ATLANTA, GA – JUNE 8: Manager Bud Black #20 of the San Diego Padres watches the action during the second inning against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field on June 8, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)

It didn’t take long into the offseason for the Colorado Rockies to find their new manager. Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports that the Rockies have chosen Bud Black as their new skipper:

The Rockies have been managed by Walt Weiss for the past three seasons, but his contract expired at the end of the season and the Rockies chose to go in another direction.

Black, 59, was the San Diego Padres’ manager beginning in 2007, and ending in June of 2015, as he was fired in the midst of a disappointing Padres season (which was much more on the front office’s disastrous failure of an all-in offseason). The Padres went 649-713 (.477 winning %) under Black, but featured very flawed rosters over most of the tenure. In 2010, Black was named NL Manager of the Year after leading the Padres to a 90-72 record.

Black takes over a Rockies job that actually looks like a highly desirable position, despite six straight seasons of no more than 75 wins.

For one, there would seem to be nowhere to go but up; it would take things to go horribly wrong for Black to get fired anytime soon.

But this is a Rockies team on the rise, with the 75 wins in 2016 being their highest mark over the last six years, and seven games better than their 2015 season.

With Jon Gray, Tyler Anderson, Tyler Chatwood, Jeff Hoffman, and Chad Bettis (all under 28 years old), the Rockies are actually building a solid rotation for once. Black was also a very good MLB pitcher himself, putting up a 3.84 ERA in over 2,000 innings pitched. So perhaps his knowledge will be useful in helping these young pitchers try to solve the incredibly complicated puzzle that is Coors Field.

As far as position players go, the Rockies have a very nice group with Nolan Arenado, Charlie Blackmon, Trevor Story, D.J. LeMahieu, Carlos Gonzalez, and David Dahl (a very impressive rookie) leading the way.

Black is known for his communication skills and really makes a lot of sense for these young players in Colorado. Together, they should be able to get the Rockies at least in the playoff conversation fairly soon, and perhaps as soon as 2017.

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor at The Comeback. He attended Colorado State University, wishes he was Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris, and idolizes Larry David. And loves pizza and dogs because obviously.

He can be followed on Twitter at @Matt2Clapp (also @TheBlogfines for Cubs/MLB tweets and @DaBearNecess for Bears/NFL tweets), and can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.