DENVER — It’s no longer Bud Black’s job to steer the Colorado Rockies away from baseball infamy.
The team fired Black, the winningest manager in franchise history, after a 7-33 start that’s one of the worst in Major League Baseball history.
Colorado promoted third base coach Warren Schaeffer to be the interim manager, the team announced Sunday after a 9-3 win over the San Diego Padres. That victory wasn’t enough to save Black’s job after the Rockies lost 21-0 to the same team the night before. They also fired bench coach Mike Redmond. Hitting coach Clint Hurdle takes over as interim bench coach.
The Rockies have the worst 40-game start to a season by any MLB team since the 1988 Baltimore Orioles, who were 6-34.
“Our play so far this season, especially coming off the last two seasons, has been unacceptable. Our fans deserve better, and we are capable of better,” Rockies owner, chairman and CEO Dick Monfort said in a release announcing the changes. “While we all share responsibility in how this season has played out, these changes are necessary.”