Skip to content

Rockies owner: We've never tanked and 'never will'

Icon Sports Wire / Icon Sportswire / Getty

Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort insists his team - which has not finished above .500 for four consecutive years - is not mired in a rebuild and never will be.

"I hate that word," Monfort said of 'rebuilding,' according to Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. "I guess the connotation on rebuilding is you just get rid of everybody. ... We're not trying to get the first pick. We're not going to tank. We never have, never will."

Numerous teams have found success using a tanking strategy in recent years, with the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros both losing 100 games before turning it around in short order to win a World Series.

Since that drought-busting title, the Cubs have let numerous marquee players go - including Kris Bryant, who signed a seven-year, $182-million contract with the Rockies last winter. This offseason, the Cubs added Dansby Swanson, Eric Hosmer, and Cody Bellinger, among others, in an attempt to return to the postseason after two years away.

Meanwhile, the Astros also let some big names depart, but Houston won another championship in 2022, partly due to a robust farm system churning out the next generation of stars in Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez.

"(Tanking) worked for the Cubs," Monfort continued. "I mean, I think the Cubs really did do that. And the Astros. Kansas City, I don't know if they were trying to do that or if they were just (bad) for a long period of time. ... The problem is, now Kansas City's not drawing anybody, right? If the (Royals) are on a rebuild, this is Year 8 of it. I don't see our fans wanting to come to the games and say we're gonna suck for eight years."

The Royals won what is sometimes considered an unlikely championship in the second year of back-to-back World Series appearances in 2015. Since then, K.C. has gone 378-492 (.434) with zero postseason appearances and has finished no higher than third in the division.

The Rockies have finished higher than third in the NL West once since 2010. Over that span, they made the postseason twice, going 1-4. They've never won a division dating back to their inception in 1993.

The Rockies enter the 2023 campaign with an estimated payroll of $181.9 million, which ranks 16th in MLB, according to Cot's Contracts.

MORE STORIES

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox