Strike 3: Everyone had hope. Now, maybe not so much.

When incoming Colorado Rockies team president Walker Monfort said back at the start of October that the Rockies would be looking “outside the organization” for someone qualified to replace outgoing general manager Bill Schmidt, it signaled a change in direction and philosophy. “Change” and “Rockies” haven’t been used in the same sentence very often during this century, but maybe, just maybe, this time they meant it. Fingers were crossed.

And Walker probably did mean it at the time. But five weeks later, after a series of interviews and re-interviews, when it came time to actually choose a new guy and sign the contract, he – and more likely his father, the guy who actually owns the team and signs the checks – balked. Leading candidates Matt Forman, the Cleveland Guardians executive VP and assistant GM, and the Arizona Diamondbacks senior VP and assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye – both qualified front office guys with the requisite amount of experience for the job – were the finalists. An announcement as to which guy was going to get the job was expected right after the World Series ended.

Never happened. Both men dropped out.

And it wasn’t about money, but it was.

Dick Monfort is NOT cheap. That’s been the misguided notion and bad rap for a long time now. It’s just not true. Cheap owners don’t hand out $180 million contracts to former MVP’s who are clearly on the downside of their careers but still have drawing power. Signing Kris Bryant proved to be a terrible baseball move, but signing him certainly wasn’t done to save money. It was done to sell tickets and jerseys. The elder Monfort is an astute businessman, groomed by his father Ken in the meat packing business and available and ready when he (and his money) were needed to step into a bigger ownership role with the expansion franchise back in the late 1990’s. His ability to maintain a successful franchise off the field – and build things like the Rooftop at Coors Field and McGregor Square across the street – are testament to his ability to run a successful business.

Even when the on-field product is less than stellar.

Where the dismissal of Forman and Sawdaye as candidates for change becomes about money is simply this: Apparently, Monfort Sr. still doesn’t want to give anyone else permission to spend his, even after an historically terrible season on the field. And regardless of the new title he’s given his son, Dick clearly still maintains the decision making authority.

So actually, not much, if anything, has changed.

It’s been reported that both Sawdaye and Forman wanted some level of autonomy within the organization. That included changes (hiring and firings?) within what remains of the current front office. That was apparently a non-starter.

Former Rockies relief pitcher Adam Ottavino – who is 39 years old and not yet officially retired as a player – decided to fly himself to Denver in October and present himself as a candidate for the GM job, despite the obvious lack of experience. He and Dick Monfort have reportedly met twice now.

Are they serious? They can’t be, can they?

What this signals is that after letting go of long time front office and good company man Bill Schmidt, who was just one step above being a puppet for Monfort while he was here, Dick Monfort still isn’t comfortable having anyone on salary who won’t fill the same exact role. Is Ottavino willing to play the role of puppet? Probably.

As was mentioned in this space back at the start of September, with MLB staring at an owners-player’s union collective bargaining impasse next year at this time, the Rockies/Monfort are not eager to make any large or even medium sized financial investments until a new collective bargaining agreement has been agreed to and signed and the owner knows what the financial landscape of MLB will look like moving forward. A new CBA won’t be in place until around March of 2027. Until then, it looks like it will very likely be business as usual at 20th and Blake.

And you know what? Business is good.