When Bud Black was hired to be the Rockies manager on Nov. 7, 2016, he was clearly the right man at the right time.

Black took a squad that had six consecutive losing seasons and helped turn it into a playoff team in 2017 and ’18, the only time in franchise history the Rockies made the postseason in back-to-back years.

But now, as the Rockies slide toward their fourth losing season in a row, is Black still the right man for the job?

General manager Bill Schmidt believes Black is, and so does veteran left-hander Kyle Freeland.

“Back then, at the end of 2016, we were on the verge of building something and then Buddy took us to the playoffs,” Schmidt said. “I don’t feel any differently now than I did back then. We have a lot of good young talent coming up. I’m excited and Buddy’s more than qualified to take us where we want to go. I have all of the confidence in the world in Buddy.”

Black, 65, is in his 15th season as a manager. In eight-plus seasons in San Diego, he had a 649-713 record (.477). In his almost six years at the helm in Colorado, he was 414-445 entering Saturday’s play. Black’s .482 winning percentage with the Rockies ranks third behind Jim Tracy (.488) and Don Baylor (.484).

Freeland, perhaps the Rockies’ most competitive and candid player, insists Black is not the problem even though the club is on pace for a 92-loss season.

“Buddy has not lost the team,” Freeland said, echoing the sentiments of several of his teammates. “I know that the past few years have not gone like any of us wanted it to go, but that’s not all on Buddy.

“We have a lineup that has talent and we have pitching that has great talent, but we haven’t put it together. That’s on us.”

Black, relentlessly positive by nature, admits it’s been “a frustrating season for everyone, including the fans.”

“It’s understandable because we won in 2017 and ’18,” he said. “That gave them expectations. It’s natural. I get it. I’m a fan, too, right? But I do know that every season is different.

“I don’t know what it was like here in ’16, but I’m sure the fans were frustrated back then. And then look what happened? We won. Can that happen again? Yes.”

Black points to what the Orioles have done this season. ESPN ranked the Orioles 30th (last) in its preseason power rankings, predicting a record of 58-104. The Athletic ranked the Orioles last. FanGraphs’ preseason projections made the Orioles the worst team in the majors.

But the Orioles, 79-71 entering Saturday, remain in the hunt for the final American League wild-card spot, despite a $43.8 million payroll that is the lowest in the majors.

“What I’m saying is that there are teams that seem to come out of nowhere, teams that were projected to lose, and look what happened,” Black said.

But for some Rockies fans who have witnessed the departure of stars Nolan Arenado, DJ LeMahieu and Trevor Story since 2018, Black might come off as pollyannaish.

Black, however, insists he’s a realist.

“For us, things have to go right,” he said. “We can’t have our best players not play well. Because we can’t do what some other teams do and just go out and (sign All-Star) players.

“And we need our younger players to do what they are capable of doing. Not exceeding super expectations, but performing both at home and on the road.”

Colorado’s road woes — its 24-48 record is the worst in the majors, and its 42 road homers are the fewest — top Black’s frustration list. He’s also disappointed in the club’s tepid offense and inconsistent starting pitching.

“Overall, as a group, we underperformed to our expectations,” he said of an offense that has an OPS of .718 that ranks 11th in the majors despite the Rockies playing half their games at the hitters’ paradise known as Coors Field.

Prior to the season, Black touted Colorado’s starting pitching as the team’s strength. It hasn’t turned out that way. The rotation’s 5.25 ERA is the second-worst in the majors, a far cry from the 4.17 ERA posted by the 2018 rotation that ranks as the second-best in franchise history.

“I would say, big picture, that we have probably underperformed,” he said. “The inconsistency, especially early in the year, start to start, was frustrating.

“If your starters are consistently going six (innings) and helping the bullpen, then you’re keeping your team in the game. But we didn’t have enough of those. There were too many early exits.”

Black, who pitched in the majors for 15 years and was the pitching coach for the Angels for seven seasons (2000-06), was hired by the Rockies, in part, because of his expertise with pitchers. So doesn’t Black bear some responsibility for his pitchers’ lackluster performance?

“When players, including pitchers, don’t meet expectations, there is some player responsibility and some coach responsibility,” Black said. “That’s a real thing we feel as coaches.

“When a player has a great year, I know that the player did it, but we helped him. When a player, especially one who is entrenched and has a foundation underneath him, has a tough year, I take that one hard. I feel like, ‘I couldn’t help him. I couldn’t help him turn it around.’ ”

Bottom line, when a pitcher underperforms, Black takes it as a personal failure.

“That’s where I take personal responsibility,” he said. “The (whole staff) feels as though we let certain players down and didn’t help them.”

After nearly six seasons managing at Coors Field, Black knows the value of having starters who can, at the very least, keep the Rockies in a game.

“Here, more than anywhere else, getting to 90-100 pitches and pitching into the sixth, is like gold,” he said. “There were just too many short starts. It’s tough to survive that. It taxes your bullpen, you are behind early and you’re always playing catch up. That’s happened too much.”

The charismatic Black, who is so engaging with media and so comfortable in front of a TV camera, is intensely competitive. Fans might not always see it, but his players do.

“There is a fire to Buddy,” third baseman Ryan McMahon said. “We see it in the clubhouse. If you push the wrong button too many times or keep making the same mistakes, you’re going to hear about it.”

Veteran first baseman C.J. Cron, appreciates Black’s “levelheadedness.”

“He will criticize us when we need to be criticized, but he’s not throwing stuff around the dugout or the clubhouse,” Cron said. “He understands how hard this game is because he played it. He just wants us to get better every day.

“Buddy wants us to win as much as anybody else and he lets us know that. But he does it in the right way and always with respect.”

Freeland hopes fans understand how passionate Black is about turning around the Rockies’ fortunes.

“Right after a tough loss, people outside this clubhouse don’t see how it wears on him,” Freeland said. “It eats at him, I know it does because I’ve had conversations with him about it.

“And I know that he’s going to do everything he can to get us back to where we need to be.”