Jim Tracy Resigns as Manager of the Colorado Rockies

The Colorado Rockies finished with a franchise-worst 98 losses in 2012, putting the final year of manager Jim Tracy's contract in question.

According to The Denver Post reporter Troy Renck, Tracy decided to resign on Sunday:

"

BREAKING Jim Tracy has resigned. Not shocked after he took time to mull issue. More to follow

— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck) October 7, 2012"

According to a report from Renck earlier on Sunday, Tracy was owed $1.4 million next season. The club was interested in bringing him back to the organization, but the report suggests that Tracy needed things to be done on his terms.

Tracy was 294-308 in four years as the Rockies manager. This was the second-straight sub-.500 season for Colorado, but a historically bad mark is never easy to come back from.

The Rockies definitely had their issues, but offensive firepower was not one of them.

Despite being without All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki for the majority of the season, the team had the No. 2 batting average and No. 4 slugging percentage in the league.

However, pitching was a different story. Colorado was 30th in quality starts, ERA, WHIP and batting average against.

Not one regular starter had an ERA under 4.00, which is not going to win a lot of games.

Tracy's decision makes sense. Colorado's team is young overall, but making a dramatic turnaround in his final year was unlikely. 

Rather than toil away on another losing squad, Tracy could have another, more opportunistic job in mind.

The Rockies already had a lot of work to do this offseason, but now they must add finding a manager to that list. 

Tracy's laid-back, stoic demeanor will fit in on a major league bench somewhere next season—it's just a matter of where.