Bud Black Fired By Colorado Rockies After 7-33 Start To 2025 Mlb Season

Just one day after being given a vote of confidence, and minutes after their biggest victory of the season, the Colorado Rockies fired manager Bud Black on May 11.

Black, whose team was 7-33, tied with the 1988 Baltimore Orioles for the worst start in MLB history, is being replaced by third base coach Warren Schaeffer. Schaeffer will be the interim manager the rest of the season. Clint Hurdle, who was just hired three weeks ago as the hitting coach, is now the new bench coach, replacing Mike Redmond, who was fired.

“Our play so far this season, especially coming off the last two seasons, has been unacceptable,’’ Rockies owner Dick Monfort said. “Our fans deserve better, and we are capable of better. While we all share responsibility in how this season has played out, these changes are necessary. We will use the remainder of 2025 to improve where we can on the field and to evaluate all areas of our operation so we can properly turn the page into the next chapter of Rockies baseball.’’

Certainly, the new man on the hot seat is GM Bill Schmidt, who on May 10 told reporters that Black’s job was not in jeopardy.

“I think our guys are still playing hard, and that’s what I look at,” Schmidt told reporters. “Guys are working hard every day, they come with energy, for the most part. I don’t think we are (at that point of firing Black). Guys still believe in what we are doing and where we are headed. We are all frustrated.”

Obviously, Monfort had different ideas.

Black's firing comes moments after the Rockies won 9-3 over the San Diego Padres, snapping their eight-game losing streak after losing 21-0 on May 10t, becoming one of only six teams in baseball history to lose by at least 21 runs. The Rockies permitted at least 10 runs in four consecutive games this week, tying the record for the longest such streak since the wild-card era in 1969.

Black, 68 next month, was in his ninth year as the Rockies’ manager. He led the Rockies to back-to-back playoff berths in 2017-2018, but they haven’t had a winning season since, with the Rockies suffering 100-loss seasons in consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history. He was on the final year of his contract and was expected to retire after the season.

The job now goes to Schaeffer, 40, who had been the Rockies’ third base and infield coach since 2023. He was in their minor-league system as a manager from 2015-2022.

“I believe that Warren is the right person to lead us forward for the remainder of this season, develop our young talent at the Major League level and get our club back to playing a better brand of baseball,” Schmidt said. “He has a great ability to connect with both veterans and young players and is an excellent communicator.’’

Black becomes the second manager fired in 72 hours, following Derek Shelton'’'s dismissal on May 8 in Pittsburgh.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Colorado Rockies fire manager Bud Black after historically bad start