The Rockies’ plan to overhaul and rebuild their front office will include hiring what the club is calling a “chief revenue and strategy officer,” a major league source confirmed Thursday.
The source also indicated the Rockies are moving closer to hiring a head of baseball operations from outside the organization. The finalists for that position could be determined by next week. The club has not decided whether the title for the job will be president of baseball operations or general manager.
According to the source, the chief revenue and strategy officer would be tasked with helping grow the Rockies from the business side and will be involved in investing money in data, analytics and strategy.
“The job of the CRSO would be to grow revenues to be reinvested back into baseball operations and the team,” the source said.
Executive vice president Walker Monfort, the oldest son of team owner and CEO Dick Monfort, is leading the search for a new boss in the wake of the Rockies’ 119-loss season. GM Bill Schmidt, the longtime overseer of the Rockies‘ “draft-and-develop” philosophy, resigned on Oct. 1 following the worst season in franchise history. Assistant GM Zack Rosenthal resigned on Oct. 8.
In contrast to their historic track record, the Rockies are looking outside the organization for a new architect to rebuild a team that has posted three consecutive l00-loss seasons. According to a recent report in The Athletic, Colorado has interviewed at least three candidates: 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.
Walker Monfort has said he will look into how small and mid-market teams have been able to “put winning teams on the field.”
“I’ve talked about doing a deep dive into what we’re doing and how we’re currently allocating our resources,” he told The Denver Post when he was promoted to vice president in June. “Part of what we’re talking about here is looking at clubs. Milwaukee is an example. Cleveland is an example. Arizona is an example, Minnesota — similar market-sized teams that have had recent success. We need to look at what they’re doing that may be different from us.”
This past season, the Rockies had 11 staff members in their analytics department, making it one of the smallest departments of its kind in the majors. Information-gathering for the big-league club, as well as its minor league teams, also trails most other franchises.
Walker Monfort has repeatedly said that the Rockies “need to maximize our resources” in all departments, but hasn’t spelled that out. He’s also said that he and his father are working together.
“I don’t think our vision is different; I think we have a very similar vision,” he said in June. “We both want the same thing for this organization. We want to be a very high-caliber baseball team with the best customer service and the best experience in baseball.
“He’s a partner in this. He’s still the ultimate decision-maker. In the end, we’re looking at getting this organization back to where it needs to be. And I think we can confidently say that we’re going to do what we can to do that.”
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