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Krieger: Rockies need someone to rock their boat

Published October 24, 2006 at midnight

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SOMEWHERE BETWEEN DETROIT AND ST. LOUIS - It was not until Frank Robinson was fired by the Washington Nationals and promptly declared he was not ready to retire that it dawned on me what the Rockies are missing.

Well, one of the things, anyway.

Greatness. Someone who has been to the mountaintop, knows the way and can describe the view once you get there.

The Rockies' staff is composed of experienced, well-meaning people who have devoted their lives to the game. Plenty of people like them have succeeded in such roles. In fact, many of the game's best managers and coaches were players of limited ability.

But the Rockies have a specific need right now to provide an example and a standard for their young, homegrown talent.

I was reminded of this again before Game 2 of the World Series, when former Tigers star Alan Trammell joined Sparky Anderson in a pregame ceremony honoring the 1984 World Series champs.

Trammell was a six-time All-Star who hit .300 or better seven times in a remarkable 20-year career that included the Most Valuable Player award for the '84 Series.

As the team's manager for the three seasons before this one, he was unable to get it over the top. But in retrospect, he deserves credit for preparing the Tigers' young talent for the success that came this year under Jim Leyland.

Like Robinson, Trammell found himself looking for work. To their credit, the Rockies called him about their vacant hitting coach job. Unfortunately, he got a better offer from Lou Piniella and the Cubs, which he accepted Monday.

With all due respect to the other candidates who have been mentioned - Jose Morales, Glenallen Hill, Ron Jackson and Alan Cockrell - Robinson and Trammell are much more the sort of candidate the Rockies should be pursuing.

At the moment, Todd Helton is the person in the clubhouse with the most credibility on the subject of hitting. Unfortunately, Helton is not available for the hitting coach job, busy as he is trying to get his own stroke back. In fact, the Rockies could use someone Helton would look up to, and that's a tall order.

Unless they find the second coming of Walt Hriniak, they should not hire yet another coach their young players have no reason to respect going in. They should not pursue business as usual with another incarnation of Duane Espy.

I don't know if Robinson, at 71, would be interested. It's said he'd like to shed the uniform and move into a front-office role.

Frankly, and Frank certainly is, I'm not sure he'll be offered such a role. Having as strong a personality as Robinson's has its drawbacks in baseball, where the people who run organizations don't generally hire people to rock the boat.

But somebody needs to rock Coors Field a little. Rockies management has been very understanding of its young players' foibles. That's appropriate in the development stage. But there comes a time to stop coddling and start demanding performance. They call these the major leagues for a reason.

Robinson would definitely fit that bill, but there are plenty of other credible candidates out there.

If the Rocks would prefer someone with ties to the organization, how about Ellis Burks? He had one of the great offensive seasons in Rockies history in 1996, batting .344 with 40 home runs and 128 RBI. He's certainly familiar with the challenges of playing half your games at altitude. And if the Rockies are afraid Robinson would be too tough, Burks' cheerful personality might suit them better.

Then there's Gary Carter, the Hall of Fame catcher the Rockies have acknowledged talking to about the job.

The point is, if the Rocks want to go for greatness, there are plenty of former greats out there. They need not settle for yet another game of organizational musical chairs or another hitting coach whose pupils have never heard of him.

I've been a supporter of the Rockies rebuilding with homegrown talent and I still am. I like the young nucleus. I like watching it develop. I like a roster that's not full of short-term mercenaries always looking for a better deal. And, let's face it - at the Rockies' payroll level, growing your own is the only way to go.

The Tigers, who lost 119 games just three years ago, prove a turnaround based on young talent and judicious veteran acquisitions can happen quickly.

But at some point you have to stop being about nurturing and start being about performing. The Tigers chose Leyland to make that turn, which only shows that what works in Michigan doesn't necessarily work in Colorado.

That doesn't mean the Rockies shouldn't try again for a little credibility of their own. Whichever way they go, they will a deliver a message with this hire. It will be business as usual or it will be something different.

It says here it should be something different. I'm still holding out hope they give Robinson a call. But even if they don't, there are plenty of other candidates out there who know what it takes to be better than good. And that's the idea, isn't it?