Right-hander José Ureña has only been in the Rockies’ organization for a few months, but the relationship has evidently gone well so far. Danielle Allentuck of the Colorado Springs Gazette relays that both he and the club are interested in continuing their arrangement in 2023.
“I said it first thing: I am so thankful for this organization, what they did for me,” Ureña said, as relayed by Thomas Harding of MLB.com. “I’d be open. I like to play here.” Manager Bud Black seems as impressed by Ureña as the righty is with the team. “The way he’s thrown, we’re going to have a look at it when he goes into free agency,” Black says.
Ureña, 31, began the year in the Brewers’ bullpen, logging 7 2/3 innings over four appearances before getting designated for assignment in early May. After electing free agency, he signed a minor league deal with the Rockies and was eventually selected to the big league club in early July.
Since that time, Ureña has made 17 starts for the Rox with a 5.14 ERA. That’s obviously not a super impressive number, but it’s worth remembering the hitter-friendly reputation of Coors Field. Advanced metrics that take park factors into account have a slightly more favorable view of his work, with Ureña registering a 4.82 SIERA, 4.53 FIP and 4.45 xFIP since coming to Colorado. He’s never been a huge strikeout guy and this year is no exception, striking out 15.2% of batters faced, just below his career mark. His 50.3% ground ball rate is above-average, though, something he has long been able to accomplish. He’s also done a decent enough job at avoiding getting lit up this year, as he’s in the 59th percentile in terms of barrel rate and 56th percentile in terms of average exit velocity.
Due to the offensive orientation of their home park, the Rockies often face challenges convincing pitchers to come to the mountains. That makes it somewhat sensible for them to be interested in retaining any pitcher who finds any kind of success and is willing to take their money. However, it’s worth noting that we are talking about a mere 17 starts here and the numbers can change quickly. Back in July, it was reported that the club was interested in extending Chad Kuhl, who had a 4.78 ERA at the time. But he’s had very poor results since then, seeing his ERA climb up to 5.72 for the season.
Regardless, it’s possible that the club won’t be looking to throw huge money around this offseason, either on the rotation or elsewhere. They began this year with an Opening Day payroll of $131MM and have never been above $146MM in that department, with numbers from Cot’s Baseball Contracts. For next year, they’ve already got about $135MM on the books, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. That figure doesn’t include the salaries of their arbitration-eligible players, who will surely add to that total. Unless the club wants to suddenly blow past their previous spending levels, they won’t have a ton to work with.
For next year’s starting rotation, with Kuhl and Urena both heading into free agency, two spots should be taken up by Germán Márquez and Kyle Freeland. A third spot would go Antonio Senzatela if he were healthy, but he tore his ACL in August and might not be ready to go for Spring Training. Ryan Feltner has made 18 starts this year and could be in the mix for 2023, though he has a 6.01 ERA and still has options. There aren’t really any clear answers beyond that, with most of the club’s top pitching prospects currently in the lower levels of their farm system. Given all that uncertainty and the potential lack of available funds, it seems like they might be going into the offseason with their sights set on pitchers like Ureña.
TradeAcuna
So a terrible pitcher who probably won’t get a job in a contending team got a job with a terrible team who won’t get much interest from free agents pitchers. Yep, definitely a mutual agreement here.
DonOsbourne
I still believe the Rockies need to totally rethink their approach to pitching. They seem to believe they can compete with the same approach other clubs use in spite of the obvious difference in environments. The altitude in Denver creates an environment unlike any other in MLB, so the Rockies need to adapt and create a pitching philosophy unlike any other in MLB.
Hard throwing, strike out oriented pitchers are a must. Shorter, max-effort outings should be the norm. However, control would also be at a premium. A pitcher in Colorado cannot afford walks. They should push what the Rays do to a new level.
Angry Disgruntled Sox Fan
Altitude aside, how about just get good pitching? I haven’t seen an ace on this team ever. When you don’t have pitching you’re bound to fail.
Cam
“Hard throwing, strikeout pitchers who also have control and limit walks”. That’s not ground breaking – you just profiled the exact type of pitcher every single team is trying to find and develop.
DonOsbourne
Yes, I obviously agree. But I’m talking about a new approach. Forget innings and pitch counts. The opening pitcher should make one trip through the opposing lineup. The next pitcher should be prepared to face it another time through and so on. Throw out starters and relievers and compile pitchers who have shown an ability to get outs, preferably strikeouts, when only facing a hitter once a game. There are several pitchers who are considered failed starters because they have a limited repertoire, and get hit the second time through the order. They then fall into limbo as “long reliever”. Most teams don’t use long relievers unless the score is lopsided.
I think there is a Moneyball type opportunity to identify these pitchers using statistical analysis and use them for the talent they have instead of trying to make them into something they’re not. The Rockies are the perfect team to attempt this type of experiment because they have a 30 yr track record of failure trying to develop traditional pitchers.
drasco036
Your philosophy would require a minimum of three pitcher per game and with the current rules of baseball, it would also require everything to go right for the Rockies otherwise they would burn through arms, minor league options and 40 man roster spots and an unmanageable pace.
Unless you are going to live and die by the three inning rule, regardless of result, it’s not feasible.
CoolKidJoeXBL
What they should do and what they’re actually going to do are 2 different things. This organization is literally run like a clown show. Rockies team strategy is “let’s pay our franchise 3rd baseman a whole bunch of money and then not build around him and overpay for power relievers that aren’t that good and then pay the Cardinals a bunch of money for him to play there and then sign the Cubs franchise 3rd baseman for also a good amount of money and he is also less good but also his back hurts sometimes”
Angry Disgruntled Sox Fan
They should pay more for good pitching then go cheaper on Michael Cuddyer bats. Play into Coors Field a bit and use it as an advantage, not a disadvantage.
Jeremy320
The thin air severely inhibits ball movement. Pitchers that thrive in CO do not rely on movement. Urena is a good fit, actually. 4-5 era range is acceptable.
Nothing
Ain’t this the dude who intentionally tried to break Acuna’s hand? Rockies can keep him, can’t imagine many others teams are interested.
CoolKidJoeXBL
You throw inside to good hitters. Especially when your pitches have no break like Urena’s.
SamtheMan!
I’m thinking 5 years for urena.
Have to lock Grichuk up after that!
soxfan1
Away ERA is how I assess COL pitchers, and it looks like Kuhl’s doing worse on the road than at home.
SamtheMan!
In all seriousness—urena has a 6.14 ERA in Colorado. It’s not like he’s found a ton of success there. The Rockies don’t have any good pitching prospects close to the majors but they do have 3 guys in the rotation locked up for multiple years already.
Think you could find a better reclamation project.
Mercenary.Freddie.Freeman
I bet Urena would be all over finding a job on any major league club at any price. He’s probably a AAA pitcher at this point.
geotheo
This is 2 articles today saying that potential free agents are willing to re sign with their current team ( Johnny Cueto earlier) . It would be more newsworthy if a player said under no circumstances would he re sign. It’s going to be a long off-season. Pace yourselves
C Yards Jeff
It would be refreshing, but my gut says we don’t see it because of the vested interest the players agent has in him.
diddlez
I mean the guy can’t pitch anywhere so it may as well be in Colorado where they don’t even care
algionfriddo
Really like that GB rate. His .674 OPS against vRHB is quite good. He gets rocked by LHB with a .861 OPS and a really ugly 149 sOPS+ vLHB. That is just not sustainable. His FB was a very decent 95.7 velocity so he can throw hard. Movement on a FB declines dramatically in Denver. He even throws a hard change but he doesn’t use it often (batters hit over .300 against it.). He has a good slider. I’ve only seen him pitch a few games and he looked good but small sample size. Unless he develops a better change to use vLHB he will be limited to a relief option, mostly vRHB. More spin on his FB would be something to work on, but even the value of extra spin is minimized at Coors.
And on a different note. Not a fan of Coors. Can’t somebody name their park… Pilsner Urquell Field? That is a beer!
Backdraft
2023: Marquez, Freeland and eventually, Senzatela off of injury. See if Gomber can correct his failings of 2022 and re-enter the rotation. Feltner can improve and miss more bats and be less homer prone. Hope that one of Peter Lambert and Ryan Rolison can pitch at the back of the rotation. Then, Urena or Kuhl.. That’s eight guys to find five reliable and healthy starters.
zylo88
Target #1 in shooting for 70 wins next season! Sadly the front office probably agrees. Starts at the top with weak ownership
BeansforJesus
Why? Urena is garbage. I don’t understand this. He doesn’t even have a profile that would play up in the bullpen. He’s above average with his GB% but has a whip around 1.5.
Plus he’s a bish
BeansforJesus
Also if you are a team looking to extend Chad Kuhl and Jose Urena, you better not try to tell season ticket holders you will be competing in the next 5 years.
Rockies need to stop extending pitchers. It’s getting embarrassing
beyou02215
Rockies gotta Rockie.
hiflew
For all of you that are just looking at numbers, I imagine Urena looks like a poor pitcher. But for people like me that watched EVERY start of his, most of the time he pitched well. He had 7 quality starts out of 17 and about 4 others that were just shy of 6 innings to be a QS. He had a couple of really bad starts (9 runs in 2 innings against Texas and 10 runs against the Dodgers the day after a DH so he couldn’t get taken out early) which jacked up his ERA. And since he only pitched half the year, his ERA was not going to recover from that. He only pitched 89 innings for the Rox, which is just a little more than your average reliever and we all know how much one bad outing can hurt a reliever’s ERA.
I would love to see him back for a full season.
Rsox
Amazingly, playing in Denver Urena’s ERA is the lowest it’s been since 2018 and he’s allowed the fewest amount of Home Runs (in a full season) since 2016. Seems pitching Colorado agreed with him somewhat
UWPSUPERFAN77
For a reasonable price, MAYBEE, Seems like a Ham and egger to me!
Arnold Ziffel
Anyway the Rockies handle this, they will screw it up.