Justin Verlander's brother goes scorched earth on Rockies owner

Justin Verlander's brother Ben blasted Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort for criticizing the Dodgers. The 2024 World Series champions acquired several superstars in the offseason, and many, including Orioles owner David Rubenstein and New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner, have been critical of them.

In a recent interview with the Denver Gazzette, Monfort urged the MLB to put a salary cap to make the competition fair. The 70-year-old even pointed out that the Dodgers are the reason why it is a necessity.

Justin Verlander's brother Ben is a diehard fan of Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers. In Tuesday's episode of his 'Flipping Bats with Ben Verlander' show, the 33-year-old criticized Monfort's comments (4:50):

"The biggest news that they had in spring training and this offseason is that their owner comes out and basically slams the Dodgers and says the Dodgers are bad for baseball. Why don’t you look in the mirror and realize what’s actually bad for baseball here? It’s what you're doing as owner of the Colorado Rockies."

Justin Verlander's brother compared the Rockies' ownership to that of the Pirates, who are not acquiring good players in the offensive department to complement Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, and Bubba Chandler:

"If you're the Rockies bashing the Dodgers, there's one team in this division that's bad for baseball, and it's your team. So instead of crying poor, when everybody knows you're a multi-billionaire, why don't you go and spend money on this team for a fan base that gets excited about the Rockies."

The analyst also noted that nobody in the Rockies roster is projected to have an OPS more than .800 to prove his point.

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Justin Verlander's brother accuses Rockies of time manipulation

Justin Verlander's brother Ben believes the Rockies' decision to option Zac Veen to Triple A is an example of service time manipulation, a tactic used by MLB team executives to delay a player's eligibility for free agency.

In the aforementioned episode of his show, Verlander highlighted the impressive stats of Zeen to prove his point (3:44):

"Zac Veen is who I want to talk about, stud prospect for them. Absolutely tore it up in spring training, hit .308 with an OPS around .930.

"It's an absolute joke that he didn't make the team. He was just optioned down, didn't make the team out of camp. There's no way around it other than this being service time manipulation."

The MLB analyst pointed out that Veen was among the very few reasons to be excited about the Rockies.