Will Warren Schaeffer be Rockies’ Next Clint Hurdle or Jim Tracy?

The Colorado Rockies have removed the interim tag from Warren Schaeffer. He’s the third interim to become the manager. So what could happen next?

Colorado Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer (34) during the first inning at Coors Field. / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Paul DePodesta’s first major decision as Colorado Rockies president of baseball operations was to remove the interim tag from manager Warren Schaeffer.

The well-liked former Triple-A manager is now the full-time skipper in 2026. He’s the third interim manager to have the tag removed and become the franchise’s full-time manager the following season. Schaeffer is coming off a 36-86 record as the interim manager and has a multi-year deal, which theoretically gives him time to be part of the solution at Coors Field.

He follows in the footsteps of Clint Hurdle and Jim Tracy. Their paths were much different. Which one will Schaeffer follow?

Clint Hurdle

Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

In 2002, the Rockies fired Buddy Bell after he started the season 6-16 and replaced him with Hurdle. Like Schaeffer, he was a long-time Rockies employee, having joined the organization in 1994 as a minor league hitting instructor, followed by a promotion to Major League hitting coach in 1997.

Hurdle started his career 67-73 in 2002 and that led to a two-year contract. For the next four seasons, Colorado was either in fourth or fifth place in the National League West until 2007. That season, the Rockies won 90 games under Hurdle and reached their first World Series. Even though Colorado didn’t win the division, it won its first league pennant that season.

The drop was steep after that. Colorado won 74 games in 2008, followed by Hurdle’s firing in 2009, 46 games into the season with the Rockies at 18-28. He finished his Rockies career with a record of 534-625.

Hurdle later managed the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2011-2019 and led them to three playoff berths. He retired, but he returned to the Rockies in 2021 as a special assistant to the general manager. He later became the hitting coach and then Schaeffer’s bench coach after the firing of Bud Black.  

Jim Tracy

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Oddly, Tracy was Hurdle’s interim replacement when Hurdle was fired in 2009. Hurdle hired Tracy as his bench coach after the 2008 season and he had stints leading the Los Angeles Dodgers (2001-05) and the Pirates (2006-07).

After taking over for Hurdle, Tracy went 74-42 and helped the Rockies to the 2009 playoffs, where they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Division Series. He followed that with an 83-79 mark in 2010, but the gradual dropoff was unavoidable. In 2011, Colorado went 73-89, followed by 64-98 in 2012. He went 294-308 in three-plus seasons. To this point, it was his last managerial job.  

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