Cole Carrigg’s off to a pretty solid start in his MLB career, but why was he promoted instead of Charlie Condon or Zac Veen? Was he just playing that much better than them? Is it to manage their service time in the majors? A little of both? Thanks.

— Marshall, Parker

Marshall, since you submitted your question, Carrigg has been sensational. It’s not about service time.

In the Rockies’ excruciating loss to the Cubs on Monday night, he drove in all four runs and hit an eighth-inning, three-run home run that should have stood as the game-winner.

Carrigg plays with a swagger and an edge, and in that regard, he reminds me of Troy Tulowitzki as a rookie. I asked one of Tulo’s former teammates if he shared my opinion.

“I see some,” the teammate responded. “Tulo wasn’t on the razor’s edge of out of control like Carrigg.”

Anyway, to your question, the Rockies front office sees a lot of things that fans don’t see, and that I don’t see or consider. Paul DePodesta, the president of baseball operations, recently told me that they take a hard look at “the process” a player has in the minors as a major part of their decision on when to promote a player.

Carrigg has proven that he was ready. I think promotions for Condon and Veen could very well depend on what happens as the trade deadline nears.

Patrick, I heard you’re leaving soon. It’s been a pleasure reading your coverage all these years. The Denver sports community is losing an absolute legend. What are some of the most memorable moments of your career?

— Ryan C., Aurora

Ryan, thanks for your kind comments.

Leaving The Post after nearly 28 years is a hard and emotional decision, but it was time. The buyout I was offered made me accelerate my retirement timeline. The baseball beat, particularly covering a losing Rockies team over the last few years, has been a grind. Plus, the industry is changing fast, and I’m becoming a bit of a dinosaur.

I have far too many memories to mention here in any detail, so I will list a few: Rocktober; covering all three of the Broncos’ Super Bowl title wins; watching Nolan Arenado play third base; spending time in the dugout talking baseball and music with Bud Black; being at Todd Helton’s house in Tennessee when he got the call that he was elected to the Hall of Fame; working with some incredible colleagues, especially Kyle Newman and Troy Renck; crazy, fun times in the press box with the crew; covering games at all 30 major league ballparks; having Coors Field as my office on perfect summer nights; and forming a friendship with MLB.com’s Thomas Harding, with whom I’ve had a bromance for 25 years.

I’ll be writing a farewell story soon, so keep an eye out for it.

Did you expect T.J. Rumfield to be our breakout star this season? I certainly didn’t, but, boy, is it nice to have a solution at first base after so many years of failed experiments. Do you think he’ll win the Rookie of the Year award?

— Mike, Denver

Mike, I was excited about Rumfield after seeing him play in spring training and reading the reports on his skill set. As I wrote in February: “T.J. Rumfield was a big-league first baseman trapped in Triple-A limbo.”

But I have been surprised by the quality of his at-bats; he’s been hitting like a seasoned veteran. His glove work at first base has been outstanding.

However, I don’t think he’ll be named the National League’s top rookie, for a few reasons.

First, he plays in Colorado for a team with the worst record in baseball and he’s not going to get much attention from the baseball writers who vote for the award.

Second, he plays his home games at Coors Field, which will automatically disqualify him in the minds of some voters. That’s a shame, because he’s hit just as well on the road as at home. At Coors, he’s slashing .263/.353/.449 (.802 OPS), with five homers and 22 RBIs. On the road, he’s slashing .287/.359/.465 with four homers and 12 RBIs.

Third, there are several strong candidates, led by Cardinals second baseman JJ Wetherholt, Reds first baseman Sal Stewart, and Mets right-hander Nolan McLean.

Are you surprised, disappointed, or comfortably numb by how the Rockies have performed so far this season?

— Ed Helinski, Auburn, N.Y.

Comfortably numb? You must be a Pink Floyd fan.

Anyway, I’m not sure my characterization is on your list. I would say mildly encouraged, but the state of the pitching staff is a huge concern.

Hey Patrick! Who do you think has the best shot at becoming our lone representative at the All-Star Game? I thought it was going to be Mickey Moniak before he went on IL. I feel like our best shots are Hunter Goodman, Antonio Senzatela or Tomoyuki Sugano.

— Ryan, Aurora

Ryan, the Rockies will have only one representative, and it’s going to be Goodman for the second consecutive season. As I write this, he’s slashing .255/.327/.537 (.864 OPS) with 27 RBIs.

After two decades of operating the Rockies as a mom-and-pop grocery store, it was time for owner Dick Monfort to bring in Walmart as a partner.

In what amounts to a home run for baseball fans in this state and region, Monfort has agreed to sell a 40 % minority stake in the Rockies to the Penner Sports Group, composed of Broncos’ co-owners Greg Penner and Carrie Walton Penner.

With a roughly $672 million investment based on Forbes’ most recent $1.68 billion valuation, the Penners will provide funds to pay down debt and financial resources that give Monfort runway to determine his future vision for the franchise as a labor stoppage looms following this season.

For Monfort, it was past time in the national pastime to treat the Rockies as a civic institution. By bringing on the Penners, he shifts the conversation about his ownership from selfish to selfless. At last.

It is wise, if not belated, recognition that family-run sports teams are becoming archaic and lack the wherewithal to consistently chase championships.

Monfort has groused in recent years, including in an interview with The Post before the 2024 season, about Major League Baseball’s lack of a salary cap. The concern about competing became amplified with regional sports networks dissolving, siphoning a source of revenue for a Rockies team that is already heavily dependent on attendance.

In the most recent homestand, the Rockies posted their smallest crowds in Coors Field history.

But lost in that nadir is that Monfort finally realized in October that significant changes were needed.

His decision to promote son Walker Monfort to vice president and give him freedom to hire baseball president Paul DePodesta, general manager Josh Byrnes and a battery of new business people was the clearest signal that he understood how dormant the team had become after seven consecutive losing seasons.

Until Friday.

This is a seismic event. A grand slam for Rockies fans.

By bringing the Penners on board, it creates a pathway for the Rockies to become relevant.

In 34 seasons, the Rockies have managed only five playoff berths, never won a National League West title and appeared in one World Series in 2007, swept by the Boston Red Sox in a buzzkill end to the most magical run in baseball history.

The obvious question: Why wouldn’t Dick Monfort simply sell the team?

This is something understandably frustrated fans have been chirping about for years.

It was not time for that. On multiple levels. Could that change down the road? Perhaps.

But starting with conversations a year ago, the Penners were motivated to get involved rather than take over. This is not a palace coup. It is a partnership. But it is also one (heck) of a safety net.

The new partnership continues momentum for Monfort, which has been evident on the field with the team’s 6-7 record after starting last season 7-33 en route to losing 100 games for a third consecutive season.

And it gives the Penners an opportunity to become financially tethered without dealing with the minutiae of running another team.

Can we pause for a second and acknowledge the commitment to sports and this community the Penners have shown since the summer of 2022?

As they enter their fifth year owning the Broncos, they have built a $175 million team headquarters, moved forward on a privately-financed new stadium for billions of dollars, created a $12 million initiative to donate over 15,000 helmets to high school football teams and and turned the franchise from a laughingstock to a Super Bowl contender by hiring Sean Payton and signing players to in-house contract extensions for more than $400 million over the last 18 months.

To Colorado sports fans, it’s worth even more.

The Penners have shown at every turn that they are amazing stewards, setting a standard for excellence in everything from how their players travel and eat to how they increase alumni involvement.

Before you ask, their roles with the Broncos will not change. Owning the team has exceeded their expectations in how fulfilling, challenging and rewarding it has been. They will still attend practice a few days a week and mingle at the facility.

The Rockies, make no mistake, piqued their interest as a business investment.

Like many who have lived here, they recognize that baseball is a sleeping giant, a potential No. 2 sport in Colorado if Rocktober returns semi-annually. Coors Field, despite being the third-oldest ballpark in the National League, remains a destination spot with its timeless appeal and charm.

Fans have shown they will come if the team is good. It just takes several flips back in the calendar to remember when that was.

Overall, baseball is on the right track, benefiting from the pitch clock, eliminating shifts and creating the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System.

The Penners obviously saw this.

For the Rockies, for Monfort, this move makes sense.

Just look at all the Penners have done, how deep their pockets are, and how much they commit to ventures. They are unbelievably curious people who look for answers, never satisfied with the status quo or mediocrity.

They will learn baseball just as they did the NFL. There is no reason to think they cannot help make the Rockies better.

Everyone will wonder if they will eventually buy the team. That is for a later day and could hinge on the outcome of the labor talks, in which Monfort serves as a hawk in the negotiations for commissioner Rob Manfred.

Since back-to-back playoff berths in 2017 and 2018, the Rockies have nosedived, bottoming out with 119 losses last season.

By bringing in the Penners, Monfort is letting the respected neighbors down the street spruce up the place. Their money matters. But more than that, it provides hope for the future.

And for this city, this state and the fans, that is priceless.

“I went away from a toe tap to more of a stride,” Holliday said after a recent workout. “And I try to stay off social media as much as I can.”

The Rockies are universally projected to become the first franchise since the Washington Senators to lose 100 games in four straight seasons. They are building an infrastructure, a foreign concept for nearly a decade, while assembling a more competitive Major League roster.

Part of the new vision centers on customizing plans to help prospects reach their potential. They don’t need them to reach the big leagues. They need them to produce when they arrive.

Holliday, taken as the fourth pick overall in the 2025 draft, represents an important test case. He was drafted a few months before president Paul DePodesta and general manager Josh Byrnes took over, but his road could mirror the organization’s return to relevancy.

That is a lot for a kid who turned 19 last month. Even more on a young man who carries the name of one of the organization’s greatest players and is the brother of one of the fastest risers ever in the minor leagues.

“He is dealing with it times two, following in my footsteps and Jackson’s (the starting second baseman for the Orioles),” said dad Matt Holliday, a seven-time All-Star, and prominent figure in Rocktober in 2007. “That’s not easy. But he knows he can’t worry about outside things. We try to get him to shrink his world. Be present. Be a good teammate, and don’t be so quick to be on your phone and worry about what people say about you.”

Criticism found Holliday this February. Baseball America pounced on Holliday’s inauspicious minor league debut, extrapolating from three weeks that he was not “twitchy or athletic” and that his 33 strikeouts validated “major questions around the hit tool.”

Can’t move. Can’t crush it. Can’t make contact. All that from 84 plate appearances by an 18-year-old in Class-A Fresno who did not face a single pitcher his age?

Impressive deduction.

And so many reasons to believe it will be wrong.

Walking into the interview room at the Rockies’ spring training complex provides the first evidence. The silhouette is a cross between that of a guy with the stomach of an Olympic swimmer and the shoulders of a Pro Bowl receiver.

Holliday is 6-foot-3, 215 pounds. Puka Nacua would get the part if they needed a stunt double for a movie.

Seeing Holliday in person, it seems there’s no way this could be the physique of a teenager.

Holliday is stronger, adding 10 pounds of muscle after a winter spent working out with his father, brother and assorted major leaguers. More importantly, he is wiser. The scathing criticism — he hit .239 with a .357 on-base percentage and two home runs — focused on his performance and not potential improvement.

The idea that Ethan will not learn from his first exposure to pro ball is ridiculous. He is a Holliday after all.

“I changed my whole setup. I went away from a toe tap that helped me a lot in high school with different guys throwing off speed all the time. I took it into pro ball and started to create bad habits by trying to do too much and getting behind in counts,” Holliday said. “I had to take a step back and fix some things.”

At its core, hitting is about timing. Holliday played against good competition in high school and on the summer circuit. But it did not prepare him to see daily fastballs in the mid-90s and sharper off-speed pitches.

Hindsight suggests that the Rockies should have kept him at the spring training complex last summer in controlled scrimmages rather than sending him to California.

Holliday scoffs at the notion.

Humility is a terrific teacher. He leaned on teammates Brody Brecht, Tanner Thatch, Jacob Hinderleider and Kevin Fitzer. Became more committed to his faith when returning to a lonely, dark apartment in a new city.

“It����ap OK to fail. It����ap a really hard game. There’s never been a player that killed it in every single season of their life. So you have to go earn it. I would not change the experience for the world,” Holliday said. “People want to think it is harder for me because of my last name. I have failed at multiple levels in baseball. I am very callous to it. Pressure is what you make it. I see it as an opportunity to show what kind of person I am and what kind of player I am.”

Using a stride has helped Holliday keep his head still while keeping his body more compact and under control. Watching him take BP, and in a few at-bats as an extra player for Team USA in spring training, it is easy to understand why he believes he is in the “best position he has ever been in” to hit.

There will always be heightened awareness of Holliday’s progress because of where he was drafted. An organization attempting to turn a ship around in a swimming pool cannot afford to miss on a talent like this. Byrnes understands the stakes and embraces them after an 11-year run of developing impact players for the Dodgers.

“Ethan is in the building foundation phase of his journey, and as he gets to the upper levels, it����ap more of a finishing school. There is only one promotion that matters. And that����ap the last one,” Byrnes said. “He is learning how to handle and hit velocity the right way, not just sell out and cheat to hit it. Probably the most important thing is that he is really passionate about this. And understands that there is a lot of hard work ahead.”

While Jackson only required 155 minor league games to reach the big leagues, Matt navigated a red clay path through the farm system. He appeared in 556 games over six years before debuting in 2004.

“I tell Ethan that all the time. I was 24 years old when I made it. I had some really lousy seasons. I let him know, ‘You are 19. Let����ap relax. You don’t have to get to the major leagues this year,’^” Matt said. “Everybody is on a different timeline. He doesn’t have to be like his brother. He is his own person. And I am proud of him.”

Ethan is on a path of self-discovery. He is independent with a backstop. The Hollidays recently moved from Stillwater, Okla., to Scottsdale to make it easier to fly to their sons’ games across the country.

The Hollidays are not the Mannings. But they are a family capable of becoming baseball royalty.

The reason? They don’t think of it that way.

As Ethan knows, keep it simple.

Be on time for the fastball and spend less time on social media.

“Everybody has their own opinion. I get it,” Ethan said. “The goal is to be a winning player in the big leagues, have a great career and help the Rockies. I can’t focus on what others think. My focus is on my process, my routine and becoming the best version of myself.”

Under Paul DePodesta, the new president of baseball operations, and with the tutelage of new pitching coach Alon Leichman, the team is adopting a different strategy.

“We want big arsenals,” Leichman said last month. “We think big arsenals will be harder to game-plan against. You know, if a guy has six, seven pitches, that����ap harder to game-plan for than if a guy has two or three, right? So we think that����ap an advantage.”

Why not give it a try? After all, the Rockies lost 119 games last season, and the starters posted a 6.65 ERA, the highest in baseball history since ERA became an official statistic in 1913.

It’s an intriguing idea. So intriguing, in fact, that I made a call to London, Ontario, to chat with former Rockies left-hander Jeff Francis to get his thoughts. He’s a smart, articulate guy and one of the better starters in franchise history. In eight seasons in Colorado, he was 64-62 with a 4.96 ERA. During the Rockies’ 2007 World Series season, he went 17-9 with a 4.22 ERA.

More from Mr. Francis in a moment, but first, a mini-history lesson.

The Rockies have tried all sorts of things to solve the Rubik’s Cube that is pitching at Coors Field:

• In 2002, the humidor was installed, and by all accounts, it has made baseball at altitude more manageable.

“Yes, of course, the humidor made a difference,” former Rockies pitcher Jason Jennings told me in 2022 on the 20th anniversary of the baseball storage unit that the club originally called “an environmental chamber.”

“It 100% made a difference,” Jennings continued. “For pitchers, it was about surviving.”

• In 2012, the club experimented with the so-called “piggyback pitching system.” The four-man pairing rotation — as the Rockies called it — paired starters with three “piggyback” relievers. The experiment failed.

• In 2014, Colorado wanted its pitchers to throw as many groundball-inducing sinkers as possible.

“As I always say, I’ve yet to see a groundball that can jump over the fence,” said George Frazier, the late Rockies’ TV analyst, who used a sinker as his primary pitch during a 10-year big-league career.

Now that the next chapter is upon us, what does Francis think?

“I was in Colorado last summer, and I got to watch Shohei Ohtani pitch,” Francis said of the Dodgers’ superstar two-way player. “I remember just being so blown away by how much different stuff he threw. And how hitters weren’t really seeing more than one pitch in an at-bat.

“I mean, how hard is that? Right? That’s very, very difficult. But it’s also very, very difficult to be Shohei Ohtani.”

Francis chuckled as he said that, then contemplated his own experience at Coors, where he was 34-92 with a 4.92 ERA over 97 games (91 starts).

“In my experience, it was tough for me to have three major league pitches,” said Francis, who threw a fastball, changeup and curveball before adding a slider when he became a reliever late in his career.

“So I can see both sides to the Rockies (new strategy),” he continued. “In the years when I was one of the older guys in Colorado, I saw that the young pitchers had trouble with just one pitch.

“It’s hard. And it’s hard to have seven pitches. It’s not easy. So, for me, it sounds a little bit overwhelming to have four, five, six, seven pitches, especially if you want them to be big-league level. But I completely understand the idea of wanting a lot of variety because you see it in some of the best pitchers in baseball.”

Francis also pointed out that the Rockies pitchers are not looking to throw a half-dozen “distinct” pitches, so much as they are throwing variations of their basic pitches.

“A pitcher might have different shapes for his slider, and now they have different names for that, like a sweeper or a cutter,” he said. “So one pitch becomes two or three pitches.”

But that takes time and experience.

“I’m thinking about my curveball toward the end of my career,” he recalled. “I was able to throw it in different places, at different speeds. That in itself became two or three pitches, even though I was getting a sign to throw a curveball. It was a matter of experience and feel and being able to repeat my delivery.”

Francis said that during his time in Colorado — 2004-10 and 2012-13 — he didn’t dwell on the altitude that much.

“It wasn’t a big elephant, though it was an element,” he said. “I don’t remember it being this big thing where we had to talk about it that much.”

But he thinks it might be different now, at least from the outside looking in.

“I still follow the Rockies, and it hurts me to see them struggle so much,” Francis said. “But now that I’m a fan, it seems like attitude has become a bigger elephant. But maybe just from a fan’s perspective.”

Francis, who graced the Oct 15, 2007, cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline “Out of Thin Air,” when the Rockies advanced to the World Series, is eager to see how that latest pitching exploration plays out.

“I’ll be watching, and I am curious,” he said.

Keeler: Broncos-Giants was so drunk, it couldn’t even get up to stagger home. You’ll tell your grandkids. You’ll call up YouTube. They still won’t believe you. “Nineteen to zip,” you’ll mutter. “All hope was lost.” We were in the press box, tapping out raging epitaphs for Bo Nix and Sean Payton for more than two hours, only for the pair to grab the moment by the scruff of its neck and flip the narrative on its head. In the heat of the moment, it has to be No. 1. But I want to give Sunday some breathing room, a little time and space, before I start fitting it for the crown.

Renck: The numbers do not compare, but context strengthens the argument. Remember, the Rockies’ 2007 play-in game? Of course you do. Lost in the discussion about whether Matt Holliday touched home plate were the circumstances that led to the moment. The Rockies trailed 8-6 entering the 13th inning and faced future Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman. They walked off the Padres in the greatest baseball game ever played in Denver. Ramon Ortiz — who? — picked up the win in relief. Jamey Carroll, not a star, delivered the deciding sacrifice line drive. Because of what it meant, this game cannot be dismissed out of hand.

Keeler: We’ve seen plenty of Miracles at a Mile High, haven’t we? Rocktober 2007 is burned into my psyche. Until this past Sunday, I wasn’t sure I’d ever see a finish as crazy as CU-Michigan in 1994, when Bill McCartney’s Buffs scored 13 unanswered over the last 3:52 in Ann Arbor, capped off by Kordell Stewart’s walk-off heave. Heck, I remember when the CSU Rams under Jim McElwain put up 18 straight points over three minutes in the fourth quarter on a Mike Leach Washington State team, sealing a nutty 48-45 win in the 2013 New Mexico Bowl.

Renck: There are a couple of Broncos games that deserve mention, if not respect. John Elway hinted of his future in Canton when he rallied the Broncos from a 19-point deficit against the Colts in his rookie season. But it wasn’t exactly Picasso. He completed 9 of 20 passes for 151 yards in the fourth quarter of a 21-19 victory. Tim Tebow once stared down a 15-0 gap in Miami with 7:34 remaining and sprinkled pixie dust in an 18-15 win. But neither quarterback matched Nix, who became the first player ever with two passing and two rushing touchdowns in a quarter. Nix went 15 for 23 for 162 yards and rushed for 46 on three carries. There is no reason to pore through the Nuggets highlights or Avs boxscores, this game stands alone as the best comeback ever.

Keeler: Elway would like a word with you on that last one, my friend. Denver, led by Front Range folk hero Russell Wilson, wiped away a 21-point deficit at Chicago in 2023. And did you know that of the eight largest comebacks in Broncos history, regular season and playoffs, Payton has already had a hand in two of them?  As rallies go, I’ve still got a sentimental spot for “The Drive II” against Houston in the 1991-92 playoffs, in which Denver erased a 21-6 second-quarter deficit, a postseason tussle with higher stakes and a Hall-of-Fame QB1 on the other side in Warren Moon. “Best” comeback? Ask me when the orange and blue put a bow on 2025-26. Most bonkers? Without a doubt. Top of the looney leaderboard.

This autumn, there are no on-field heroics, no sold-out crowds at Coors Field, no playoff drama. Those memorable moments are in the distant past.

But the Rockies have reached a critical crossroads, forced to make the most significant choices since the team was first assembled as an expansion franchise before the inaugural 1993 season. Walker Monfort, the executive vice president, has been tasked with rebuilding the front office after three consecutive 100-loss seasons, which culminated in an embarrassing 119-loss season in 2025.

And the route he takes will likely determine if this will indeed be a new era, or just a rebrand of the same old Rockies.

“This is one of the most crucial decisions the Rockies will ever have to make,” said Ryan Spilborghs, the former Rockies outfielder, member of the 2007 World Series team, and Rockies TV analyst since 2014.

“They have been put in a position where it feels like they need to rearrange their grandparents’ furniture and remodel the house,” Spilborghs continued. “If you have ever had to do that, you know it’s not easy. It’s not easy to get people to change when they are set in their ways.

“So, to find their next person to head baseball operations, in a short period of time, and allow them to change their world — flip it upside down — requires an incredible amount of trust. It’s like speed dating to get married for life. The decision-making here is monumental.”

General manager Bill Schmidt and assistant GM Zack Rosenthal resigned earlier this month, leaving the Rockies on the clock. And it’s ticking, with the offseason just a few weeks away. Free agency begins the day after the World Series ends. The general managers’ meetings take place on Nov. 10-13 in Las Vegas.

There are currently five teams looking for a new on-field manager, six if you count the Rockies, who have not told interim manager Warren Schaeffer if he’ll have a chance to return. Scheffer, who has not been interviewed, said he expects to know about his future when the new front office boss is hired.

This coming week, Monfort, the oldest son of team owner and CEO Dick Monfort, is expected to narrow his list of finalists for a new head of baseball operations. He’s also creating a new position — a chief revenue and strategy officer — that will be tasked with helping grow the Rockies from the business side to invest more money in data, analytics and strategy. Those are areas where the Rockies have long lagged behind the rest of Major League Baseball.

Looming questions include whether the new head of baseball operations will have genuine autonomy to reshape the team, and if Dick Monfort will step aside to take a lesser role in constructing and operating the team.

“If there ever were a time he would, it would be now,” said a former major league executive, who spoke to The Denver Post under the condition of anonymity because he still works for MLB. “But will he invest in the right people and infrastructure to go along with the autonomy? That’s probably the bigger question.”

According to a , Colorado has interviewed at least three candidates to head a revamped front office: Toronto Blue Jays executive and former Houston Astros general manager James Click, Kansas City Royals assistant GM Scott Sharp, and Cleveland Guardians assistant GM Matt Forman. It’s not known what other candidates the Rockies might have interviewed.

Spilborghs, who hosts a national radio show for SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio and has also worked as an analyst for Apple TV’s Friday night baseball coverage since 2023, is well-connected throughout baseball. He said he has not learned of any other candidates.

“Walker and the Rockies have done a good job keeping this search quiet, keeping things close to the vest,” Spilborghs said.

Thad Levine, who has ties to the Rockies, has been speculated as a possible candidate, but he’s not known to have interviewed with them. Still, he remains the No. 1 choice for Matt Holliday, the former Rockies All-Star outfielder. Holliday has a vested interest in the Rockies’ future success because his son Ethan was drafted by them with the fourth overall pick of the MLB draft in July.

“I love Thad Levine, but I don’t know if he’ll get an interview,” Holliday said. “But I don’t know why he wouldn’t.”

Levine worked under former Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd from 1999 to 2005 before becoming the assistant GM of the Rangers and later the GM and senior vice president of the Twins. He left the Twins after the 2024 season. During his eight years in Minnesota, the Twins won three AL Central titles and earned four postseason berths.

Holliday said that whoever the Rockies pick, the team needs a dynamic new voice.

“I’m hoping that they hire somebody who has a vision of what it’s going to take to turn this around,” Holliday said. “I’m hoping they hire a person with a plan to improve player development. I want them to bring on coordinators within the (farm) system that can really coach and develop.

“First and foremost, I’m hopeful for a head of baseball ops that is given the reins to set up a system like some of the other mid-market organizations, which seem to be functioning at a high level.”

Holliday is referring to organizations such as the Brewers and Guardians, which have been perennial playoff teams in recent years despite ranking in the bottom half of the MLB in terms of payroll.

Near the end of the season, Schaeffer was asked to provide an example of a step the Rockies need to take to catch up to other teams.

“We need information that the players are provided with in terms of how to get better and prosper at this level,” he said. “We can do better.”

Holliday concurred: “If you are not going to be out in the free-agent market signing big-time players, you have to come up with a holistic approach to getting better. Whether it’s R&D or analytics, whatever other organizations are doing, Colorado seems to have been left behind. That’s what I hear when I talk to other people about how Colorado compares to other organizations. I’m hoping the funding, the freedom given to whoever is next, and the ability to set up a great staff will take this organization back to where we all want it to be.”

Given the Rockies’ track record — seven consecutive losing seasons and just five playoff appearances in 33 years — and the challenges and vagaries of playing baseball at a mile above sea level, the job of rebuilding the franchise might seem undesirable for many. Spilborghs, however, believes that leading the offices at 20th and Blake is a highly coveted job.

“I have talked to virtually every organization for the past couple of years,” Spilborghs said. “A lot of executives have asked me about the Rockies. They ask me what’s going on. Then I ask them, in turn, what they think of the situation. I cannot tell you how many of them have told me, ‘That’s my dream job.’ ”

Why would that be the case?

“Because of the location, the fan base, and being able to build from scratch,” Spilborghs continued. “Though their eyes, from their vantage point, having the chance to revamp, reempower, and reengage, it just seems so enticing.

“If you are any sort of person who likes to run toward the fire instead of running away from it, this is exactly where they want to go.”

Spilborghs added that he hopes the Rockies are taking enough time and have scouted enough candidates for the job.

“There should be a line of candidates out the door who want to present and want to show you what they would do in Colorado,” he said. “I would assume that the list of executives is very robust, or at least it should be.

“But the thing is, there might be people that the Rockies might not be asking because they think they might not be willing to come to Colorado. Whereas, really, it’s quite the opposite. If you call them, they would come.”

Several rival managers have said that the Rockies, run the right way, could become a formidable team to contend with, especially at Coors Field.

“I have always admired the Rockies’ ability to develop position players,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said last spring. “Guys like Charlie Blackmon, (Trevor) Story, Nolan Arenado, D.J. (LeMahieu) and CarGo (Carlos Gonzalez). … They made Coors such a tough place to play.”

But the Rockies, fielding an anemic offense and failing to build a dynamic roster, have not posted a winning record at home since 2022.

“Coors has to be the home-field advantage that it can be and has been in the past,” Holliday said. “The Rockies should know the pros and cons, and what works and what doesn’t at Coors, better than anybody else. It should be the greatest homefield advantage in the sport.”

Ethan Holliday, just 18, likely won’t make his big-league debut for at least another two years. But his dad hopes that the critical decisions the Rockies make now will create a brighter future — one that will change the way the franchise is perceived around the league.

“I hope this is a chance to hit a home run on a hire that gets the organization turned about and heading in the other direction,” Matt Holliday said. “I’d like it to become an organization where other teams look at what the Rockies are doing and say, ‘Wow, they really flipped this thing on its head in a hurry, and now they are kind of a model organization.’ That would be my hope.”

I blame Roger Angell. And my dad, the late Dusty Saunders.

In the sports library in my home office, I have an autographed copy of Angell’s classic book, “The Summer Game.” My dad gave me the book when I was in my teens and was first interested in becoming a sportswriter.

So “The Summer Game” was my inspiration, and my curse, because I have never come close to being the writer Angell was. Nor my dad, for that matter.

I’ve visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown multiple times, but In 2014, he became the first recipient of the BWAA Career Excellence Award who never covered a beat or wrote columns full-time for a daily newspaper. He was, quite simply, an incredible writer who loved baseball.

And he loved the ’62 Mets, the anti-Yankees who bumbled their way to 120 losses. He wrote passionately and affectionately about “The Amazin’s.”

Some of my all-time favorite passages from Angell were written about the infamous Mets catcher Choo Choo Coleman.

“The Mets catching is embarrassing,” Angell wrote in “The Summer Game.” “Choo Choo Coleman and Norm Sherry, the two receivers, are batting .215 and .219, respectively. Neither can throw, and Colelman, who is eager and combative, handles outside curveballs like a man fighting bees. He is quick on the basepaths, but that is an attribute that is about as essential for catchers as neat handwriting.”

Of course, “Marvelous” Marv Throneberry did not escape Angell’s prose. The legendary, terrible first baseman became celebrated for his ineptitude. In a game against the Cubs, Throneberry made a bonehead play in the field but almost made up for it in his next at-bat.

“In the bottom half, Marv attempted to make amends,” Angell wrote. “With two mates aboard, he hit a drive to the right-field bullpen and chuffed happily into third, only to be called out because he had failed to touch first base. Ordinarily, there is hot protest over this kind of play, but the Mets bench did not exactly erupt, since it was perfectly plain that Throneberry had also failed to touch second. The Mets lost the game by one run.”

Describing an epic Mets loss to the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds, Angell told the story of keeping score during the debacle, with the Dodgers scoring 12 runs between the second and sixth innings.

“… the Dodgers half of my scorecard looked as if a cloud of gnats had settled on it. I was pained for the Mets and embarrassed as a fan.

” ‘Baseball isn’t usually like this,’ I explained to my daughter.

” ‘Sometimes it is,’ she said. ‘This is like the fifth grade against the sixth grade at school.’ ”

Which brings me to the not-so-lovable 2025 Rockies, who were 43-117 as I wrote this on Saturday afternoon.

Back in 1993, when the Rockies were an expansion team and wore name tags during spring training, they were Colorado’s lovable losers. Expectations were low, and Major League Baseball’s arrival in Denver was cause for mass celebration. More than 4 million fans watched the Rockies at the old Mile High Stadium that first season

But that was 32 years ago. Rocktober happened 18 years ago. The Rockies’ last playoff appearance was seven years ago. Over the last three seasons, they have lost 321 games. As a beat writer who’s witnessed too much bad baseball, it’s impossible to write about the ’25 Rox with the affection, humor and romanticism that Angell used to capture the ’62 Mets.

The Rockies are simply a bad team in need of a serious makeover. Changes to the front office are coming soon, I believe. However, there will be some tough seasons ahead as the Rockies try to figure out who they are. But, at least the Rockies will chart a new course.

Angell’s ’62 Mets were lovable for losing. The Rox won’t be lovable until they start winning. I sure hope ownership understands that.

But there’s another number that boggles my mind: 29,839.

That’s the average paid attendance for games at Coors Field this season. The Rockies are careening toward one of the worst seasons in major league history, yet they rank 16th in attendance. As I write this, the Rockies have won just 21 times in 67 games at Coors.

Now consider this: The Tigers rank 17th, averaging 29,353 fans per game at Comerica Park. Yes, those Tigers, who entered Saturday’s play with a 79-57 record, best in the American League. The Tigers are 44-25 at home.

The White Sox, yes, those White Sox who lost a modern-era record 121 games last year, have attendance more commensurate with their futility. The ChiSox rank 27th, averaging 17,807 fans per game.

After losing 103 games in 2023 and 101 games last season, I figured that the Rockies’ attendance would plummet this season. I was wrong. Yes, the numbers are trending down, but not dramatically. An average of 32,196 fans per game came through the turnstiles in ’23, and 31,361 in ’24.

In 2007, the Rockies’ only World Series season, they drew an average of 28,979 fans per game. That’s fewer fans than are turning out to see the current team.

What in the name of the Blake Street Bombers is going on?

When I spoke at a Denver-area Rotary Club breakfast on Thursday morning, a former fan asked me that question.

“I don’t understand why people keep showing up,” he said. “If I went to a restaurant and the food was consistently bad, I wouldn’t keep going to the restaurant. So why do Rockies fans still go back? Can you explain that?”

I gave him a very generic answer about gorgeous Colorado summer nights, beer and hot dogs.

Upon reflection, there are other reasons:

• Fans of other teams — think Cubs and Yankees — flock to Coors, serenading the visitors with chants of “Let’s Go Cubbies!” and “Let’s Go Yankees!” Hard-core Rockies fans behind the home dugout hate it, but what are they going to do?

• Coors is a beautiful, well-maintained ballpark. It’s the third-oldest park in the National League, but it remains one of the nicest.

• It’s family-friendly. You’re not going to get chants of “Who’s your daddy?” at Coors. You will get moms, dads and the kiddos doing The Wave, even during the eighth inning of a well-pitched, 3-2 ballgame.

• It’s not about the baseball, it’s about the party. Venture up to the “Party Deck” above right field on a Saturday night and you’ll see what I mean.

• Location, location, location. I’m not just talking about LoDo; I’m talking about Coors Field as the only big-league ballpark in the Rocky Mountain region. Come for the mountains, catch a ballgame.

Owner Dick Monfort and his son Walker, the team’s new executive vice president, count on all of those things to put fannies in the seats and lines at the concession stands.

But I sense that patience is wearing thin.

“I used to go to games, but not anymore,” a woman told me after the Rotary Club breakfast. “I’m a big baseball fan. I used to get angry with the Rockies; now I just don’t care.”

When anger starts turning into apathy, that’s a bad sign. It’s happened to the Rockies before. In 2005, 10 years after Coors Field opened and seven years after the first All-Star Game was held there, the club averaged just 23,929 fans per game, ranking 26th in baseball and marking the worst attendance in franchise history.

It took the miracle of Rocktober in 2007 to jumpstart interest. But that miracle was 18 years ago, and the Rockies’ last winning season was seven years and 607 losses ago.

There are no miracles on the horizon, and as wonderful as the ballpark is, winning actually does matter. All the marketing in the world can’t fix bad baseball. I hope ownership understands that.

He loves the big lug. Always has. Always will.

“It’s hard,” the Rockies fan from Colorado Springs said Wednesday while Colorado was blanking Nolan Arenado and St. Louis, 6-0, at an overcast Coors Field. “It (stinks). It’s a hard thing, as a Rockies fan, to see someone who’s been here for so long go.

“But I understand, at this point in our franchise’s existence, he’s more valuable to us as a trade piece than on the field… I think it’s his time to move on and hopefully go win a championship.”

Wednesday was the Rockies’ last home game until Aug. 1. It’s also the last one before the July 31 Major League Baseball trade deadline.

No coincidence, then, that a lot of Ry Mac replica jerseys were on hand — Troutman brought a white one — to mix with a sea of the usual “ARENADO 28s” in purple and red.

Speaking of McMahon — you know, the Yankees still need help at the hot corner. So do the Tigers, Mariners and Cubs.

“Yeah, it’s hard to avoid it, man,” McMahon, the Rockies’ 30-year-old third baseman, told me after an 0-for-3 day that included a walk and a run scored. “… I’m a baseball fan, so I follow a bunch of baseball accounts on all my social media. I like to stay up with the game. So, you definitely see it. But you show up to the field, you see the guys — I mean, that kind of resets you, right? You get in here with guys you care about, that you like playing the game with, and it’s just, ‘All right, let’s just go play ball.'”

Rockies fans I talked to had already skipped several stages of grief at the idea of losing No. 24 before the end of the month. Tom Lathrop, also of the Springs, hasn’t just let go. He sounded as if he’d rounded “bargaining” and slid into “acceptance” about three homestands ago.

“I think they can get some really good (prospects) for him,” offered Lathrop. “And with some of the (Rockies’) starting pitchers, I think it’s probably time.”

Past time, now that you mention it. Dick Monfort’s nostalgia streak has left an organization

Last week, I asked the hottest GM tandem in town, the Nuggets’ Jon Wallace and Ben Tenzer, if they’d ever thought about moonlighting in a baseball front office. They laughed. They also got the point.

The Nuggets had to shake off any personal affections for Michael Porter Jr. in order to move forward again as a franchise. If you love a player and hate a contract, that contract probably needs to be moved. Lesson learned.

McMahon, a glove-first All-Star with home run pop, is one of four players left from those heady #Rocktober runs of 2017 and 2018. Seven years later, every one of those guys is on the wrong side of 30, and on deals that are a pain in the rump to get off the books.

“I’ve loved playing here,” McMahon continued. “I’d love to continue playing here and hopefully win.

“But again, whatever the organization decides to do, I can say from the bottom of my heart, I’ve enjoyed every moment I’ve had interacting with fans here.”

This could be it for McMahon. This could be it for Jake Bird. Maybe even for Mickey Moniak, who, like Tyler Freeman, has been useful salvage during a season that’s otherwise turned into the mother of all dumpster fires.

“I would love to stay,” said the 27-year-old Moniak, who’s posted a .275 average and a career-best 15 home runs with Colorado. “I’ve said it the whole time since I’ve got here. The Rockies have always shown confidence in me as a player. When I got released … they were the first to call.

“I love the city of Denver. The fans have been awesome, even through this tough stretch of games we’ve been playing. So, yeah, we’d definitely love to be a Rockie for as long as possible. If I were to get traded, I’m just grateful to be playing.”

Troutman was grateful, too, toasting the pair from the left-field concourse while wishing they could be flipped for prospects tomorrow.

He also knows the Rox might not get much. McMahon was a career .819 OPS hitter in Denver going into Wednesday with a lifetime OPS of .664 away from Coors. This is a front office, after all, that shipped Arenado and cash to St. Louis four years ago for Austin Gomber and a ball of lint.

“If the return is like what happened to Nolan, then we have an issue,” Troutman cracked. “If it’s a good trade, then, good for (McMahon), good for us. I understand it. And I think it’s probably in the cycle of the Rockies’ life to let that happen.”

A gentleman in one of those white-and-green Ryan McMahon City Connect jerseys made a point to grab a bite on the main concourse in between Ry Mac at-bats, midway through the sixth.

“He’s the reason why we’re here,” the man told me. “Just don’t use my name.”

“Why?” I wondered. “Are you playing hooky on a Wednesday?”

He grinned.

“Sort of. But McMahon is why we wanted to be here.”

One last look.

Probably.

Maybe.

“He’s been pretty good for us,” Troutman said. He nodded up the third-base line as McMahon’s glove kissed the corner where so many doubles went to die. “But it’s just time to move on.”

That’s when 18-year-old Matt Holliday met 19-year-old Leslee Smith in Stillwater, Okla. Matt, drafted by the Rockies in the eighth round of the June draft, had recently completed short-season rookie ball in Arizona. Leslee was a student at Oklahoma State.

Nearly 27 years later, their two sons have a chance to become stars.

Last Sunday, Ethan, 18, a recent graduate of Stillwater High School, was taken by the Rockies with the fourth overall pick of the Major League Baseball draft. In 2022, Jackson, now 21, was the first overall pick. He debuted with the Orioles last April at the tender age of 20 and is now their starting second baseman.

From their famous father, the boys learned how to thrive in the batting cage and on the diamond. Matt was a seven-time All-Star, but ask just about anyone in Stillwater, and they’ll tell you that Leslee is the family’s superstar. She’s raised Jackson, Ethan, Graycn (15), and Reed (12) with a game plan and a tender touch.

“We are ‘Team Holliday,’ ” Leslee said.

She’s centered the family’s life on her deep Christian faith. Last offseason, the Hollidays took part in a with Compassion International, a Christian child sponsorship organization.

“She doesn’t get enough credit, but then, she doesn’t need it,” Ethan said. “She knows who she is, and she has always been the centerpiece of our family. Jackson would say the same thing; my dad would say the same; and Reed and Graycn would say the same. She’s incredible.”

Added Jackson, “I don’t even know where to start. It wasn’t just about her taking us to all of our games and all of that. It’s the way she handled the chaos of the four kids, with grace and joy.

“It was very easy to grow up with somebody you consider your best friend as a kid; somebody who was your mom, as well. She let us enjoy growing up, playing baseball and just being kids.”

‘Hope Floats’

The Hollidays are baseball royalty in Stillwater.

Matt’s father, Tom, was the head coach at Oklahoma State from 1997 to 2003. That position is now held by Matt����ap older brother, Josh. The family boasts four Oklahoma Gatorade Player of the Year winners: Josh in 1995, Matt in ’98, Jackson in 2022, and Ethan this year.

A baseball legacy is only part of what makes the Holliday family thrive.

“From Matt, you are going to get all of the baseball stuff, but when you get to know the Holliday boys, they are not just baseball players, they are a lot of other things, multifaceted,” said Billy Jones, who just completed his 12th season as Stillwater’s varsity assistant coach and director of baseball operations. “Leslee is the other part of their life, and she’s a big reason they are so well-rounded. Not that Matt isn’t part of that, but Leslee is their safe space.”

It would’ve been impossible to see it all coming on that casual first date back in 1998.

“We got set up by a friend,” Matt recalled from the Holliday home in Stillwater. “We went to one of those cheap movie theaters where they used to show movies on a second run, out of the main theaters.”

Leslee, laughing, chimed in.

“It was a $1.50 movie, and at the point, Matt didn’t know, financially, how it was going to go,” she said.

Does Leslee remember the name of the movie?

“Of course,” she said. ” ‘Hope Floats,’ with Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick Jr. Great movie.”

Prophetic, too.

Matt and Leslee were married on Dec. 30, 2000. Now, nearly 25 years later, after four kids, Matt’s 15 big-league seasons, two World Series, seven All-Star games, and 316 career home runs, the parents reside in baseball heaven.

“It’s a joy,” Leslee said. “I’m savoring these days, just like I did on the T-ball fields, and coach-pitch fields, and high school fields. It’s been pretty incredible.”

Leslee grew up on a ranch in Higgins, Texas. Her father, Steve Smith, raised cattle and quarterhorses. The family moved to the small Oklahoma town of Chickasha (pronounced Chick-kuh-shay), and Leslee graduated from Chickasha High School, where she played basketball, tennis, softball and soccer. She was also a cheerleader.

“Go ‘Fightin’ Chicks!'” she said with a laugh. “In my school, you pretty much had an opportunity to play every sport.”

Leslee’s side of the family has its own rich sports heritage. Her mom, Janice (Fenimore) Smith, played collegiate softball at Oklahoma State and Northern Colorado. Her younger brothers, Matt and Zach, were both high school football stars.

But it was her great-uncle, Bob Fenimore, who was most famous.

” was a two-time All-American football player at Oklahoma A&M College (now Oklahoma State). He finished third in the 1945 Heisman Trophy vote.

“He was a very, very kind man,” Matt said.

“Spend any time with him and he’d tell you all about it,” Leslee added. “He was very proud of what he did for Oklahoma State.”

But Leslee’s hero is her father, and their relationship, in turn, molded the Holliday boys. Steve and his daughter often rode the range together, talking about life.

“I really enjoy spending time with him, and I wanted my kids to have the same experience,” Leslee said. “Even though our life looks different than the one I grew up with, the one thing I wanted was to make sure that our children had an opportunity to be around their dad.”

The `non-negotiable’

Matt’s career took him from Colorado to Oakland to St. Louis to New York City, and back to Colorado. There were multiple minor league stops and 20 spring trainings. Ethan was born in Tucson, Ariz., during spring training 2007.

When Leslee and Matt were at the hospital, Rockies teammates Cory Sullivan and Garrett Atkins babysat Jackson. Sullivan drove Jackson to the hospital to see his mom and baby brother.

When Matt and Leslee started their family, and Matt’s career took him across the country, she had a hard-and-fast rule: the family would live together all the time. If that meant renting an apartment in Oakland for half a season in 2009, or living in bustling New York with four kids for Matt’s 2017 season with the Yankees, so be it.

If that required Leslee to become a master traveler, juggling suitcases and baby strollers through airports, that would happen, too.

“That was non-negotiable in our marriage,” she said. “Wherever Matt was, that’s where we were going. I’m so grateful for that decision because Matt is an incredible father. I wanted the kids to know him.”

Leslee’s steadfast rule is a big part of the reason why Jackson and Ethan chased their baseball dreams.

“Leslee created an atmosphere where they would get excited about baseball and what I did,” Matt said. “She did an amazing job of allowing the kids to see my job as a positive and something they wanted to do.

“I have seen the kids of other players, sometimes resenting what their dad does because they never saw him, and he missed all kinds of things. If I had to put a bow on it, I’d say that Leslee created an environment where the kids grew to love baseball and my job.”

Jackson and Ethan played on summer travel ball teams, attended showcases around the country, and spent countless hours on the fields and in the batting cages at Oklahoma State. But they haven’t burned out on the game. Baseball is a love, not a have-to.

“That’s absolutely it,” Jones said.

The Stillwater High coach grew up in Los Angeles with Todd Marinovich, who became the ultimate cautionary tale of what can happen when intense focus on athletic achievement overwhelms a young prodigy.

Marinovich, a rifle-armed quarterback, was selected by the Raiders out of Southern California in the first round of the 1991 NFL draft. Then his life fell apart. His father, Marv, groomed Marinovich from infancy to be a star QB. But, “Todd Marinovich was ‘the test-tube QB’ the first half of his life, a drug addict since.”

Jones saw it up close and personal.

“Marv was one of my coaches, and I saw the way he treated Todd vs. how he treated us,” Jones recalled. “We would go out to McDonald’s and stuff, but Todd had to have this special diet. He was forced to do all of this special training. You could see the burnout coming long before it happened.

“But with Jackson and Ethan, and their happiness, I think a lot of it has to do with their spirituality. They have a deep Christian faith, and their family is so centered, it’s not just about baseball. It’s pickleball. It’s golf. It’s education. It’s all of those things. They are very well-rounded, and Leslee and Matt deserve credit for that.”

‘Ready for the world’

Ethan, 6-foot-4, 210 pounds with room to pack on muscle, had an astounding senior season at Stillwater High, hitting .611 with a 2.038 OPS, 19 home runs and 64 RBIs.

Impressive, for sure, but that’s not what defines the Rockies’ first-round pick.

“I know Ethan really well, and he’s an amazing kid,” Jones said. “When we talk, it’s usually not about baseball. It’s about music or other things. Ethan is really into reggae.”

Leslee was not surprised when the Rockies picked Ethan; most draft experts had predicted it. Still, she was emotional.

“It’s exciting and you can’t help but get sentimental,” she said. “I mean, the day after Matt and I got married, we drove to Colorado for a winter development program. We lived in the basement of Kurt and Tammy Wells’ home in Littleton.

“We feel like we grew up with the Rockies organization. Jackson was born in the organization. So was Ethan. There are such sweet memories for us there. So I’m thrilled for Ethan. I can’t wait to see him in Denver. I love Coors Field. I think it’s the greatest ballpark in the league.”

She vividly remembers the 2007 season when Matt was the leading man in Colorado’s Rocktober run to the World Series. “Magical” is how she describes it.

There is no telling when Ethan will make his own Coors Field debut, but when he does, he’ll know where to look for his mom in the stands.

“The thought of moving out of this house and not having my mom around is sad,” said Ethan, who will soon begin his professional career in the Arizona Complex League. “But my mom helped mold me into someone ready for the world. She means everything to me. She’s incredible.”