Denver Post sports writer Patrick Saunders with the latest installment of his Rockies Mailbag.
Pose a Rockies- or MLB-related question for the Rockies Mailbag.
Patrick, who is going to manage the Rockies in 2026? I hope it’s not Warren Schaeffer. We need a new voice.
— Adam, Littleton
Adam, I’ve received several messages asking the same question, though the fans seem split on their opinion of Schaeffer.
Quite honestly, I don’t know who will manage the team next season. I have not heard any whispers or rumors, let alone solid leads. So, if I were to start throwing names of veteran managers out there, it would be pure speculation. I do know that some people in the Rockies organization would like to see Bobby Meacham, the manager of Double-A Hartford, get a shot at managing in the majors. I also know that he’s interested.
However, I don’t know if Meacham will get a chance to interview with Paul DePodesta, the new president of baseball operations.
It would not surprise me if Schaeffer manages the team next season. As I’ve written before, I believe Schaeffer connected with many young players on the Rockies’ roster last season. While the team will undergo significant front office and coaching changes in the coming weeks, I think Schaeffer would provide a bridge to the team’s future. We’ll see what happens.
When Major League Baseball announced its broadcast rights for next year, it was mentioned that the five teams that MLB owns broadcast rights to were going to be primarily available via ESPN. Does this mean that for next summer, in order to watch the Rockies, I’ll have to have a subscription to ESPN, and then an additional Rockies subscription fee? Is there any clarity on how that will be sorted out?
— Kyle B., Thornton
Kyle, we finally have some clarity. ESPN and MLB announced their deal on Wednesday. To your basic question, fans won’t have to pay a subscription fee to both ESPN+ and Rockies.TV.
Here is how the deal will work:
• Fans will now be able to purchase MLB.TV through ESPN to watch their favorite teams outside their home territory. So, if you are a Yankees fan living in Colorado, you could get your Yankees fix via this new arrangement, through ESPN.
• During the terms of the agreement (through the 2028 season), ESPN will be able to offer fans in-market games for the select MLB teams — including the Rockies — whose games are being produced and distributed by the league through the ESPN app. Fans will have the ability to purchase these subscriptions either independently or as part of a bundle with MLB.TV, or as part of a package with ESPN’s app.
For the 2026 season, the local in-market streaming products will remain available on MLB’s platforms. In the Rockies’ case, that means Rockies.TV.
It’s my understanding that MLB’s deal with ESPN will affect out-of-market viewing, but not regional viewing. In other words, if you are a Yankees fan living in Colorado, you would have to pay ESPN to get your season-long Yankees baseball fix. If you are a Rockies fan, your plan to watch Rockies games would not change much.
Might we see a 2026 boycott by Rockies fans to protest the team not being competitive?
— Ed Helinski, Auburn, N.Y.
Ed, you’re a frequent contributor to the Rockies Mailbag, so I think you already know the answer. Fans are not going to boycott the Rockies, at least not en masse. The Rockies lost 119 games last season, including a 25-56 record at Coors Field, yet , they still averaged 29,687 fans per game.
About Paul DePodesta, owner Dick Monfort said, “Paul was the very first person we interviewed.” Is this true? Or is Monfort actually saying, “We faced a hard deadline in the GMs meeting in Vegas, so we had to grab the only last-minute candidate we could get?”
— Dave Stsuffer, Denver
Dave, I believe Monfort was telling the truth. I asked him about the hiring process during last week’s news conference at Coors Field, where he introduced DePodesta. Walker Monfort, the executive vice president who headed the search, also said that DePodesta was the first person interviewed. So, no, I don’t think DePodesta was a “last-minute candidate.”
However, I have been unable to confirm exactly why the two other known finalists — Guardians executive vice president/assistant general manager Matt Forman and Diamondbacks senior vice president/assistant general manager Amiel Sawdaye — were not hired.
Why don’t the Rockies look at someone like Jeff Luhnow, who turned the Cardinals and Astros into powerhouses, as GM? He was not responsible for the cheating scandal and could bring his analytics program to a team that badly needs it and is 10 years behind the other teams in that department.
— Steve P., Denver
Steve, I can’t imagine the Rockies hiring Luhnow after hiring Paul DePodesta as their new president of baseball operations, because Luhnow would have to work beneath DePodesta, and that’s not going to happen. The Rockies will hire a GM, but I’m not sure analytics would be his forte. DePodesta is already an analytics guru.
Do we have a chance at getting anyone meaningful this offseason?
— Joshua Tangye, Denver
Joshua, I assume you’re asking if the Rockies are going to sign any “meaningful” free agents or pull off a major trade. I would say no to the former and yes to the latter.
With the team in the midst of a rebuild, I don’t see it spending a lot of money on the open market, especially given that the Rockies still owe Kris Bryant $27 million per season for the next three years. However, as Paul DePodesta indicated at last week’s general managers’ meetings, the Rockies will look to acquire starting pitchers via trade, most likely offering an outfield prospect in return.
What happened to Chase Dollander’s slider? All I heard about him in college and the minors was a speedy fastball and a killer slider, but when he got to the majors this year, it seemed like he just used a flat fastball and a great curveball. Where did the slider go, and is rediscovering it the key to consistency?
— Isaac Bowen, Fort Collins
Isaac, this could be a matter of semantics. What you call a “slider” is categorized as a and FanGraphs. According to Baseball Savant, the right-hander’s pitch mix during his rookie season was four-seam fastball (49%), curveball (21%), cutter (12%), sinker (10%) and changeup (8%).
As I’m sure you know, Dollander was a solid pitcher on the road (3.46 ERA, 1.173 WHIP, .200 average against in 10 starts), but awful at Coors Field (9.98 ERA, 1.978 WHIP, .337 average against in 11 starts).
As for his cutter (slider), it was not an effective pitch. According to Baseball Savant, he struck out only seven batters using the pitch, and opponents hit .341 against his cutter.
