Rockies fire Bud Black after 7-33 start

The Colorado Rockies fired longtime manager Bud Black and bench coach Mike Redmond after a dismal 7-33 start to the season, the team announced following Sunday's game.

Third base coach Warren Schaeffer has been elevated to interim manager for the remainder of the campaign, while hitting coach Clint Hurdle will take over as interim bench coach.

"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," owner Dick Monfort said in a statement. "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."

Black compiled a 543-690 record over nine campaigns as the Rockies' skipper, and he passed Hurdle to become the winningest manager in team history last season. The 67-year-old led Colorado to the playoffs in each of his first two years at the helm but failed to post a winning record after 2018. The club is now well on its way to a fourth straight last-place finish and third consecutive 100-loss season.

"We had a lot of internal talks," general manager Bill Schmidt said, according to Andrew Mason of 104.3 The Fan. "I think we're capable of playing better than we've played, and so, it was the time to make a change."

Black was fired less than 24 hours after the team suffered a historic 21-0 loss to the San Diego Padres. Bill Schmidt, who had publicly backed Black before Saturday's game, said his decision was made before Sunday's game began. The Rockies won 9-3 to snap their third eight-game losing streak of the season.

"Trying to get everything in place this morning was gonna rush it," Schmidt said. "So, I made the decision we'd do it post game, win or lose.

"So, I know it took a little air out of winning the game, but I think the right thing, you don't put somebody on a plane and do it in Texas (on Monday), you do it here. So, that's why we made the decision."

The Rockies' struggles have been mounting with each passing day: Colorado now owns a minus-128 run differential in 2025 and has yet to win a series this year. The team's 7-33 record is the worst through the first 40 games of a campaign since the 1988 Baltimore Orioles started 6-34, per The Associated Press.

Sunday's result put the Rockies on pace to finish at 29-133, a record that would shatter the modern-era loss record set by last year's White Sox and leave them one shy of tying the all-time mark held by the 1899 Cleveland Spiders.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who was mentored by Black while on his coaching staff in San Diego, felt the firing was unjust.

"I'm bummed. I'm disappointed," Roberts said, according to Steve Berman and Dennis Lin of The Athletic. "I don't think Casey Stengel could change the outcome of that ball club, and that's not the manager's fault. But obviously, they felt they needed a change in voice or direction. But for me, there's not many people that are better than Buddy Black. So, yeah, that's very disappointing. It is certainly not his doing."

Redmond, who also lost his job Sunday, was Black's bench coach for his entire tenure as manager. The 54-year-old spent three years managing the Miami Marlins before joining the Rockies.

Schaeffer, meanwhile, becomes the eighth manager in Rockies history. The 40-year-old first joined Black's staff as third base coach in 2023 after spending seven years managing in Colorado's farm system at three different levels.

Colorado brought Hurdle, who led the Rockies to their only NL pennant in 2007, back into their dugout as interim hitting coach last month after Hensley Meulens was fired. The 67-year-old had been working as a special assistant to Schmidt since 2021, two years after he retired from managing.

As part of the coaching staff shuffle, the Rockies are promoting Triple-A hitting coach Jordan Pacheco and minor-league hitting coordinator Nick Wilson to take over for Hurdle as the team's hitting coaches, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Assistant hitting coach Andy Gonzalez, meanwhile, will shift to third base coach in place of Schaeffer.