Wednesday Rockpile: Rockies Expand Manager Search

The Rockies, though they are just 20 years old, are a very traditional organization. That's why I can't foresee them making a managerial hire during baseball's premier event, which begins tonight and should extend through the end of the month. In other words, don't expect any real news on this front for a little while. The tidbit from yesterday was that Colorado would be interviewing external candidates for their managerial opening.

Of course, this being the Rockies, no specific candidates were mentioned, though Thomas Harding rounded up the usual suspects in Sandy Alomar Jr (the puns alone might be worth it), Brad Ausmus, Mike Gallego, and Tim Wallach while mentioning a new (from the mainstream media) potential hires in Matt Williams. Yes, that Matt Williams...watch out Giambi! None of the professional writers have mentioned the favorite of many Purple Row community members, Dave Martinez.

I still maintain that the Rockies will ultimately choose Jason Giambi for some of the reasons that I outlined last week, but I certainly like to see the organization searching outside 20th and Blake to see if there's a better fit. Depending on what you value in a managerial candidate, it's highly possible that the best hire will be an external guy. I just don't believe that the front office will see it that way.

All I'm saying is that Troy Renck wouldn't be getting any attention during the World Series (and an Octavio Dotel endorsement!) unless the Rockies had interviewed a nationally known figure in Giambi for the job.

Los Links!

Speaking of the World Series, there are a few good links tying Colorado to the Fall Classic. The most obvious link is the Marco Scutaro connection -- Renck writes about Scutaro's 2012 journey from a 98 loss squad to a NL champion team. Stupid Giants.

World Series Guarantee: Tigers in 5

Patrick Saunders writes a "Where Are They Now" piece about the people involved with Colorado's lone World Series team. Only three remain with the club, and Jeff Francis was gone for a little while in the interim.

Saunders also wrote a little more about the Rocktober experience, which is extremely important to remember when a disaster season like 2012 hits.

Finally, Will Leitch at Sports on Earth writes about the dearth of advanced statistics in baseball broadcasting.

Off-Topic.