DENVER (AP) — All the losing nearly reduced lefty Kyle Freeland to tears as he recently chatted about the woeful state of his hometown Colorado Rockies.
It's a gloomy situation with the Rockies off to a 7-33 start — one of the worst in major league history — leading to the dismissal of manager Bud Black on Sunday.
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Colorado Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer sits in the dugout before a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Monday, May 12, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Colorado Rockies' Hunter Goodman (15) and Ryan McMahon (24) celebrate after a one-run home run by McMahon in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Sunday, May 11, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)
Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Kyle Freeland reacts after Detroit Tigers' Javier Báez scored on an error during the third inning in the first baseball game of a doubleheader Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Colorado Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer, center, talks in the dugout before a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Monday, May 12, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black walks off the field prior to a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Sunday, May 11, 2025, in Denver. Black was fired as manager immediately following the game. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)
Freeland wears his feelings for his city — to the team he grew up rooting for — on his sleeve. More specifically, his right arm, where there are tattoos of the elevation (5,280), area code (303) and an outline of the mountains. The losses weigh heavily on him.
Change arrived in the Mile High air when Black, the franchise’s winningest manager and the only voice that many of the Rockies players have ever known, was let go.
Now, it’s Warren Schaeffer’s turn to navigate the Rockies away from a season that’s careening toward infamy. The Rockies have the worst start since the 1988 Baltimore Orioles began 6-34. Colorado is on pace for 134 losses a season after the Chicago White Sox went 41-121 — the worst since baseball adopted a 162-game schedule in 1961.
Promoted from third base coach to interim manager, Schaeffer inherits a team that’s second-to-last in runs — despite playing home games at hitter-friendly Coors Field — and first in strikeouts. The pitching staff has surrendered the most runs in the big leagues and fanned the fewest batters.
“It’s on all of our shoulders,” Freeland said of the turnaround. “We need to be better, and we need to continue to progress forward.”
The firing of Black came a day after a 21-0 loss to the San Diego Padres. The news was announced late in a 92-87 loss by the NBA's Denver Nuggets in Game 4 against Oklahoma City at nearby Ball Arena.
Schaeffer brings energy and exuberance to the Rockies clubhouse. He has been Colorado’s third base and infield coach since the 2023 season. Prior to joining the big league team, he spent 10 seasons as a manager and coach in the Rockies’ minor league system.
“A positive atmosphere in the clubhouse, and we’re ready to move forward,” Schaeffer said Monday before the series opener at Texas that marked his debut at interim manager. “I just want them to play loose. From my vantage point, it’s a fresh start."
Relief pitcher Jake Bird, one of several Rockies who played for Schaeffer when he was a minor league manager, described him as a good communicator who is intelligent and passionate.
“Something just feels different. So I'm really feeling optimistic about the direction moving forward,” Bird said. “I think our team’s a lot more capable than what we’ve been playing.”
General manager Bill Schmidt said after the move was made Sunday that the 40-year-old Schaeffer's connection to players was a big part of what he brings to his new role.
“I think just a different voice here — we’re at that point where we needed to do that," Schmidt said.
It’s an uphill climb for the Rockies to avoid a third straight 100-loss season. They have to go 56-66 the rest of the way. They’ve won back-to-back games just once and have three separate eight-game losing streaks.
Freeland was emotional last week after a start on the mound in which he allowed nine runs (five earned).
“Keep believing in us,” Freeland said of his message to Rockies faithful as he choked up.
For infielder Ryan McMahon, it’s about trusting the process.
“I know how to show up and play baseball. That’s the way I’m wired,” McMahon said. “That’s the way a lot of these guys are wired. The record is what it is at this point. It doesn’t affect the game tonight and doesn’t affect the games after that.”
The Rockies haven’t been to the postseason since 2018. Their only World Series appearance was 2007, when they were swept by the Boston Red Sox. Their manager then was Clint Hurdle, who is now the interim bench coach under Schaeffer.
“I’m obviously in a unique situation, being from here. I grew up with the Rockies. It does mean a ton to me," said Freeland, who broke into the majors under Black in 2017. "I’m going to be probably more proud of us as a group getting this (turnaround) done than me being a Denver kid, being able to get this team to a postseason or to a World Series.”
AP Baseball Writer Stephen Hawkins contributed to this report from Arlington, Texas.
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Colorado Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer sits in the dugout before a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Monday, May 12, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Colorado Rockies' Hunter Goodman (15) and Ryan McMahon (24) celebrate after a one-run home run by McMahon in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Sunday, May 11, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)
Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Kyle Freeland reacts after Detroit Tigers' Javier Báez scored on an error during the third inning in the first baseball game of a doubleheader Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Colorado Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer, center, talks in the dugout before a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Monday, May 12, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black walks off the field prior to a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Sunday, May 11, 2025, in Denver. Black was fired as manager immediately following the game. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte praised President Donald Trump for making Europe “pay in a BIG way,” as allied leaders gathered in the Netherlands on Tuesday for a historic summit that could unite them around a new defense spending pledge or widen divisions among the 32 member countries.
The U.S. president, while flying aboard Air Force One en route to The Hague, published a screenshot of a private message from Rutte saying: “Donald, you have driven us to a really, really important moment for America and Europe and the world. You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done.”
“Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win,” Rutte wrote. NATO confirmed that he sent the message.
The allies are likely to endorse a goal of spending 5% of their gross domestic product on their security, to be able to fulfil the alliance’s plans for defending against outside attack. Trump has said the U.S. should not have to.
Still, Spain has said it cannot, and that the target is “unreasonable.” Slovakia said it reserves the right to decide how to reach the target by NATO's new 2035 deadline.
“There’s a problem with Spain. Spain is not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them, frankly,” Trump told reporters on his way to the two-day meeting.
In 2018, a NATO summit during Trump's first term unraveled due to a dispute over defense spending.
Ahead of the meeting, Britain, France and Germany committed to the 5% goal. Host country the Netherlands is also on board. Nations closer to the borders of Ukraine, Russia and its ally Belarus had previously pledged to do so.
Trump’s first appearance at NATO since returning to the White House was supposed to center on how the U.S. secured the historic military spending pledge from others in the security alliance — effectively bending it to its will.
But the spotlight has shifted to Trump’s decision to strike three nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran that the administration says eroded Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, as well as the president’s sudden announcement that Israel and Iran had reached a “complete and total ceasefire.”
Ukraine has also suffered as a result of that conflict. It has created a need for weapons and ammunition that Kyiv desperately wants, and shifted the world's attention. Past NATO summits have focused almost entirely on the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
Still, Rutte insisted NATO could manage more than one conflict at a time.
“If we would not be able to deal with ... the Middle East, which is very big and commanding all the headlines, and Ukraine at the same time, we should not be in the business of politics and military at all," he said. "If you can only deal with one issue at a time, that will be that. Then let other people take over.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in The Hague for meetings, despite his absence from a leaders’ meeting aiming to seal the agreement to boost military spending.
It’s a big change since the summit in Washington last year, when the military alliance’s weighty communique included a vow to supply long-term security assistance to Ukraine, and a commitment to back the country “on its irreversible path” to NATO membership.
Zelenskyy’s first official engagement was with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof at his official residence just across the road from the summit venue.
But in a telling sign of Ukraine’s status at the summit, neither leader mentioned NATO. Ukraine’s bid to join the alliance has been put in deep freeze by Trump.
“Let me be very clear, Ukraine is part of the family that we call the Euro-Atlantic family,” Schoof told Zelenskyy, who in turn said he sees his country’s future in peace “and of course, a part of a big family of EU family.”
Schoof used the meeting to announce a new package of Dutch support to Kyiv including 100 radar systems to detect drones and a move to produce drones for Ukraine in the Netherlands, using Kyiv’s specifications.
The U.S. has made no new public pledges of support to Ukraine since Trump took office six months ago.
Meeting later with Rutte and top EU officials, Zelenskyy appealed for European investment in Ukraine's defense industry, which can produce weapons and ammunition more quickly and cheaply than elsewhere in Europe.
“No doubt, we must stop (Russian President Vladimir) Putin now and in Ukraine. But we have to understand that his objectives reach beyond Ukraine. European countries need to increase defense spending," he said. He said that NATO's new target of 5% of GDP "is the right level.”
He thanked them for their unity in supporting Ukraine, saying: “I think this is the most important thing.”
This version removes the reference to Trump’s first NATO summit, which was in 2017.
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, visits the Netherlands marines training base, as part of the UK-Netherlands Joint Amphibious Force in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025, on the sidelines of the NATO summit. (Ben Stansall/Pool via AP)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney and his wife Diana, left, arrive at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of a dinner on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Remko de Waal, Pool Photo via AP)
Netherlands' Prime Minister Dick Schoof, right, waits to welcome Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer during their meeting on the sidelines of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Heads of State and Government summit in The Hague, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Ben Stansall/Pool Photo via AP)
Netherland's Prime Minister Dick Schoof, right, speaks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting at the Catshuis on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Netherland's Prime Minister Dick Schoof, left, speaks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting at the Catshuis on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Netherland's Prime Minister Dick Schoof, right, speaks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting at the Catshuis on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, center right, addresses the audience at the NATO public forum on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte addresses the audience at the NATO public forum on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte addresses the audience at the NATO public forum on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a media conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, June 23, 2025 ahead of the NATO summit. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Security patrol around the perimeter of the venue ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks during the NATO summit, Dec. 4, 2019, in Watford, England. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)
International flags on the venue ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Post)
