Monday Rockpile: Rockies players react to Bud Black firing

Colorado Rockies news and links for Monday, May 12, 2025

Yesterday following the Colorado Rockies 9-3 defeat of the San Diego Padres, the organization announced they had terminated the contracts of manager Bud Black and bench coach Mike Redmond. (Read more about the moves here.)

Third base coach Warren Schaeffer will act as interim manager.

In the Rockies clubhouse, emotions were high given that for much of the team, Bud Black was the only manager they had known as Major League Baseball players.

Pitcher Kyle Freeland said he was “feeling a lot of different emotions,” praising Black as well as Redmond and the guidance he’d received from them throughout his career. “I was always able to lean on him, whether things were going good or going bad. His door (was) always open for me to go talk to him about whatever was going on at the field or away from the field.”

Black was, Freeland said, “somewhat of a father figure to us young guys who came up.”

However, he was realistic about the moves.

“Clearly, some changes needed to be made to see if we can start turning this thing around, get going in a new in a new direction, and get some traction and start going as a team.”

While he acknowledged the news “put a damper” on the win, he was looking to the future.

“We got a good win today, so we need to be focused and build off that moving forward as a team, and understand that the organization is moving in a certain direction, and we’ve got to ride along with that.”

Freeland had received attention for his comments following the Rockies 10-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.

Still, he acknowledged the complex emotions the team was experiencing.

“It’s not easy, especially for guys like myself, Márquez, Senzatela, Mac, who’ve been with Buddy for the past 9, 10 years. It’s hard to see a guy (go) who taught you so much.”

Players learned about the firing after the game, and Freeland said they were able to tell Black goodbye prior to their meeting with media.

“That was tough,” he said.

He also accepted responsibility for where the team is now.

“It’s on all our shoulders. We’re going to win as a team, we’re going to lose as a team, and that includes coaching staff.”

Germán Márquez was surprised by the move.

“It’s kind of sad,” he said. “I’ve been with Buddy from ‘17 — me, Kyle, Senzatela, Ryan. It’s kind of hard.”

Márquez appreciated Black’s loyalty. “He always had my back. He was always pushing me to be a better player, to be a better person, and I’m very thankful.”

Ryan McMahon, too, emphasized the fact that Black was the only MLB manager he had known.

“I have a great relationship with him, so it’s tough,” he said, adding, “I don’t think it was his fault much. I don’t think we played to our capabilities. And this is the direction the organization has decided we’re going, so we’ll roll with it. But it’s going to be tough without Buddy. I’m going to miss him a lot.”

He recognized the reality of the situation: “This is a business at the end of the day, and they have to make hard decisions like this.”

But McMahon saw the players as shouldering some responsibility for Black’s firing.

“It’s on us players to get it done, and I feel like with that, we let Buddy down a little bit, so, hopefully, we can kick it up a notch and get going.”

He was clear, however, that Black and Redmond gave players a different message.

“Talking to Red and Buddy, they both said, ‘Don’t put that on your shoulders,’ but you can’t help it.”

General manager Bill Schmidt said of the firing, “I think the result of how we’ve been playing is that we had a lot of internal talks. I think we’re capable of playing better than we played, and so it was time to make a change.”

Schmidt emphasized there was no “disconnect” between Black and the front office.

“I have the utmost respect for Buddy as a professional and as a manger. I think he’s a good baseball guy. We just didn’t play to the standard that we needed to play.”

Schmidt added, “I think there comes a point where you have to change the leadership of the group.”

When asked if additional changes might be coming, Schmidt said, “We’ll see. Let’s see what happens here. We made the move today. We’ll evaluate what we need to do going forward.”

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This week on the internet

Ryan Spilborghs took to X to share his thoughts on the Rockies managerial change:

It’s a new day, folks.

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Warren Schaeffer should be the Rockies 2025 manager | Purple Row

I’m going back into the archives from last year for this classic, but it seems like since Sam Bradfield called this move, we ought return to her prescient article. (She’ll have more tomorrow on the Rockies new interim manager.)

Rockies Journal: 20 questions for owner Dick Monfort | Denver Post ($)

The Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders has made a list of questions for the elusive Dick Monfort should he ever grant an interview request. The final entry is particularly interesting:

“Players are held accountable all the time. They’re sent down to the minors, cut, traded and scrutinized, often in a very public way. Should ownership be held accountable in the same manner?”

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