Rockies Mailbag: Is Thad Levine the fix to Colorado’s front office?

Denver Post sports writer Patrick Saunders with the latest installment of his Rockies Mailbag Pose a Rockies- or MLB-related question for the Rockies Mailbag Troy Renck has been advocating for the Rockies to bring in an outside evaluator In recent weeks he suggested Thad Levine What would an outside evaluator do and who are several practicable candidates should the Rockies choose to do this Also do you think Levine would be a good fit for this Thanks Renee Cody Wyo Renee not only did Troy suggest the Rockies have an outside evaluator but I have as well So has Ryan Spilborghs I m not sure if the Rockies will follow our advice I write this with a wry smile but I think they should Whatever they do they need to look outside the organization for people and ideas When I interviewed Walker Monfort after he was promoted to executive vice president he made it clear that the organization would evaluate everything However he did not indicate one way or another if the Rockies would hire someone from outside to review the organization I think we re open to whatever it takes to make the Colorado Rockies better Monfort declared But I would say it s really about maximizing our information right And if we don t have the right guidance in place we should figure out a way to get the right support in place That s not just from a staffing perspective it s really everything If the Rockies did hire someone such as Levine to review things I would imagine they would grade personnel in the front office baseball operations the coaching staff and the players They would see how money is spent throughout the organization and examine the analytics department which one person in the Rockies organization in recent months explained me is a decade behind Levine has been mentioned because he spent time with the Rockies from to and is regarded as a smart baseball man Levine might not be just a reviewer he could be a good fit for GM Levine became the assistant general manager of the Rangers in October then became the Twins GM in November He spent eight years with the Twins before departing last fall Levine helped the Twins win three American League Central division titles and make four postseason berths I m not sure who else might be a good fit to evaluate the Rockies If the Rockies are going to bring in a new GM to replace Bill Schmidt they need to do it sooner rather than later so the new GM can get a realistic lay of the land Related Articles Rockies MLB mock draft tracker What national experts predict Colorado will do Rockies games under blown out by Red Sox as Brayan Bello pitches complete battle Roman Anthony MLB s top prospect makes dazzling first impression on Rockies in Boston s series-opening win over Colorado Rockies demote struggling rookie right-hander Chase Dollander to Triple-A Mickey Moniak breaks out as Rockies rally to beat White Sox Can you please explain why the press reporters are inevitably throwing softballs to the Rockies manager and not asking the hard relevant questions of why this ball club is historically bad Not one question aired on TV is critical or searching for solutions If this were a club in the bulk other major cities the press would be all over the manager and certain of his decision-making Fred Seminole Fla Fred I get this question a lot Several fans seem to think that bombarding the manager with gotcha questions as the New York media does after a match is somehow going to improve the band s performance enhance the manager s management skills or turn things around It doesn t work that way For example after another Rockies loss if I were to ask Schaeff why is Antonio Senzatela still in the starting rotation He s been terrible I can guarantee you that I would tick Schaeffer off he wouldn t give me the answer I was looking for and it would strain our working relationship The bulk managers are not going to throw a participant under the bus I do ask those kinds of questions but usually off the record and on background to get a true sense of the club I don t grandstand I try not to lob softball questions For example I lately petitioned Schaeffer if he s frustrated by the company s continued inability to hit with runners in scoring position It was a fair question that needed to be petitioned His answer however was sugar-coated Also keep in mind that The Denver Post no longer travels to cover the Rockies so I don t have the opportunity to ask questions after road games Patrick I m not sure why I m asking a question about roster construction when there seems to be no rhyme or reason to what the Rox are doing If there is please reveal it for us Why did they option Ryan Feltner He has arguably been the best starter this season There are so several more questions but I ll go with this one for now Thanks Ian Denver Ian I was also perplexed about this At first I thought it was exclusively a procedural move as Feltner came off the -day injured list But I reached out to GM Bill Schmidt about it and he commented Ryan was optioned to Triple-A to improve He hasn t pitched through five innings yet He demands to improve his efficiency Entering Tuesday Feltner had made three starts for the Isotopes pitching a combined innings He requirements to build back up Before he went on the IL with his back injury he was - with a ERA over six starts for the Rockies Before the season I thought Feltner would be Colorado s best starting pitcher But like so several other things this season Feltner s had a lost season What s the latest on Kris Bryant Is he ever going to play for the Rockies this season Geoff Erie Geoff Bryant is still around the Rockies clubhouse and is getting healing though I rarely see him Manager Warren Schaeffer in the past few days noted that Bryant wasn t close to returning I don t think Bryant will play this season and there s a chance he may not play baseball again due to his chronic back condition My buddy Thomas Harding of Rockies com caught up with Bryant last week and Bryant described him that he is seeking experimental treatments that can get him to the point he can run torque and totally return to play Harding also published that exercises and an ablation remedy in May did not provide enough relief for Bryant to make progress toward getting back on the field Why the continued excuse of the unique issue of playing at altitude From - the Denver Bears Zephyrs with affiliations with different MLB teams were league champions four times made it to the finals but lost four times and had only four losing records during that span Why do those making Rockies decisions not admit that this organization has been poor at evaluating drafting advancing coaching and technical analytics and is only good at holding on to players beyond their past due date Or letting other good players slip away and getting essentially nothing in return Draft-and-develop has not worked and no crew wins with only great prospects My hometown organization the Orioles are a prime example of that this year David Garland Allenspark David I believe there is a question somewhere in there I have not studied why the minor league teams won in Denver while the Rockies have struggled to win with any consistency I will say that playing baseball big-league baseball is different than anywhere else in the majors If you ask any manager athlete or GM in the battle over the last years they will tell you the same thing Hall of Fame manager Jim Leyland lasted just one year in Colorado If you aren t buying my argument you should check out the story Coors Field horror stories years of baseball at altitude published by ESPN com in April It s pretty convincing Here s a sample Jim Leyland took the job as Rockies manager in coming off a sustained run of success in Pittsburgh and Miami and lasted only a year Buck Showalter managed the opposing Diamondbacks in one of Leyland s final games in Colorado and after the meeting Leyland recounted him he was finished He disclosed I m out of here You can t win here He was done Showalter recalled over the weekend He commented I love the championship I want to manage baseball This is not baseball ' Near the end of that season Leyland turned to then-first-year general manager O Dowd and declared Do you have any f ing idea what you ve gotten yourself into Now that I have outlined the altitude argument I will say that there is no excuse for the Rockies poor performance over the last three seasons especially offensively In your estimation will the Rockies win a meager games this season Or is it a lost cause Ed Helinski Auburn N Y Ed you well know that this season is a lost cause As I write this the Rockies have a - record and are on pace to finish the season with a - record So no I don t think the Rockies will win games I ve predicted they ll finish - Shout out to my email buddy Craig who gets really angry whenever I write about the Rockies losing pace When will we see Kyle Karros in Denver The day after Ryan McMahon is traded to a contender or will it be Also I see that Karros is getting the occasional start at first base in Hartford Do you think he is being considered for that position since Michael Toglia is struggling to stay above the Mendoza Line John Godfrey Sebastopol Calif John I don t think we ll see Karros in Denver until next season but a lot depends on how much the Rockies shake up their roster as the deal deadline approaches It s not a sure thing that McMahon gets traded because he s having a bad season at the plate As you are seemingly aware Charlie Condon who was just now promoted to Double-A Hartford is getting a lot of time at first base Condon appears to be Toglia s future replacement if Toglia continues to scuffle Karros future is likely at third base but we ll see how things unfold Hey Patrick do you think we ll see Mickey Moniak in a Rockies uniform after this season He seems to have had a bit of a career revival since signing with us Or is he going to be traded off like Ryan McMahon will inevitably be when the agreement deadline comes Mark Arvada Mark I don t see Moniak being a big commerce chip unless he s part of a package Then again if the Rockies arrangement Moniak that would open the door for right fielder Zac Veen who requirements to show he s absolutely ready for the majors Monaik is playing on a one-year deal for just million but he s still arbitration-eligible so the Rockies control his near future The same goes for Tyler Freeman who s been playing terrific baseball Freeman who will be arbitration-eligible for the first time after this season is making this season Want more Rockies news Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis