The Diamondbacks’ Amiel Sawdaye and the Guardians’ Matt Forman have emerged as two finalists to head the Rockies’ rebuilt front office, according to a on Wednesday.
The Rockies have not confirmed Sawdaye and Forman as finalists, and it’s not clear if they are the only two remaining candidates.
Sawdaye, 48, is currently the D-backs’ senior vice president and assistant general manager. Forman, 36, is known for his skills in baseball analytics. He is the assistant GM under Cleveland’s president of baseball operations, Chris Antonetti, and GM Mike Chernoff.
Rockies executive vice president Walker Monfort, the son of owner Dick Monfort, is leading Colorado’s search. The Rockies are hoping to announce the new head of their front office by the end of the month. The club has not decided whether the new hire will be named general manager or president of baseball operations. At this time, the Rockies are not planning to hire both a president and a GM, a league source said.
Sawdaye graduated from the University of Maryland in 1999 with a degree in information systems from the Robert H. Smith School of Business. He started his baseball career with the Red Sox as an intern in 2002-2003. He was a scouting assistant in 2004-2005, then rose to assistant director of amateur scouting (2005-2009) before being promoted to director of amateur scouting in 2010.
He then followed Red Sox front office colleague Mike Hazen to Arizona when Hazen was named general manager of the Diamondbacks at the end of 2016. In June 2021, when Hazen had to take a leave of absence when his wife was fighting an aggressive form of brain cancer, Sawdaye became the team’s acting GM.
During his 16 years with Boston, Sawdaye contributed to three World Series championship teams (2004, ’07 and ’13). He was also part of a quick rebuild in Arizona. The D-backs lost 110 games in 2021, but squeaked into the playoffs in 2023 with an 84-78 record and rode a hot streak all the way to the World Series before losing to Texas.
Last month, Forman interviewed with the Nationals to fill the GM role after Mike Rizzo was fired during their 66-96 season.
Before his career in baseball front offices, Forman, a 2011 graduate of Northwestern with a degree in American history and journalism, was an aspiring sportswriter and worked briefly at Baseball America. He began his career with the Guardians as an amateur scouting intern in 2013. He worked his way up to assistant general manager within four years. In January 2022, he was promoted to executive vice president.
During his tenure in Cleveland, the Guardians made the postseason eight times despite having one of the lowest payrolls in the majors each year. The Guardians made it to the World Series in 2016 but lost to the Cubs in seven games.
The Rockies are trying to reshape their future following three consecutive 100-loss seasons, culminating in a 119-loss campaign this past season. Bill Schmidt stepped down as general manager earlier this month, and assistant GM Zack Rosenthal resigned a week later.
Both Kansas City’s Scott Sharp and Toronto’s James Click, who had been named in reports as candidates for the Rockies job, are no longer being considered, according to The Athletic.
