Author: Anthony Franco

The Rockies went outside the box with one of the more fascinating executive hirings in recent memory. The top baseball operations duo of Paul DePodesta and Josh Byrnes have their work cut out for them. It’s not going to be fixed in one offseason, but they made a handful of lower-cost additions to raise the floor after losing 119 games.

Major League Signings

• 2B/3B/OF Willi Castro, Two years, $12.8MM
• RHP Michael Lorenzen, One year, $8MM (including buyout of ’27 club option)
• LHP Jose Quintana: One year, $6MM
• RHP Tomoyuki Sugano: One year, $5.1MM

2026 spending: $25.25MM
Total spending: $31.9MM

Trades and Claims

• Claimed RHP Garrett Acton off waivers from Rays (later lost on release waivers to Marlins)
• Claimed 1B Troy Johnston off waivers from Marlins
• Acquired LHP Brennan Bernardino from Red Sox for minor league OF Braiden Ward
• Traded LHP Ryan Rolison to Braves for cash
• Selected RHP RJ Petit from Tigers with No. 1 pick in Rule 5 draft
• Claimed RHP Keegan Thompson off waivers from Reds
• Acquired OF Jake McCarthy from Diamondbacks for minor league RHP Josh Grosz
• Traded RHP Bradley Blalock to Marlins for minor league RHP Jake Brooks
• Traded RHP Angel Chivilli to Yankees for minor league 1B T.J.Rumfield
• Acquired 1B/2B Edouard Julien and RHP Pierson Ohl from Twins for minor league RHP Jace Kaminska and cash

Option Decisions

• Team declined its end of $7MM mutual option on 2B Thairo Estrada in favor of $750K buyout
• Team declined its end of $4MM mutual option on 2B Kyle Farmer in favor of $750K buyout

Notable Minor League Signings

• Drew Avans, Valente Bellozo, John Brebbia, Eiberson Castellano, Adam Laskey, Nicky Lopez, Vimael Machín, Kyle McCann, Parker Mushinski, Chad Stevens, Brett Sullivan

Extensions

• None

Notable Losses

• Germán Márquez, Thairo Estrada, Michael Toglia (non-tender), Kyle Farmer, Angel Chivilli, Bradley Blalock, Ryan Rolison, Orlando Arcia, Yanquiel Fernández (lost on waivers), Drew Romo (lost on waivers), Anthony Molina (lost on waivers), Dugan Darnell (lost on waivers), Warming Bernabel, Roansy Contreras, Aaron Schunk, Lucas Gilbreath

As the Rockies were playing out the string on one of the worst seasons in baseball history, it was evident significant changes were coming. The Rox had already fired manager Bud Black early in the year, tabbing Warren Schaeffer as an interim replacement. Speculation about general manager Bill Schmidt’s job security mounted by the end of the regular season.

The Rox announced at the beginning of the playoffs that Schmidt was out. The team framed it as a mutual decision, though reporting suggested the GM was fired. In either case, owner Dick Monfort said he planned to go outside the organization for the next baseball operations leader. Schmidt and Jeff Bridich had been internal promotions and did not pan out. Assistant GM Zack Rosenthal resigned once it became apparent that he wasn’t under consideration for the top role.

Colorado interviewed a handful of traditional candidates: Royals assistant GM Scott Sharp, Blue Jays vice president of baseball strategy James Click, D-Backs AGM Amiel Sawdaye, and Guardians AGM Matt Forman among them. They’d seemingly narrowed the decision to Forman and Sawdaye by Halloween but reopened the search at that point. Sawdaye and Forman reportedly each withdrew from consideration toward the end of the process.

It left the Rockies in an awkward spot of beginning the offseason with no clear head of baseball operations. They made a couple option formalities in buying out Thairo Estrada and Kyle Farmer and even placed a few waiver claims (Garrett Acton, Troy Johnston) while a committee of holdovers ran operations.

As the GM Meetings approached in the second week of November, the Rockies made a stunning hire. They tabbed former Dodgers general manager Paul DePodesta as their president of baseball operations. DePodesta, best known for his role as Billy Beane’s top lieutenant during the Moneyball era, last ran an MLB front office 20 years ago. He had been out of baseball altogether since 2016, spending the past decade in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns.

It’s much too early to judge how DePodesta’s newest role will turn out. The Rockies have been too insular throughout Monfort’s ownership tenure but certainly can’t be accused of that with the DePodesta hiring. Maybe that’s an inevitability after an historically inept season.

It could also be a hint of a changing of the guard at the top of the organization. Although Dick Monfort remains the ownership head, he has voiced a desire to offload some of the daily responsibility to his son, Walker (who was promoted to team president last summer). Dick Monfort is one of the leading ownership figures on the labor side — he’s generally perceived as one of the more stringent advocates for a salary cap — and wanted to focus more attention on the upcoming collective bargaining negotiations.

Although DePodesta would do a fair bit of work reshaping the back of the roster, his immediate priority was on staffing. He tabbed longtime Dodgers executive (and former Padres GM) Josh Byrnes as his general manager, the No. 2 in baseball operations. The two have roots together dating back to their days in Cleveland’s front office in the late 1990s.

The Rockies also decided right away to remove the interim tag and allow Schaeffer to continue on as manager. One could read that as the kind of loyalty which has burned the organization in the past, but it’s more defensible in this case. The roster is nowhere close to competitive no matter who’s managing. As long as the Rox were comfortable with Schaeffer’s connections to young players, they might as well see if he’s the right person to lead them through the rebuild.

Schaeffer did overhaul much of the coaching staff that he had inherited from Black. They tabbed first-year hitting and pitching coaches (Brett Pill and Alon Leichman, respectively). Jeff Pickler gets his first bench coaching position.

Figuring out the pitching staff is the biggest challenge. Playing at Coors Field does them no favors, but last year’s staff was largely bereft of talent no matter the park. Colorado pitchers had the highest earned run average and lowest strikeout rate in MLB both at home and on the road. The rotation’s 6.65 ERA was the highest in any full season in MLB history. The bullpen’s 5.18 mark wasn’t historically terrible but ranked 29th in the majors.

The front office has sought to raise the floor with a handful of veteran additions. Michael Lorenzen, Jose Quintana and Tomoyuki Sugano all came aboard on one-year deals between $5.1MM and $8MM. They’re low-ceiling additions, but the Rockies weren’t going to convince high-upside arms to take a pillow contract at Coors Field.

There’s a commonality between all three of their free agent acquisitions. Although none miss bats at high levels, they all mix 5-7 pitches with regularity. That’s probably not a coincidence. “We want big arsenals. We think big arsenals will be harder to game plan against,” Leichman told Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post. “You know, if a guy has six, seven pitches, that’s harder to game plan for than if a guy has two or three, right? So we think that’s an advantage. The more weapons you have, the more random you can be.”

The trio will at least provide innings in the first half of the season. They’re not going to be big trade candidates, but it’s possible one or two of them will pitch well enough to net a low-level prospect in July. Colorado released Austin Gomber midseason and let Germán Márquez walk via free agency. They kicked Antonio Senzatela to long relief at the end of last year. With the exception of Kyle Freeland, they’ve mostly moved on from their previous rotation core.

Freeland, Lorenzen, Quintana and Sugano should comprise four-fifths of the Opening Day rotation. Chase Dollander and Ryan Feltner are the top options for the final spot. The Rox are expected to build righty Jimmy Herget up as a potential starter this spring, though it’s likelier he winds up back in the bullpen. Prospects Gabriel Hughes and Sean Sullivan could debut midseason.

Colorado didn’t invest much in the bullpen. They made a few low-cost additions to the middle relief group. DePodesta’s first trade brought in 34-year-old lefty Brennan Bernardino from the Red Sox. They grabbed out-of-options righty Keegan Thompson off waivers from the Reds, who had signed him to a split contract just a few weeks earlier. The Rox had the top pick in the Rule 5 draft and used it on right-hander RJ Petit, who posted a 2.44 ERA with a near-30% strikeout rate in 47 appearances in the Detroit system last year. He’ll have a strong chance to break camp.

The higher-leverage bullpen arms are returnees. Seth Halvorsen, Victor Vodnik and Juan Mejia are controllable power arms with spotty command. They have a better chance of netting a meaningful trade return than do any of the fifth/sixth starter free agent signings, so they’re probably the bigger projects for the new pitching coaches.

Angel Chivilli also has big stuff but hasn’t found any success over his first two seasons. The Yankees placed a bet on the arm, acquiring Chivilli in a one-for-one swap for minor league first baseman T.J.Rumfield. The lefty-hitting Rumfield is coming off a .285/.378/.477 showing with 16 homers over a full season in Triple-A. He’s soon to turn 26 and doesn’t have much to gain from another look at minor league pitching.

Rumfield isn’t exactly a prospect. The Yankees left him unprotected in the Rule 5 draft. Every team, Colorado included, passed on the chance to acquire him for $100K. The Rockies instead parted with Chivilli to add him without the roster restrictions associated with a Rule 5 pick. Even if Rumfield breaks camp, the Rockies can option him to Triple-A, which would not have been the case had he been a Rule 5 selection.

There’s a good opportunity for the Virginia Tech product to win the first base job. The Rockies non-tendered Michael Toglia, one of far too many first-round misses in recent years. They claimed 28-year-old Troy Johnston off waivers from Miami. He’s likely competing with Blaine Crim and Rumfield in Spring Training.

Trade acquisition Edouard Julien could factor into the first base mix as well. Colorado acquired the left-handed hitter alongside swingman Pierson Ohl in a trade with Minnesota. (Ohl had a decent chance to win a long relief job but blew out this spring and is headed for Tommy John surgery.) Julien works a lot of walks and showed intriguing power upside as a rookie back in 2023, but concerning levels of swing-and-miss pushed him to the fringe of the Twins roster. He’s a decent flier for a rebuilding team that was thin on upper-level infield depth.

Julien has spent the majority of his career at second base. He’s not a good defender anywhere and probably better suited at first or designated hitter. If the Rockies prefer him at first base, that’d leave open the keystone for Adael Amador, minor league signee, Nicky Lopez or utilityman Willi Castro.

Castro signed a two-year, $12.8MM contract — Colorado’s first multi-year free agent deal since the unfortunate Kris Bryant signing. Castro had two and a half seasons as a quality bat-first utility piece in Minnesota. His numbers tanked after a deadline trade to the Cubs. That didn’t dissuade the Rox from making a multi-year commitment. He’s a respected clubhouse presence and can move between second and third base depending on what the Rockies get out of Julien, Amador, Tyler Freeman, Ryan Ritter and Kyle Karros at those respective positions. He also has some outfield experience.

Even with Castro and Julien in the fold, this is probably the worst infield in MLB. The only player locked into an everyday spot on the dirt is Ezequiel Tovar at shortstop. He’s looking to rebound after a down year in which he was hampered by hip and oblique issues.

Bryant remains on the roster, but it’s impossible to know when or if he’ll be physically able to return to the field. The former MVP has been forthright about a degenerative back condition impacting his daily life. He was immediately placed on the 60-day injured list and has no timetable for a return. Bryant isn’t going to retire and walk away from the remaining three years and $78MM on his contract. He continues to express hope that he’ll be able to play again.

The Bryant signing was ill-advised for a Colorado team that should have already been rebuilding, but no one would have foreseen things going this poorly. It’s far from the only reason that things have gotten so bleak, yet it remains the biggest misfire for an organization that has had few success stories in recent years.

The biggest exception is behind the plate. Hunter Goodman was maybe the only unequivocal bright spot in 2025. He hit 31 homers, tied for second among catchers, with a .278/.323/.520 batting line to earn his first All-Star nod. Goodman didn’t come up in any substantive trade rumors, though that’s surely not because of a lack of interest from other clubs. The Rockies control him for four seasons.

This is the kind of player the organization has been eager to extend in recent years, usually at a time when it feels like buying high. They could look into that possibility this spring, with Goodman potentially looking for something in the $40-50MM range if he’s signing away a free agent season or two. The Rockies are probably better off waiting to see if he can repeat last year’s breakout since his aggressive approach and massive whiff rates leave him with a low floor from an on-base perspective.

Goodman will get the majority of the playing time behind the dish. Braxton Fulford is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster, so he’s the favorite for the backup job. Fulford struggled as a 26-year-old rookie. The door is open for minor league signees Brett Sullivan or Kyle McCann to beat him out in camp.

Colorado moved on from former supplemental first-round pick Drew Romo this offseason. They also parted ways with former high picks or notable prospects like Toglia, Ryan Rolison and Yanquiel Fernández. That’s emblematic of how little they’ve gotten from the farm system in recent years despite frequently picking at the top of the draft.

Another former top-10 pick, Zac Veen, is trying to play his way into the outfield mix this spring. Brenton Doyle is locked into center field. The corners are more open, but they have a handful of options. Jordan Beck, Mickey Moniak and prospect Sterlin Thompson are in-house possibilities.

DePodesta expressed openness to trading an outfielder for pitching depth, but their only move went in the opposite direction. They dealt minor league righty Josh Grosz to Arizona for out-of-options fourth outfielder Jake McCarthy. McCarthy is a contact-oriented hitter who can steal bases but has alternated solid and terrible years at the plate. Although he and Julien couldn’t be more different stylistically, it’s a similar roll of the dice on a fringe roster player who has had intermittent big league success.

Those will be the kinds of moves the Rockies will make for the next few years. This isn’t going to be a good team for quite some time. They’re probably headed for another 100-loss season, though their moves on the margins should keep them from repeating last year’s level of futility. The success of this offseason will hinge much more on the front office hires than any of the tinkering with MLB’s worst team.