Monfort, DePodesta assess ‘Climb’ so far
Rockies President Walker Monfort and baseball-operations president Paul DePodesta met ticket-plan holders about The Climb, even as the club flirts with a fourth straight 100-loss season.
Denny Dressman ·
Rockies President Walker Monfort and Paul DePodesta, President of Baseball Operations, met with ticket plan holders for an hour late last week to provide a status report on The Climb.
That’s the name they’ve given to their ongoing effort to restore, first, team credibility, then, team respectability, and finally, team competitiveness resulting in championships in the beleaguered organization.
Both men are in the first full year in their positions, and the difference they represent in the Rockies is obvious throughout the program—even as this year’s Rockies flirt with a fourth straight 100-loss season.
Monfort, who is far more personable and forthcoming than his father, Dick, face of the Rockies for years, told the audience specifics his dad likely never would have divulged.
First, he pointed out that the club’s budget increased by 15% this year (worth eight figures, he said) and that, in part, the extra money enabled DePodesta and those who report to him to hire 23 additional folks in the non-playing operation, a critical boost in off-the-field activity.
Second, he explained that Greg Penner and Carrie Walton Penner, in effect, bailed out the Rockies when they bought a 40% interest in the ball club earlier this year. The abbreviated Covid season, followed by the revenue loss when the team’s local television network went under, resulted in the Rockies going seriously into the red.
Shifting from the business to the strictly baseball side, Monfort noted that 61 of this year’s games, going into the weekend series with the Cardinals, had been decided by two or fewer runs, a marked leap in competitiveness. (Only 41% of them ended in victory, he conceded.)
DePodesta, meanwhile, delivered an assessment of his first 10 months focused on baseball.
He cited various statistical ranking that show the Rockies have improved markedly—from near the bottom of the major leagues to middle of the pack.
And he recognized the contributions of several players added since he moved to Denver, most notably outfielder Jake McCarthy, who has blossomed at the top of the batting order; Rookie of the Year candidate T.J. Rumfield, slick-fielding at first base and patient at the plate; versatile Willi Castro, who has played all four infield positions this seasons; Troy Johnston, one of the team’s leaders in batting average as a sometimes-outfielder and frequent designated hitter; and lefthanded reliever Brennan Bernadino, who already has set a personal record for appearances in a season and has an earned run average under three.
DePodesta also admitted that not every move succeeded, without identifying by name either pitcher Michael Lorenzen or infielder Edouard Julien, two off-season additions who were released by mid-season.
He acknowledged the never-ending challenge of pitching at Coors Field and said he already has concluded that “building a pitching staff the way everyone else does doesn’t make sense.” In Denver, more long relief rather a different bullpen arm each inning is key.
McCarthy, Rumfield and Bernadino were acquired in under-the-radar trades; Castro signed as a free agent; and Johnston was claimed off waivers—which, DePodesta said, shows some of the varied ways the Rockies must succeed if they are to compete successfully with big boys such as the Dodgers and their seemingly bottomless pockets.
At the same time, the new chief thinker of the organization’s baseball future acknowledged the Los Angeles farm system, noting it was in the top five of organizations producing its own talent, then called everyone’s attention to the Rockies minor league successes in the Arizona Complex League, the Class A California League’s Fresno Grizzlies and the Hartford Yard Goats at Double-A.
And he recognized slugging Charlie Condon, who remained at Albuquerque all season, as yet another example of his approach to building a team.
“Three things can happen when you call up a young player,” he told the audience. “One, they’re not ready so they fail. Or two, they struggle to survive. Or three, they’re ready to succeed. We’re trying to bring young players up when they’re ready to succeed.”
The TV voice of the Rockies, Drew Goodman, emceed the hour-long Q&A and offered an illuminating addendum to all that Monfort and DePodesta had to say.
Noting that he frequently chats on the field before games with managers and players from opposing teams, he said: “They all see the difference in the other dugout these days. They can sense the change that’s coming.”
Denny Dressman writes a weekly sports column for The Villager. You can write to Denny at dennydressman@comcast.net.
Print source: The Villager, Vol. 44 No. 42, Sept. 10, 2026, page 12. Issuu edition. There is no Sports slug in NEWS_SECTIONS; this draft uses local-news. Player-name spellings follow the print extract, including Bernadino as printed.