The Rockies and right-hander José Ureña are in agreement on a contract for 2023. It’s a one-year, $3.5MM guarantee that comes in the form of a $3MM salary for 2022 along with a $500K buyout on a $4MM club option for 2024.
Ureña, 31, is a veteran who has appeared in each of the past eight MLB seasons. The first six of those were with the Marlins and the seventh was with the Tigers, with the righty generally soaking up innings by inducing a fair amount of ground balls. In 2022, he began the year with the Brewers but was let go in May after just four relief appearances. He latched on with the Rockies on a minor league deal and made it up to their big league team by July. He eventually made 17 starts for Colorado and continued in his usual low-strikeout, high-grounder fashion. He logged 89 1/3 innings with a 5.14 ERA, 15.2% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 50.3% ground ball rate, with all of those being pretty close to his career marks.
Since Coors Field is notorious for its offense-forward environment, Ureña was likely better than that ERA indicates. All of the advanced metrics were a bit kinder, as he had a 4.53 FIP, 4.46 xFIP and 4.83 SIERA. Those still aren’t amazing numbers, but the Rockies often have trouble convincing pitchers to make Denver their home. As the season was winding down, reports emerged that both he and the club were happy with their arrangement and were interested in a reunion. Giving the mutual affection and constant need for arms in Colorado, signing up for another year at a modest price point seems to be a good fit for all parties.
By bringing back Ureña, the club adds a reliable veteran to a rotation that has a lot of uncertainty at the moment. Germán Márquez and Kyle Freeland should have two spots spoken for, with Ureña now taking a third. There’s not much guaranteed beyond that right now though. Antonio Senzatela should enter the mix at some point, though he was diagnosed with a torn ACL in August. At the time, the estimated recovery period was given as 6-8 months, meaning Senzatela could miss a chunk of the beginning of the season. There are other options to fill out the back, such as Austin Gomber, Ryan Feltner and Noah Davis. In the case of Davis, he is unproven as he has just a single inning of MLB experience at this point. Gomber and Feltner are a bit more established, though they each posted ERAs above 5.50 in 2022.
Given that uncertainty, this signing should only be the beginning of the steps the Rockies take to address their rotation before Opening Day. They might not be well-positioned to be huge players in the free agent pitching market, given their payroll. Roster Resource estimates that today’s signing pushes next year’s outlay to $157MM. The franchise record for an Opening Day figure is $131MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, meaning they are already almost $30MM into uncharted waters here. Given those circumstances, and the fact that free agent pitchers are usually loath to voluntary make Coors Field their home, the next moves could come via other means or might be similarly modest.
Robert Murray of FanSided first reported that the two sides were in agreement. Jon Heyman of the New York Post first had that it was a major league deal and that it was worth $3.5MM (Twitter links). Thomas Harding of MLB.com first reported the club option for 2024. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com first reported the $3MM salary for 2023, $4MM figure for the option and $500K number for the buyout (Twitter links).
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Last place finish, pointless.
They really trust him I guess.
You think they should have signed deGrom? This IS a last place team. They have holes in SS, 3B and need upgrades in every outfield position. Their DH, Blackman, has a bellow average bat now. In addition, they have two decent starters and that’s assuming Marquez can bounce back a little. There is no way the Rockies are going to be playoff competitive through the free agent market. They have to go through the farm.
He’s not very good. They could have spent that better on someone else, in my opinion.
This is the same team that signed Antonio Senzatela to a $50 million extension and gave Kris Bryant almost $200 million. Their moves make comedically little sense.
He was only 9% bellow league average once adjusted for park. He claimed earlier that he enjoyed pitching for the Rockies, which is rare to find a pitcher willing to. A cheap deal that fills innings and offers a touch of upside in the form of a cheap club option is far from awful even if it isn’t a sexy move.
@GareBear – 100% agree. The Rockies don’t exactly have a line of viable pitching suitors lined up around the block, so they could do far worse than a low cost option that is willing to pitch for them and can soak up some innings.
Rockies move
Very good. And you figured that out just by the headline of the Rockies signing him. Next week we will move onto colors.
I mean signing some mediocre/below average player to an extension as if they’ll be part of the next “winning core”
1 year deal for a team out of contention… this is actually what they’re supposed to be doing. Last off-season…. I don’t know what the hell that was.
It’s a one year deal. They don’t allow teams to sign shorter contracts than that. What do you expect the Rockies to do? Just sign bums to minor leagues and roll over and play dead?
Urena has a 5.36 ERA/82ERA+ since the start of the 2019 season and the Rockies are just like “yup, that’s our guy!”
Being a Rockies fan must be hell.
What would you do to improve the Rockies pitching situation?
Colorado is (1) not competitive, and (2) not an attractive destination for pitchers, so short of tacking on an extra million or so, their options for upgrading their pitching are incredibly limited. So to think they got a pitcher who can soak up innings and actually wants to pitch in Colorado for 2/$7mm (including the option), when the Orioles paid 1/$7mm for a very similar pitcher to Ureña in Lyles, they could’ve done way worse. And for $3mm (not including the option), he’s pretty disposable if he takes an even further step back, even for a team like the Rockies.
They’re a poorly run organization, to be sure. But this move hardly embodies to that.
@disadvantage
I would probably be looking at the waiver wire, Rule 5, and non-tenders for guys that are still young enough to actually have some upside. Urena is 31 and hasn’t posted an ERA below 5.00 in the last 4 years, he’s a warm body and that’s it.
Or I’d go to ownership and demand they either give me some real money to spend on pitching or allow me to embark on a rebuild.
@hiflew
“Nope, I love my team.”
I 100% respect that and kind of know how you feel actually. I remained a diehard through the entire 14 year losing streak the Orioles put up from the late 90s through 2011, and I actually see quite a bit of similarity between the Rockies of today and all of those teams. They weren’t cheapskates but they also didn’t spend enough to overcome their deficiencies, and they were stuck in a division with several perennial juggernauts in NY and BOS, but despite this, ownership stubbornly refused to allow the FO to do a complete teardown and rebuild and thus they were stuck in this limbo where they weren’t good but also weren’t really one of the absolute worst teams in baseball but they also were too good to get the very best talent in the draft year after year.
TL;DR- I really empathize with Rockies fans and hope they turn it around sooner than the Orioles did prior to 2012.
@king
And I’m sure they’ll use Rule 5 and waiver claims and non-tenders wherever they can as well, but all of those things are far from a certainty. Whether you like him or not, Ureña is, and even if he takes a step back, at $3.5mm, he’s hardly going to hurt the team.
And there’s no real incentive for pitchers to go to Colorado over any other team unless they’re the only suitor (with exception to the players that actually want to go there, be it family reasons or a reunion with the team, or maybe they really like Kris Bryant?), so even waiver claim players can choose another team. And so can any free agent, even if the owners give you lots of money to play with. Not to mention you have no idea how they’ll perform in Colorado, such as Wade Davis (who at the time was as good as any player they could’ve signed).
Nope, I love my team. Urena had a couple really bad outings. Other than them, he pitched very well for Colorado. But when you are talking about 60 innings, two bad outings are impossible to overcome in terms of ERA. Especially for people like yourself that only look numbers and fail to actually watch the man pitch regularly.
This is very common for Rockies pitchers, and no one who doesn’t watch the team play regularly understands that (other teams do though). Everything is just different at altitude. And one of the ways it’s different is just about every pitcher has a few bad days which, unlike at sea level, turn into ERA-killing catastrophes. But it’s still just one game. Urena pitched extremely well the majority of his outings.
Lmao Rockies
Yeah silly them. They should have just used that $3MM to sign deGrom. I can’t believe they missed that option.
Really solid move. Urena isn’t great but soaks up innings and is still only 31. His stuff plays at Coors since it’s mostly sliders and fastballs. Likes it there (which, contrary to what most rando baseball fans think, a startingly high percentage of Rockies do). But most of all, super, super cheap innings. .
3MM?
Super super super cheap?
You could’ve grabbed 2 waiver wire arms and shuttled them back and forth for half. Urena wasn’t good at Coors last year either. 6.14 ERA at home.
Rockies will be the Rockies.
@Orioles2024
I mentioned Lyles in another comment, but given that your name includes Orioles, it bears repeating that is an ironic sentiment coming from a fan of a team that paid more than twice that amount for Jordan Lyles, whose role was practically identical to Ureña’s.
Unlike the Orioles who are content to just do nothing for seven years in the hopes that the Yankees and Red Sox will run low on money or that Toronto and Tampa will run low on luck in 2024.
@hiflew
There was a plan to be successful in Baltimore. You just don’t understand it. Building up an analytics department and bringing in systems and coaches to develop players is what leads to success.
If not—you get Colorado. Keep spending on mediocre players and not maximizing the talent you do have. Trade prospects at the wrong time and hold onto guys too long. A team that will be lucky to be battling for 3rd place in the West for the foreseeable future. The same team that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2017.
& the D’Backs are ran way better and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them keep the Rox in the cellar for the next 5 years.
Why do people assume a lack of understanding whenever something is disagreed with. I am not an idiot. I know what Baltimore is trying to do. And it will probably work. However, I just don’t agree with the tactic of basically stealing the money from fans for 5 years without really trying to be competitive in order to get there. The ends do not justify the means.
My Rockies might be bad, but I have never gone into a season thinking that they are not trying this year. Can you honestly say that about your team?
Rockies were in the playoffs in 2018. And when exactly were the Orioles in the playoffs last? People in glass houses…
They’d be far worse. You have no idea how Urena actually pitched last year. Nearly all of that inflated ERA comes from 2 or 3 outings. I believe he gave up 8 one game. He was extremely good for most of his starts.
Orioles fan?!?!?!?! Now I’ve seen it all.
To the Rockies credit – they still get 30K a night to show up and watch this festering garbage.
I’d encourage you to actually take in a game at Coors before throwing up garbage takes. It’s one of the best experiences in baseball, tons of balls in play and excitement, and the team usually wins. There’s no mystery at all. They can’t win on the road for a variety of reasons, including front office incompetence, but the main one is they play two completely different sports depending on whether they’re home or away, and have trouble adjusting.
Those payroll numbers are wrong. The Rockies have been in the $150’s before for sure.
From cots. Opening day payrolls at 145 and 136
What in the hell are they spending 157 mil on? It’s not winning, that’s for sure. Maybe time to scrap the 157 Mil Last Place Plan? No? Ok then, carry on doing whatever this is.
The best move the Rox could possibly make would be to hire the head assistant to either the Rays or Braves GM’s. The GM’s for those teams are brilliant and their assistant gm’s would have to be pretty good too. The Rockies GM is clearly a bumbling, clueless fool.
Have the Rockies ever had an ace pitcher? I can’t think of one in the last 20 years. Even on their good teams it seems like they’ve never had a #1 guy. Closest guy I can think of is Ubaldo Jimenez and I’m not sure he’s really in the ace category his whole career.
Part of me feels a bit bad for them but part of me thinks it’s also their fault for their lack of success. They should be drafting the best pitchers.
Ubaldo was an ace for about two seasons. Otherwise they’ve had a few who were All-star caliber for a year or two, like Jeff Francis and Aaron Cook. Hard place to pitch but a lot of highly drafted pitchers have also flopped for them through the years.
They have an ace pitcher every year. The ace is just the #1 starter for a team. Hence the term ace.
You’re missing my point. Not every #1 pitcher is an “ace.” And Jeff Francis? Are you serious? Guy hasn’t had a season with his ERA less than 4 and you call him an ace?
Where do you think the term ace came from? It refers to a team’s #1 pitcher because aces have one pip. Fangraphs did not invent the term in 2014 or anything.
As far as ERA goes. Clayton Kershaw has a career ERA of 4.82 at Coors. Is he not an ace either?
No, just no. I was the best pool player on my team. But that didn’t make me a great pool player. You need to differentiate between being an ace, and being a team’s ace.
No. YOU need to differentiate. I am happy with the way I look at things.
Since Coors Field is notorious for its offense-forward environment, Ureña was likely better than that ERA indicates.
===============================
Actually, the difference between the Rockies home and away ERA is not particularly large. Actually, almost a -0- difference over the past two years. Coors field is more an issue for the hitters.