The ball truly was in Dan O'Dowd's court before he opted to step down from his position as Colorado Rockies general manager on Wednesday. O'Dowd recently turned down a multiyear contract extenstion from the Rockies, according to MLB's Tracy Ringolsby, setting the wheels in motion for the hiring of new GM Jeff Bridich.
I'm not quite sure what to make of this. I'm trying to harken back to two days ago, when it seemed like a sure thing that the Rockies were going to go forward with the status quo. After all, it had been reported just a week ago that no real changes within the front office were expected to be made. Waking up Wednesday to the news of the self-imposed dismissals of O'Dowd and assistant GM Bill Geivett was a shock to the system, but then again, it appeared at least some writing was on the wall for the first time in O'Dowd's near two-decade tenure.
Do I sound like I'm contradicting myself? Welcome to my world.
I guess I'm not surprised that Rockies owner Dick Monfort was actually going to keep O'Dowd around despite a four-year stretch that would leave even the Charlie Weis-led Kansas Jayhawks football team unimpressed. But what we don't know is the role O'Dowd would've had going forward, or in what capacity Geivett would've been involved.
The O'Dowd news does tell me that it's a very real possibility things would have stayed the same way they've been for the last two and a half years. That's a big concern for me. And it all goes back to Monfort; he's the reason why, despite the hiring of a bright young mind with a lot to offer in the way of advanced baseball knowledge, I'm still skeptical.
I'm going to give Bridich every chance to succeed. He deserves that, and he's earned that. But there's always going to be a part of me who just can't fully buy in to what the Rockies are doing as long as Monfort is in charge. Apologies to those who feel otherwise.