Bud Black, Rockies “talking” about another contract extension, report says

Rockies manager Bud Black, who is entering the final year of his contract, has begun talks with owner Dick Monfort about a possible extension, according to a report Sunday by MLB.com.

No deal has been reached, but signing Black to an extension through 2025 would ensure he wouldn’t work the 2024 season as a “lame-duck” manager.

Black, 66, is entering his eighth season with Colorado. He took the Rockies to playoffs in 2017 and ’18, marking the first time in franchise history that the team went to the postseason in back-to-back years. The Rockies, however, have endured five consecutive losing seasons and lost 103 games last season, the first time the club had ever lost 100 or more games.

Late last season, Black said that despite five difficult seasons, he was still enthused about his job and committed to turning around the Rockies’ fortunes.

“All the years that I’ve had in this game — the championship seasons, the playoff seasons, and on the other end the tougher seasons — you learn from all of them as a teacher, as a coach, as a manager,” Black said. “You have to treat them all the same, with a lot of respect, regardless of how they’ve gone. It’s something we talk to the coaches about, the consistency of leadership.”

When Black was hired before the 2017 season, he signed a three-year deal with a mutual option for the 2020 season. In 2019, he signed a three-year extension for 2020-22, and he then signed one-year extensions in 2022 and 2023 to avoid heading into a season as a lame duck.