The Rockies’ road into the future will continue to be navigated by manager Jim Tracy.
Tracy, who engineered one of the greatest in-season turnarounds in major-league history, received a three-year contract and the rest of the coaching staff also was retained. This came on the heels of Tracy being named the NL manager of the year.
Neither of today’s announcements came as a surprise. After a disastrous beginning to the 2009 season Tracy’s deft touch helped the Rockies rescue their season as the club made its second trip to the postseason in three years.
“There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that if I would manage in 2010, it would be with the Colorado Rockies. I had practice watching the MLB package at home the year before,” Tracy said today via teleconference. “The way I was treated, including Clint Hurdle was special. And given what happened during the course of the season, I still pinch myself. Did I feel like I could make them play better? Yes. Did I think it would work out this way? That’s a stretch.”
The turnaround began on May 29 when general manager Dan O’Dowd came to painful decision to fire Clint Hurdle, the Rockies’ longtime manager and O’Dowd’s close friend. O’Dowd replaced Hurdle with Tracy, a mild-mannered baseball tactician whom O’Dowd figured would be a good fit for the talented but underachieving Rockies.
“The security of the three years is what is so special about the way the Monforts and the rest of the front office does its day-to-day business,” Tracy said of the contract. “Three years is all that they ever mentioned. It wasn’t a hassle over dollars and sense, the last several days were just about dotting I’s and crossing T’s.”
Tracy began the season as the Rockies bench coach under Hurdle. When Tracy took over, the Rockies were 18-28. Under Tracy, the Rockies went 74-24 to finish with a franchise-record 92 wins (92-70) and a franchise-best .568 winning percentage. It was enough to earn the National League wildcard spot. The Rockies lost in four games in the National League division series to the Phillies.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
