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Tracy appreciates the Rockies' vote of confidence

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Tracy Ringolsby

Tracy Ringolsby is a Hall of Fame baseball writer. He is in his 36th year covering Major League Baseball, is a co-founder of Baseball America, and is in his third year as pregame and postgame analyst for Colorado Rockies games on Root Sports.

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Updated Nov 20, 2009 2:06 PM ET
     
 

Denver

Jim Tracy received the honor — the NL Manager of the Year Award — and the security — a three-year contract to remain manager of the Colorado Rockies — on Wednesday. For Tracy, however, the best part of the whole deal is what's ahead. The thing that has him excited is that this time he feels like he's going to get a legitimate shot to finish the job he was hired to do — take a team to a world championship. He has a developing big-league roster, a stable front office and a solid ownership group to help him attain the ultimate baseball accomplishment. "There wasn't a doubt in my mind that if I would manage in 2010, it would be with the Colorado Rockies,'' Tracy said. "I had practice watching the MLB package at home the year before. "The way I was treated, including [previous manager] Clint Hurdle was special. And given what happened during the course of the season, I still pinch myself. Did I feel like I could make them play better? Yes. Did I think it would work out this way? That's a stretch.'' It wasn't that way in his first two managerial tours. He had the rug pulled out from under him in Los Angeles when, prior to the 2004 season — his fourth as the Dodgers manager — there was a front-office overhaul. And then, in the midst of that season, in which he guided the Dodgers to an NL West title and 93 wins — their most in an 18-season stretch that ended in 2009 — the key elements of his team were dealt away because of a change in philosophy of how a team was built. A year later, Tracy bid the Dodgers adieu. He never even got started in Pittsburgh. With an ownership that was worried about public appearances more than tearing apart a rotting franchise and building it from the ground up — and a general manager who was more concerned with outsmarting everybody else than making solid deals — the Pirates struggled for two years with Tracy in charge. Then, Dave Littlefield, the general manager who hired Tracy, was shown the door, and the new man, Neal Huntington, wanted to put his own handprints on the franchise. He decided a managerial change was a good place to start. That left Tracy sitting at home in 2008, wondering if another chance would come. "Did I want another opportunity?" Tracy asked. "Yes. Managing is what I love to do." The opportunity came in 2009, in what Tracy admits was an awkward situation. He was hired as a bench coach by Hurdle. Forty-six games into the season with the Rockies stumbling to an 18-28 beginning, Hurdle was fired, and Tracy promoted. "I asked [general manager] Dan O'Dowd if I could have 60 minutes to think about it," Tracy recalled. "He said I could have 60 but not 61 because he needed someone to manage that night. ... The thing I held onto the most is a comment made by Dan that he felt he put together a better team than we had seen in the first two months of the season and he wanted to see it play better." O'Dowd was right and he saw what he wanted.
With Tracy in charge, the Rockies went 74-42, including a franchise single-month record 20 wins in June, Tracy's first month on the job. They finished with a franchise-record 93 victories, and earned the NL wild-card spot for the second time in three years, and the third time in franchise history. (They also were the wild-card in 1995.) "What makes this more intriguing to me is what is still out there," Tracy said. "We have good young players on this club and I do not think they have accomplished what they are capable of accomplishing to complete the identity of this club. "We did some special things, but we have not got everything we want yet. You always have an empty feeling like we did after Game 4 (of the NL Division Series) unless you play the last game of the year (in baseball) and you win it." Tracy is going to get the chance to help the Rockies try to attain that. He was given an audition when he was hired in late May, and only given a contract until season's end. The rave reviews, however, earned him a full three-year deal to finish off the job he started. The negotiations for the three-year deal did stretch out for some time. The final details weren't worked out until this week, leading to the announcement of his deal Wednesday, shortly after the BBWAA announced he had won the Manager of the Year award. He's the second Rockies manager to win the award. Don Baylor, the team's original manager and now the hitting coach, was the recipient in 1995, when the Rockies — in their third year of existence — advanced to the postseason for the first time. He's the 13th manager since the advent of divisional play in 1969 to take over a team in season and make it to the postseason. He is only the fourth to earn a manager of the year award. The BBWAA, which began giving the award in 1983, honored Jack McKeon of Florida in 2003 when the Marlins won the World Series. The AP, which gave the award prior to 1983, honored Harvey Kuenn of Milwaukee in 1982 and Bob Lemon of the Yankees in 1978. None of those three, however, survived more than two additional years in their jobs. In fact, of the 12 previous managers to oversee midseason transformations into the postseason, only two survived at least three full seasons after that initial success. Dick Howser replaced Jim Frey during the 1981 season in Kansas City, and managed the Royals until being diagnosed with a brain tumor during the 1987 spring training. Cito Gaston spent eight full seasons on the job in Toronto after replaced Jimy Williams 37 games into the 1989 season. "What was so special is that we never had anything less than three years (for the new contract) mentioned," Tracy said. "(The delay in finalizing a deal) wasn't a hassle over dollars and cents. The last several days were just about dotting I's and crossing T's." The next few years will be about spelling out a world championship in Colorado, an opportunity Tracy was denied in both Los Angeles and Pittsburgh.
Tagged: Rockies, Marlins, Royals, Dodgers, Yankees, Pirates

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