• Archive: Help! My Baseball Team Is Actually an Amenity for a High-end Real Estate Project
For fans, it’s a difficult reality to accept.
Jul 9, 2021
The Rockies are a team in disarray. This week, Nick Groke reported another story of front-office malpractice, writing. “The Rockies and interim general manager Bill Schmidt have indicated to teams that they are not willing to engage in trade talks on any player, multiple league sources told The Athletic.” Should anyone wish to make a deal, “[s]ources from two opposing front offices said their teams don’t know exactly whom to contact when they want to reach the Rockies about trades.”
[Imagine a ThisIsFine.GIF here.]
It’s one thing for the Rockies to have a philosophy that involves keeping key players (though, to be clear, there has been no indication from the front office that any kind of plan exists). It’s quite another for other teams to be uncertain about whom to contact within the Rockies organization. Moreover, the indication that they won’t be doing anything until after the MLB Draft and All-Star Game leaves an impression that the Rockies cannot walk and chew gum at the same time. This is a bad look for a company worth an estimated $1.3 billion.
But maybe we’re thinking about this incorrectly. Maybe the Rockies are less a baseball team than, say, a McGregor Square amenity, like a rooftop pool or an exclusive fitness center and day spa.
Early model of McGregor Square
Two writers whose work I respect have given me much to ponder. The first is from Bryan Kilpatrick of Mile High Sports:
Bryan Kilpatrick @RockyMountainBK
This makes sense. We know that the Rockies have been a profitable team — at least in terms of attendance. Coors Field consistently ranks in the top ten of MLB attendance, which probably means more revenue. In addition, there’s not much indication that team quality disproportionately affects fans’ decisions to attend.
This comment on Groke’s article has also stayed with me:
Source: The Athletic
On Wednesday, Rockies president Greg Feasel spoke with media, saying, “Yes, there has been change, but we feel good about how we are moving forward.” Greg, buddy, I don’t know if you’d noticed, but the Rockies are historically bad on the road, and the only news from the front office involves people leaving. Your assurances seem a bit empty — and lacking any reference to actual baseball.
Perhaps I’m just caving into “the narrative,” but given what we know about front office departures and decisions, it’s impossible to believe Dick Monfort prioritizes having a winning baseball team. I mean, he likes winning — we all like winning — but there does not appear to be a financial motivation to, first, focus on baseball operations, and, second, allow knowledgeable staff to do their jobs. (In my experience the management philosophy that involves having fewer people do more work often requires employees to perform tasks they are not trained to do. Yes, it fills a need and saves money in the short term, but the long-term consequences are real.)
The second idea I’ve been thinking about involves a Twitter conversation Nick Groke had last weekend.
I get what Groke is saying here — and I agree — but, really, where’s the glamor in making money in the stock market?
Sure, a select group of people who read the Wall Street Journal and watch CNBC recognize how talented and rich you are, but that can’t compare to owning a sports team. You’re one in an elite club of 30 (very visible, very wealthy) owners. You’re recognized locally, and you get your name in national sports reporting. In addition to all that celebrity, you get to be a fan — the biggest fan! Fantasy baseball is now your reality: You’re signing and trading players. You get to hang out with them. People know you. Sure, the stock market is great, but owning a sports team is better, especially when it comes with a publicly owned stadium. (And we know from recent ProPublica reporting that sports team owners have carved out for themselves some nifty tax benefits.)
I’ve been bothered for awhile by the appearance of McGregor Square in Rockies publicity. Grand openings get mentioned in Rockies press releases. On Opening Day 2.0, the broadcast had McGregor Square in the background and discussed its awesomeness. Ryan McMahon has filmed a spot where he walks through the Rally Hotel and describes its amenities. Camera shots of fans walking through McGregor Square are common. None of this is about building a winning baseball team. This is about money.
Fans are agonizing over a fascinatingly weird baseball team: It’s a juggernaut at home (with terrific pitching) and historically bad on the road (with worst-in-the-league hitting). For Dick Monfort, this strikes me as the ideal scenario. At Coors Field, the Rockies win are a whole lot of fun — after all, they lead the league in walk-off wins. What’s more fun that a walk-off? Besides, who cares what happens on the road? The TV revenues are set, and the money spends the same.
If Dick Monfort thought there were a problem with the Rockies, he’d address it. There’s no evidence that’s happening.
Old Friends
- Adam Ottavino marked a 10-year MLB milestone.
- Tyler Nevin continues to make his way through the Orioles’ system.
- David Dahl found his swing on Tuesday.
- Joe Harvey is a Twin now.
Down on the Farm
- P.J. Poulin, a UConn alum and 11th round choice in the 2018 draft, is now with the Yard Goats. (This is a local news story, and I’m a serious fan of that kind of writing.)
- Pitcher Dugan Darnell, a right-handed pitcher, has moved to the Spokane team. (This is another local news story.)
- The promotions keep coming:
Spokane Indians @spokaneindians
Congrats to Nick Bush on being promoted to the Double-A @GoYardGoats! In 10 appearances (7 starts) with Spokane, the former @LSUbaseball pitcher went 4-2 with 3 wins in his last 4 starts. He sported a 2.58 ERA with 60 strikeouts in 52.1 innings. Good luck, Nick! #GoSpo
What I’m Reading
- Patrick Saunders’ “Rockies Numbers Tell Story of their Split Personality” (Denver Post) — Saunders does a terrific job here of explaining just how bizarre the Rockies home/road splits are in 2021. Folks who say, “The Rockies are a bad team” aren’t paying attention. The Rockies are a fascinating team though in a very strange way.
- Connor Farrell’s “Same As It Ever Was” (Talkin’) — Farrell describes the self-satisfied stasis of the Rockies front office.
- David Roth’s “Press 3 to Request a Trade from the Colorado Rockies” (Defector) — If David Roth is writing about the Rockies, it’s must-read material.
- Bryan Kilpatrick’s “How Germán Márquez Turned a Slow Start into an All-Star First Half” (MileHigh Sports) — Márquez will be only the eighth Rockies pitcher ever in the Midsummer Classic. Kilpatrick explains why.
- Neil Paine — “The Rockies Have Their Worst Coors Field Hangover Yet)”(FiveThirtyEight.com) — Paine gets the numbers right, but he’s missing a lot of the nuance about what makes this team especially weird. (And to discuss the 2021 Rockies without the implosion of their analytics department seems like an obvious mistake.)
- Thomas Harding’s “Son, 5, Reignited Chacín’s Love of the Game” (MLB.com) — Chacín is one of my favorite stories of this season.
- Geoff Grammer’s “After Cancer Scare, Connor Joe Is Loving the Game Again”(Albuquerque Journal) — Any story about Connor Joe is worth reading.
- Lauren Theisen’s “Could a ‘Bad Fielder’ Do This? (Yes)” (Defector) — This is one of the best things I’ve read about Fernando Tatís Jr.
- Mike Petriello’s “Ohtani Might Just Be a Real-life Super Hero” (MLB.com) — Petriello explains just how good Ohtani is (and there’s a mention of Trevor Story).
Weekend Walk-off
Last week Nolan Arenado returned to Coors Field. Much has been written about it, so I’ll spare you more rehashing and just add a personal observation.
It must have been weird for Arenado, returning as a visitor to the stadium he knows best. He stayed in the opposing team’s clubhouse and experienced Coors Field from an outsider’s perspective. He’s always been clear that he liked Denver and his teammates and coaches and the fans — and that came through last weekend. But this time, he was the outsider.
The Rockies’ walk-off win on Sunday had to have been especially hard. Yes, the Cardinals lost — we know he hates losing — but it must have been strange, watching his old friends celebrate in the outfield after his cousin scored the winning run as his family looked on. Meanwhile, Arenado got to collect his things, return to the visitors’ clubhouse, and prepare to leave for San Francisco. Surely in that moment, the consequences of his choices became clear. That’s not to say his request for a trade was a good or bad decision; rather, his stay in Denver served as a reminder of what he’d left behind because decisions always have consequences.
In the meantime, I appreciated this conversation with Ryan Spilborghs:
We’ll see Arenado again at Coors Field next week, and perhaps this time will be less weird.
Thanks for reading, and, if you’re going, have a great time at the All-Star Game festivities —
Renee