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Grading The Week: Rockies manager Bud Black, pitcher whisperer? Not so much. Not anymore.

Whatever Bud Black is whispering, they’re not listening.

Remember when Black was hired as Rockies manager before the 2017 season and sold as a pitcher whisperer?

Colorado had been grooming a bunch of young, live arms in Jon Gray, German Marquez, Tyler Chatwood, Tyler Anderson and Jeff Hoffman, with Kyle Freeland on the way. They just needed a sage, wise voice to get them in line and on track.

And it worked. Black steered the Rox to the franchise’s first back-to-back playoff berths in ’17 and ’18 on the strength of that young rotation and on a rock-star infield with Arenado, Story and LeMahieu.