With spring training for the Colorado Rockies just around the corner, the club held a Twitter Q&A on Tuesday afternoon with owner Dick Monfort. The results were as expected, given the culture of the front office and the criticism by the fan base.
A frequent solution to the Rockies’ woes was proposed.
“Will you do the right thing for CO and sell the team?”
Monfort’s response was, “We have no plans to sell the team. Nobody wants to win more than I do.”
No shocker there. More critical questions/comments ranged from criticism of the minor-league system — which Monfort said Topps voted No.1 — to complaints about ticket prices, ballpark experience and a lack of roster moves.
The front office at Coors Field is as used to these criticisms as the fans are to the same pre-canned answers — “We are doing our best” chief of them.
There are plenty of Rockies fans content with going to the ballpark for a nice day, seeing some guys play baseball and going home happy whether the home team won or not. If they don’t, it’s just a shame after all, right?
Then there are the vocal fans who are unimpressed and haven’t been impressed since 2007, and certainly not since 2009. These fans — myself included — have been run through the same excuse turnstiles. We’ve heard them all and seen every offseason pass by without much to be excited about. This offseason wasn’t much different aside from the Dexter Fowler trade and the acquisition of Justin Morneau to take over Todd Helton’s place at first.
So it did not surprise me to see the usual cross-section of Rockies fans show up to have a shot at getting their question answered by the owner: the diehards who are just happy to have a baseball team to root for in town and the diehards who wish the team would get a new owner if the current one is just going to stand idly by and proclaim he is for the team and for the fans.
Monfort is for himself and for the profit that comes with not having to do much to keep about half the fans or more coming to the ballpark. Success on the field is secondary, especially away from Coors Field, where the team struggles the most.