Skipper Walt Weiss leads Colorado Rockies at the Nashville Meetings - MLB News
The Colorado Rockies went against the norm in the Winter Meetings in Nashville, Tennessee this year and allowed their manager Walt Weiss, who is having his first experience of managing in the Major League, take a front seat.
The Colorado ball club wanted to see what Walt had to offer as far as leadership is concerned. They did not bring a lot of front office staff to the Winter Meetings and only senior vice president of Major League operations Bill Geivett, assistant scouting
director Danny Montgomery and vice president of scouting Bill Schmidt were present in Nashville.
Generally a number of front office executives, along with professional scouts and Minor League officials are present at these meetings. Discussions were held via conference calls with general manager Dan O’Dowd and the scouting staff. The Minor League staff
arrived late at the meetings.
Bill Geivett was pleased about how the matters went in the meetings and also had an opportunity to see how Walt operated. Bill also liked Walt’s conviction towards what he believed in.
"I saw the aspect of being particular about certain things he wanted done on the field," Geivett said. "When you have a first-year manager who hasn't managed at the professional level, it's good to know that there are things that he feels very strongly about
and is very convinced about."
Walt had impressed the ball club during the interview process when the team had a number of well known names vying for the job. At the time, he was coaching the Regis Jesuit High School with a fair bit of success.
Rockies did make some moves of late. They selected Danny Rosenbaum in the Rule 5 Draft and the left-handed pitcher is likely to be used as a starting pitcher in Spring Training. They were also able to trade Alex White for reliever Wilton Lopez who has done
really well for the Astros.
There have been teams looking to add Dexter Fowler to their ranks but the Colorado Rockies do not seem interested, unless a great trade is offered. They are in need to a starting pitcher of high quality and that can certainly lure them into trading Dexter.
Bill Geivett summed up the situation saying that the team had until April to get things in place and they are not looking to unnecessarily push the matter.
"When you pack up and come to these things, you want to go home with your bounty: 'We've got this, here's our treasure and everybody can see it.' That pushes people in to making deals that they shouldn't at times. For us and a lot of people, it's a little
different. It's a whole winter. We play in April," Bill said.
Colorado Rockies will kick off their Spring Training in February. It will be a big test for the club as well as their new manager Walt Weiss and his staff. So far, they appear to be doing well.
Tags: