Let's see how long this org chart lasts, but it sure looks like O'Dowd is getting nudged to the door.

Weird they can't just do it, though. So maybe O'Dowd is not the only source of the "Plan/week" method.

The Rockies have also told O’Dowd he can listen to his radio at a reasonable level, although they’re going to need his red stapler.

Love this comment, AG#1F.

O'Dowd had an absolutely heinous off-season; not a single one of his big-ticket acquisitions has worked out. Guthrie and Ramon Hernandez were awful, Scutaro wasn't much better, and Cuddyer, the best of the bunch, has been mediocre. All those guys were older than the Rockies they were replacing. He got three young pitchers for Seth Smith and Chris Iannetta, and all three got knocked around in the majors and have been sent back to the minors, although they're still young enough to eventually make an impact.

The success stories for this year include the rookies Wilin Rosario and Josh Rutledge, and when the Rockies have been good, it's been almost entirely because of their farm system. So asking O'Dowd to focus on player development seems like a good idea. It'll be nice not to have him make any more transactions at the major league level for a while.

The Covlin-Stewart deal worked pretty well for them at least.

You are now the vice president but your job will be cleaning the floors.

O'Dowd lives a charmed life.

The Covlin-Stewart deal worked pretty well for them at least.

That's true. You have to give him credit for that one. It would be even better if the Cuddyer signing hadn't choked off the best place for Colvin to play.

man that is just terrible news. decreased effups?? i hate those rockies!!! they are only 2 games behind my astros in the great race to see who can lose the most games in 1 year. If we can keep up this awesome pace of only 3 wins/month, we will WIN THE TITLE of Suckest Team to Ever Suck in a 162 game season. We'll winnnnn!!!!!!!!

It will be soooooo thrilling! How can we manage to lose again? Make sure the guy playing third can't field routine grounders. Make sure your leadoff guy and the guy hitting 3rd or cleanup has an on base under .280!!!! Make sure the second baseman throws 1 foot over the head of the SS when making a flip to second!! make sure some idiot on second isn't smart enough to wait until a GB gets thru the IF before starting for third so he can get in a rundown!! Make sure the runner at third wanders off into the coaches box so as he can get picked off!! Have the "hitters" flail away at pitches 1 foot over or outside the strike zone!! Make sure you have catchers who can't block pitches or throw out runners, hopefully throwing into the OF a lot. And best of all, keep running relievers like cooked cordero and chuckie Ick out there to give up 3-4 runs/inning!!!!!

And just when i keep thinking that can't NOBODY catch us in the race to the suckage, i look up and there is the (swear word) rockies right on our heels, only 2 games away.

man that is just terrible news. decreased effups??

We don't really know this do we? This Geivett guy could be an even more prolific effupper than O'Dowd was.

Firing O'Dowd outright would be SOP but this is just plain weird.

1. OK, I assume this an attempt to save face for O'Dowd but to push him out of ML responsibility while keeping him GM is strange. Usually this is done by just making the GM the (powerless) VP for baseball operations and having the new guy be GM. (Would I be correct in guessing O'Dowd has a few years left on his contract?)

2. And they replace him with a guy who is, according to the story, going to work closely with Jim Tracy? I can't imagine a better way to catch the Astros than to give Jim Tracy more input into personnel decisions.

3. #2 suggests that there was a disconnect between O'Dowd and Tracy -- and Tracy won the office politics battle? Jim Tracy? I guess he prayed harder.

OK, 2 and 3 are really the same point but ... Jim Tracy?

2. And they replace him with a guy who is, according to the story, going to work closely with Jim Tracy? I can't imagine a better way to catch the Astros than to give Jim Tracy more input into personnel decisions.

I didn't interpret the story that way at all. Geivett is going to run the team at the major league level, including overseeing the major league manager.

O'Dowd earlier was quoted saying that Jim Tracy had a job as long as he was around. I'm not sure what Jim Tracy has done to deserve that kind of job security, but so it goes.

I didn't interpret the story that way at all. Geivett is going to run the team at the major league level, including overseeing the major league manager.

Could be I suppose, I just don't equate "work closely with" and "oversee." And if you need a separate guy to "work closely with" the manager, that suggests that O'Dowd wasn't or was finding it an onerous task.

It gets a little weirder now I read the story ... Geivett is "senior vice president for major league operations" but still reports to O'Dowd as his boss. Does any other team have a senior VP for the majors? What is O'Dowd's actual title -- Exec VP for basball ops?

But, sure, it all depends how you interpret the intentionally vague corporate lingo. O'Dowd "will remain involved in player acquistions." That either means he's been pushed aside in this role but still gets to sit in the room ... or he's still calling the shots on player acquisition.

Walt Davis Posted: August 01, 2012 at 08:45 PM (#4198519)
Firing O'Dowd outright would be SOP but this is just plain weird.

...And they replace him with a guy who is, according to the story, going to work closely with Jim Tracy? I can't imagine a better way to catch the Astros than to give Jim Tracy more input into personnel decisions.

i don't get the jim tracy luuuvv by that Organization

and yeah, catching the astros looks easier for them by the day

It's funny how a guy like Tracy is going to have a long career as an ML manager and a guy like Dierker never got a second crack despite a nice run of success in Houston. Baseball loves their Yes-men, I guess. And agreed that this plan is just weird but, then, the Rockies are a weird organization.

Jim Tracy isn't even a yes man though. He back stabbed his players, throws them under the buss when it suits him, said one thing, does another, played guys he wanted despite his front office clearly preferring other options. He just has that aw shucks personality going for him so the right people (His bosses) fall for it.

All disfunctional organizations love their yes men.