Rockies could pull bizarre move with their fired manager

A wacky season for the Colorado Rockies may be getting even wackier.

The Rockies are considering rehiring their fired former manager Bud Black to serve as their new director of pitching, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported on Sunday. Nightengale writes that Black is a “strong” candidate to replace current director of pitching Steve Foster, who recently accepted a job as the pitching coach at Texas Tech.

Black, 67, had been the manager of the Rockies since 2017 but was fired last month amid the team’s 7-33 start to the 2025 season. Colorado didn’t get much better after canning Black though as they have gone 10-27 since then under interim manager Warren Schaeffer to sit at a miserable 17-60 overall.

While Black does have his background as a pitching coach (he notably served as pitching coach for the World Series-winning Anaheim Angels in 2002 under manager Mike Scioscia), returning to the Rockies as director of pitching would certainly be a bizarre turn of events. Black was only let go as Colorado’s manager a little over a month ago and could now be returning during the same season in a lower position.

It might be difficult for the players to take Black seriously knowing that he just got fired by their organization a matter of weeks ago. But the Rockies certainly still need the help, especially given their MLB-worst 5.58 ERA as a team this season.

Additionally, many seem to recognize that Black was not the problem in Colorado. Now the team may be implicitly admitting that as well if they bring back Black to serve on their coaching staff.