Sounds almost as if maybe the starters were rebelling/grumbling, but probably wouldn't go to Tracy directly, so Apodoca was taking their heat.

Good to see Bo McLaughlin finally coaching on the MLB level. He's been AA pitching coach, roving instructor, AAA ooach, and just about everything else pitching-related in the Rockies organization.

I don't think there was anything nefarious or conspiratorial going on here. The four-man rotation was a desperation move because the Rockies starting pitching was so terrible. When that didn't seem to improve anything, I think Apodaca just felt he had nothing left to contribute as a pitching coach, and was frustrated with how bad things were going, so he asked to be able to do something else for a change.

Apodaca seems to be well-regarded in the organization, and all in all, I think he did a good job as Rockies pitching coach, particularly in building a series of solid bullpens out of mostly spare parts.

Didn't he unilaterally demote himself immediately after Moscoso's 8-run, 5-out start last week? Maybe it was a cry for help to please please bring Pomeranz back to the big leagues.

It's fun to say his name

I'm showing my age here but his name always reminds me of an old Del the Funky Homosapien song.

I'm showing my age here but his name always reminds me of an old Del the Funky Homosapien song.

Originally from the Monkees, actually.

Good to see Bo McLaughlin finally coaching on the MLB level.

Co-coaching, which is another unusual experiment.

This whole ill-planned mess is presumably gonna make it much tougher to do a four-man rotation properly.

Sounds almost as if maybe the starters were rebelling/grumbling, but probably wouldn't go to Tracy directly, so Apodoca was taking their heat.

One other thing: The starters don't have nearly enough juice within the organization to get Apodaca fired. For one thing, they've been horrible, so they really don't have any grounds to complain about anything. For another, the starters in the four-man rotation have been:

Christian Friedrich, rookie
Alex White, rookie, now sent down to AAA
Josh Outman, just came over from Oakland in the off-season, has 31 lifetime starts, sucks
Jeff Francis, started the season in AAA with the Reds, has a rep as a nice, hard-working guy (he's Canadian)

Those guys can grumble all they want, and they're not going to get anyone higher than a batboy fired.

Apodaca ... will be responsible for special pitching assignments.

What does that mean? Does he train pitchers for barnstorming games? The HR derby? Knuckleballers? Is he going to install a Wildcat formation?

This whole ill-planned mess is presumably gonna make it much tougher to do a four-man rotation properly.

Like how Chad Fox and Grady Little in 2003 ruined the bullpen ace concept for decades. That still makes me mad.