts is about as dysfunctional as it gets. Unless, of course, you never had an intention to do so.

I don’t want to get too Chicken Little here. We don’t know for sure that they sky is falling. The Rockies could have further conversations, they could bring back in some of the candidates from before, they’re apparently talking to Adam Ottavino for some reason. But if the industry sources are correct, and the Rockies are getting cold feet on the idea of hiring people because there might be new rules in a year, there is a strong likelihood we will not see another parliament. Dick and Walker have assumed full control over player personnel and will operate the club as they see fit. There is evidence to this point already, by the way.

While the team sits without a GM or Assistant GM, the 2026 baseball club is having it’s roster take shape. Orlando Arcia and Thairo Estrada had their options declined, Dugan Darnell was waived off the 60 Day IL to make room for…someone I guess. There are zero leaders in the baseball ops division, by the way. Paul Egins and Amir Mamdani head the Major League Operations department but that…is not player personnel. Sterling Monfort (whoa lucky last name!) heads the scouting department. So who is making the decisions around the roster?

This is an era of personal rule.

Like I said, this could all work out. We could see a process that has so far been extremely mismanaged come together. But right now, in this moment, it feels as though the Monfort arm of the organization is in complete control of all facets and mechanics. Even more so than before, even if you believe it was all a sham anyway. This is now a team making baseball personnel decisions directly from ownership and, if Renck’s sources are to be believed, this is how the Rockies will continue to operate for at least another year and why should they ever stop?

I don’t know if this was their intention all along. Quite frankly going through the interview process and coming out the other side with nothing may have been what pushed them to it. But it’s here.

Walker is at The Wheel, now more literally than ever. Welcome to the Nu Rockies, not the same as the old, somehow worse.