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Rockies Hire Jeff Pickler As Bench Coach

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The Rockies announced the hiring of Jeff Pickler as bench coach. Thomas Harding of MLB.com reported the move before the club announcement.

Pickler, who turns 50 in January, worked as game-planning/outfield coach with the Reds from 2019-24. He’d worked under skipper David Bell during that time but was not retained when Cincinnati hired Terry Francona. Before his time in Cincinnati, Pickler spent two seasons on the Minnesota coaching staff. Harding points out that Pickler had also worked in scouting with the Diamondbacks and Padres when Josh Byrnes was general manager of those clubs. Colorado hired Byrnes as GM underneath baseball operations president Paul DePodesta a couple weeks ago.

Before entering the scouting ranks, Pickler played eight minor league seasons as an infielder. That included one season in the Rox system. Pickler finished his playing days with their Triple-A club in 2005.

The Rockies have made a handful of hirings as Warren Schaeffer enters his first full season in the managerial role. Brett Pill (hitting coach), Alon Leichman (pitching coach), Gabe Ribas (assistant pitching coach), and Matt Buschmann (bullpen coach) are also in place. Colorado had used Clint Hurdle as interim bench coach after firing skipper Bud Black in May. It’s unclear whether Hurdle will remain in the organization in 2026.

Rockies Unlikely To Trade Brenton Doyle

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Despite coming off a down season at the plate, Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle has drawn interest from several clubs — the Yankees, Mets, Padres and Phillies among them. However, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the newly remade front office, led by president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta and GM Josh Byrnes, is likely to hang onto Doyle rather than sell low after a rough year in the batter’s box.

Doyle, a premium defender in center field, is eligible for arbitration for the first time as a Super Two player this winter and is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $3.2MM next season. The 27-year-old connected on 23 homers and swiped 30 bags in 2024 while slashing .260/.317/.446, but those rate stats dipped to .233/.274/.376 in 2025. It bears mentioning that Doyle’s production at the plate improved considerably in the final few months of the season and that he and his family went through a grueling tragedy early in the season that surely impacted him on the field. From July onward, he batted .281/.308/.452 with nine of his 15 home runs and 10 of his 18 steals.

Even as hit bat slumped, Doyle remained a quality defensive player at a premium position. His defensive grades in 2025 weren’t quite as strong as in the two preceding seasons, but Doyle has nonetheless tallied 3357 big league innings in center field and been credited with 29 Defensive Runs Saved and 34 Outs Above Average. He’s never posted a negative grade in either statistic. Statcast credits him with 91st percentile range, 97th percentile arm strength in the outfield and 99th percentile overall arm value. Doyle is already a two-time Gold Glove winner (despite playing only 126 games in his rookie campaign), and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he at some point took home a Platinum Glove.

Given Doyle’s age, remaining club control, plus defense and blend of power/speed — to say nothing of a paper-thin market for center fielders this winter — it’s plenty understandable that rival clubs in need of center field help (or outfield help in general) would look into the possibility of acquiring him. The Rockies know they’re not going to be competitive next season and figure to at least hear out offers on virtually anyone.

Matt Gelb of The Athletic suggests that the Phillies didn’t have (or weren’t willing to part with) the type of young, controllable pitching the Rockies would understandably seek in any deal for their center fielder. Philadelphia president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has since indicated that top prospect Justin Crawford will get an opportunity to be his team’s primary center fielder.

There’s no urgency for the Rockies to move Doyle at this time. His strong performance in July and August give some hope for a turnaround at the plate this coming season, and Doyle’s four remaining years of club control mean that a rebound would create immense trade value, be it ahead of the 2026 deadline or in subsequent offseasons.

Rockies Sign Chad Stevens To Minor League Deal

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The Rockies have signed infielder Chad Stevens to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Albuquerque for now but could receive an invite to big league camp in spring training.

Stevens, 27 in February, got to make a very brief major league debut this year. The Angels added him to their 40-man roster in the summer. He got into five games and stepped to the plate 14 times. He notched two singles, the first of which came against future Hall-of-Famer Max Scherzer, but also struck out seven times. He was outrighted off the 40-man in September and became a free agent at season’s end.

The Rockies are surely looking at his minor league track record, which is greater in both quality and quantity than that major league action. He made 981 plate appearances in the minors over the past two years with a .281/.354/.459 batting line. That translated to a 110 wRC+, indicating he was 10% better than league average. He also stole 28 bases in 37 attempts and bounced around the field. He spent just nine innings at first base but had loads of time at the other three infield positions, as well as a handful of games in both outfield corners.

Colorado has plenty of uncertainty on its roster, as one would expect for a team which just lost 119 games. There are a few guys who seem like lineup locks right now but even those guys might end up traded, depending on what the club plans to do this offseason. Since Stevens can play so many different positions, he’ll have various paths back to the big leagues. Statcast also ranked his sprint speed in the 81st percentile during his brief time in the big leagues, so he could also be attractive as a utility guy who can pinch run.

If he makes it back to the show, he still has options, meaning the Rockies can send him to Triple-A and back relatively freely. He also has just five days of big league service time, meaning he’s years away from qualifying for arbitration and is therefore very affordable.

Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images

Rockies Hire Ian Levin As Assistant GM

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The Rockies announced today that they have hired Ian Levin as assistant general manager. Thomas Harding of MLB.com reported the hire prior to the official announcement. “Ian brings a proven record of strategic leadership, key roster decision-making, and innovative player performance initiatives,” president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta said in the club’s press release. “With extensive experience across major league operations, research and development, player development and amateur scouting, Ian will strengthen every part of our operation. We couldn’t be more excited to bring him to the Rockies.”

Levin has spent the past two decades with the Mets. He was hired as an intern in 2005 on the public relations side, then moved over to baseball operations in 2006. He worked in scouting and player development roles over the years, getting promoted to assistant general manager with that club in 2021, a title he held through 2024. He departed the Mets a year ago to start his own company.

The Rockies have been trying to give their franchise an overhaul. The general perception around baseball is that they have been trailing the other clubs when it comes to data and analytics. That has contributed to a miserable on-field product. Colorado has lost at least 101 games in three straight seasons, with the most recent campaign seeing them drop all the way to 119 losses.

The past few months, the club has been focused on blazing a new trail. They parted ways with general manager Bill Schmidt at the end of the regular season. Assistant general manager Zack Rosenthal resigned a week later. The Rockies eventually hired DePodesta to run the front office. DePodesta later added Josh Byrnes as general manager and Tommy Tanous as assistant general manager.

Byrnes came from the Dodgers and Tanous and Levin both from the Mets, though Levin was away from the Mets for a year. What all three have in common is that they all crossed paths with DePodesta years ago. DePodesta has been working in the NFL for the past decade but was in baseball for many years before that. DePodesta and Byrnes were both working for Cleveland in the late ’90s. DePodesta later worked from the Mets from 2011 to 2015 before joining the Cleveland Browns.

Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images

David Dahl Announces Retirement

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Outfielder David Dahl announced his retirement on his X feed earlier this week, opting to end his playing career at age 31.  As Dahl wrote in his farewell post, “Baseball has been my life for as long as I can remember.  From being a kid in Alabama chasing a lifelong dream to stepping foot on a big-league field…after 13 seasons and several months to reflect on it, it’s officially time for the next chapter.  Thank you, baseball.”

Dahl appeared in parts of seven Major League seasons from 2016-24, playing in 350 games and hitting .268/.313/.460 with 46 home runs over 1311 career plate appearances.  The majority of Dahl’s pro career was spent in the Rockies organization, beginning when Colorado selected the outfielder with the 10th overall pick of the 2012 draft.

A regular on top-100 prospect rankings during his minor league career, Dahl’s progress hit an unexpected roadblock when he suffered a lacerated spleen after colliding with a teammate during a 2015 Double-A game.  Dahl opted to have his spleen removed entirely in order to get back onto the field before season’s end, as waiting for the spleen to heal would’ve likely cost him the entirety of the season.  This unusual situation in some ways defined Dahl’s career, highlighting his grit in trying to play through what ended up being a long list of injuries that set back his career.

Dahl had an impressive MLB debut in 2016, hitting .315/.359/.500 over his first 237 PA in the Show.  A stress fracture in his rib and then back spasms limited him to just 19 minor league games and no big league action in 2017, but Dahl was able to recover and appear in 177 games for Colorado over the 2018-19 seasons.  The outfielder batted .291/.342/.528 with 31 homers in 684 PA over this two-year stretch, helping the Rockies reach the postseason in 2018 and earning an All-Star nod for himself in 2019.

Even during those two seasons, however, Dahl missed a good deal of time recovering from a right foot fracture and then a right high ankle sprain.  2019 ended up being the high point of Dahl’s production, as after Opening Day 2020, he hit only .200/.237/.318 over the final 390 PA of his big league career.  Shoulder problems in 2020 led to a surgery after the season, and the Rockies chose to non-tender Dahl.  He bounced around to six different teams over the next four seasons, and saw some more MLB time with the Rangers, Padres, and Phillies.

After not playing at all in 2025, Dahl has now decided to hang up the cleats.  We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Dahl on a fine career and wish him all the best in his post-playing endeavors.

Rockies Hire Brett Pill As Hitting Coach

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The Rockies announced the hiring of former MLB first baseman Brett Pill as their hitting coach. The 41-year-old joins Warren Schaeffer’s staff after six seasons with the Dodgers. Pill had spent three years as a Double-A hitting coach in the L.A. system before getting a promotion to minor league hitting coordinator in 2023.

Pill is best known for his three-year stint playing in MLB for the Giants. He appeared in 111 games between 2011-13. Pill spent parts of four seasons in Triple-A and finished his playing career with a three-year stint for the Kia Tigers between 2014-16. He remained in Korea for three years after that, working for his former KBO team as a scout before taking the Dodgers job.

This is Pill’s first major league coaching role. He’ll hopefully provide some stability in a position that was in flux in 2025. Colorado opened the season with Hensley Meulens as hitting coach. He was fired a couple weeks into the year. Clint Hurdle stepped in from the front office to take over, but he moved to bench coach once Bud Black and Mike Redmond were fired in May. Jordan Pacheco and Nic Wilson divided the hitting coach responsibilities for the rest of the season.

There should be nowhere to go but up after a 43-119 season. Colorado was by far the worst offensive team in MLB. They were ahead of only the Pirates in scoring despite playing half their games at Coors Field. They had an MLB-worst .293 on-base percentage thanks to the league’s lowest walk rate (6.7%). Only the Angels struck out more often. Colorado hitters have their work cut out for them in road games because of the difference in pitch movements at altitude. Even with that caveat, their .203/.259/.330 team batting line outside of Denver was abysmal.

It’s obviously not going to be fixed in one offseason. They’re not going to have a good lineup in 2026, but they can hope for process improvements from the likes of Ezequiel Tovar, Jordan Beck and (if he’s not traded) Brenton Doyle. They’ll hope for a repeat performance from 26-year-old catcher Hunter Goodman, one of the few bright spots from the ’25 team. Goodman popped 31 homers with a .278/.323/.520 batting line, tying Shea Langeliers for second among catchers in home runs.

Rockies Notes: New Assistant GM, Herget’s Role

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The Rockies announced the hiring of Tommy Tanous as assistant general manager today. Tanous has spent the past 15 years in the Mets’ scouting department. He will focus on scouting and player development with Colorado. Thomas Harding of MLB.com was first to report the hiring.

“Tommy brings a wealth of knowledge in coaching, amateur scouting, pro scouting, international, and special assignment work from his time in baseball, and I’m looking forward to using his experience and rare ability to connect with people to help build organizational consistency across all levels of our operation,” said president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta in a press release.

Tanous was most recently vice president of player evaluation and special advisor to the president of baseball operations in New York. He’d been with the club since 2010. Tanous’ tenure with the Mets crossed over with DePodesta’s time in the organization. DePodesta took over as vice president of player development and scouting for the Mets in 2010, around the same time Tanous was hired. The pair spent six seasons on the same staff until DePodesta left for the NFL.

Colorado continues to build out its front office since hiring DePodesta in early November. Tanous joins Josh Byrnes as a new executive coming over from a big-market organization. Byrnes had been senior vice president of baseball operations with the Dodgers.

On the player front, Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic reported a role change for a veteran pitcher. Reliever Jimmy Herget is expected to prepare as a starter heading into next season. The 32-year-old was excellent out of the bullpen last year, posting a 2.48 ERA across 59 games. Herget racked up a career-high 83 1/3 innings in his first season with the Rockies. As Rosenthal and Sammon point out, Herget pitched more than an inning in 31 appearances.

Herget was drafted by the Reds and debuted with the team in 2019. He bounced around from there, pitching for the Rangers, Angels, and Braves over the next five seasons. Herget was claimed off waivers by the Cubs near the end of the 2024 season after eight games with Atlanta. He was designated for assignment shortly after and scooped up by the Rockies.

Despite the nomadic career, Herget has delivered solid results as a big leaguer. He has a 3.17 ERA over 238 1/3 innings. Herget’s 3.51 xERA and 3.69 SIERA are a bit higher than his actual ERA, but still suggest he’s a solid bullpen arm.

Herget throws from a true sidearm slot, with his arm angle being nearly perpendicular to his body. He ranks in the first percentile in extension. Herget typically relies on two breaking balls and a low-90s sinker. He led with the curveball last season, followed by the slider and sinker, to go with the occasional four-seamer and changeup. The unique look likely drives some of Herget’s success, so it’ll be interesting to see how he fares facing hitters multiple times. He’s made just three starts in his career.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

2025 Rule 5 Draft Results

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The 2025 Rule 5 draft is taking place this afternoon at the Winter Meetings in Orlando. This post will be updated with the results as they come in.

As a refresher, the Rule 5 draft is a way for players potentially talented enough for the big leagues but blocked by their current clubs to find opportunities elsewhere. Any players that were 18 and under at the time of their original signing and went professional in 2021, and any players who turned pro at 19 years of age or older in 2022, are eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft if they are not on a 40-man roster.

Though the amateur (Rule 4) draft now has a lottery to determine the selection order, the Rule 5 draft still goes the old-fashioned way of reverse order of standings from the season that just ended. Clubs need to have an open 40-man roster spot in order to make a pick but aren’t obligated to make a selection on their turn. If they do make a pick, they will have to pay $100K to the team they select from. The selected players must stay on the active roster (or injured list) for the entire 2026 season or else be placed on waivers. If they clear waivers, they must be offered back to their original team. They cannot be optioned to the minors.

Players like Anthony Santander and Ryan Pressly have been notable picks in other recent years while guys like George Bell and Roberto Clemente are found deeper in the history books. Last year, 15 players were selected. Only four of those remain with the club who selected them and only three of those have had their rights fully transferred to their new club. The White Sox took Shane Smith from the Brewers. The Marlins took Liam Hicks from the Tigers. Mike Vasil was taken by the Phillies from the Mets but was later traded to the Rays and then went to the White Sox via waivers.

The one other pick from last year’s draft which is still live is Angel Bastardo, who the Blue Jays took from the Red Sox. He was recovering from Tommy John surgery and spent the entire 2025 season on the injured list. He is still on Toronto’s 40-man but they don’t yet have his full rights, as a player needs at least 90 active days to remove the Rule 5 restrictions. If the Jays are willing to roster him for about three months during the 2026 season, they could then gain his full rights and option him to the minors. All other picks were eventually returned to their original organization and/or became free agents.

This year’s picks will be featured below as they come in…

  1. Rockies: RHP RJ Petit (from the Tigers) (Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs was on this before the official announcement)
  2. White Sox: RHP Jedixson Paez (Red Sox)
  3. Nationals: RHP Griff McGarry (Phillies)
  4. Twins: C Daniel Susac (Athletics) (Susac was then traded to the Giants, per Longenhagen. The Twins will get minor league catcher Miguel Caraballo in return, per Bobby Nightengale of The Minnesota Star Tribune)
  5. Pirates: RHP Carter Baumler (Orioles) (The Pirates then traded Baumler to the Rangers for RHP Jaiker Garcia. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News previously suggested Texas would likely get Baumler)
  6. Angels: pass
  7. Orioles: pass
  8. Athletics: RHP Ryan Watson (Giants) (Will be traded to Red Sox, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The A’s will get Justin Riemer in return, per Cotillo.)
  9. Braves: pass
  10. Rays: pass
  11. Cardinals: RHP Matt Pushard (Marlins)
  12. Marlins: pass
  13. Diamondbacks: pass
  14. Rangers: pass
  15. Giants: pass
  16. Royals: pass
  17. Reds: pass
  18. Mets: pass
  19. Tigers: pass
  20. Astros: RHP Roddery Muñoz (Reds)
  21. Guardians: RHP Peyton Pallette (White Sox)
  22. Red Sox: pass
  23. Mariners: pass
  24. Padres: pass
  25. Cubs: pass
  26. Dodgers: pass
  27. Blue Jays: RHP Spencer Miles (Giants)
  28. Yankees: RHP Cade Winquest (Cardinals)
  29. Phillies: RHP Zach McCambley (Marlins)
  30. Brewers: pass

Second round (all others passed)

Photo courtesy of Mike Watters, Imagn Images

Mets, Padres, Phillies, Yankees Among Teams Interested In Brenton Doyle

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Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle is garnering “widespread trade interest,” according to Ari Alexander of 7News Boston.  The Padres, Phillies, Yankees, and Mets are just some of the “many” teams who have checked in with the Rox about the two-time Gold Glover.

Doyle won the NL center field Gold Glove in both the 2023 and 2024 seasons, and he won a Fielding Bible Award as well in 2024.  However, his stellar defense took a step backwards in 2025, as per such public defensive metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average.  After recording 14 OAA each in both 2023 and 2024, Doyle had “only” six OAA in 2025, though naturally this is still very strong.  The DRS dropoff was more severe, as Doyle went from +29 DRS over the 2023-24 seasons to an even 0 total last year.

The focus on Doyle’s defense is necessary since he has yet to show that he contribute as a big league hitter.  He had only a 44 wRC+ over 431 plate appearances in his 2023 rookie season, but boosted that wRC+ up to 97 in 2024 by hitting .260/.317/.446 with 23 home runs and 30 stolen bases over 603 plate appearances.  This improved offense and Doyle’s superb defense combined for a 3.6 fWAR season, making him an immensely valuable player if he could generate anything close to league-average production at the plate.

Unfortunately, Doyle badly regressed to a 65 wRC+ in 2025, hitting only .233/.274/.376 over 538 PA.  Between this lack of offense and his diminished defense, Doyle barely topped replacement-level production in posting 0.4 fWAR.  It is very possible and understandable that Doyle’s mind was on matters far more important than baseball last year, as the outfielder and wife lost their unborn child in April, 12 weeks into the pregnancy.

Doyle’s 2025 numbers apparently haven’t had much impact on his trade value, which isn’t that surprising for a few reasons.  The 27-year-old is a Super Two player who is controlled through the 2029 season, and Doyle is projected for a $3.2MM salary in his first trip through the arbitration process this winter.  At worst, Doyle is still an excellent defender and a strong baserunner, with 70 steals in 82 attempts during his big league career.  Though Doyle strikes out a lot and doesn’t walk much, he makes a lot of solid contact and has some pop in his bat, and could break out in a more normalized offensive environment than Coors Field.

This potential for offensive improvement could appeal to the Mets, who already have a glove-first player in Tyrone Taylor as their top option in center field.  The Phillies plan to give top prospect Justin Crawford a look in their big league outfield this year, though since it isn’t known if Crawford will be a center fielder over the long term, installing Doyle would allow Crawford to take on a less pressurized role in the corner outfield.

The Yankees and Padres have more crowded outfield pictures.  With Trent Grisham accepting the qualifying offer, New York’s starting outfield is ostensibly set between Grisham, Aaron Judge, and Jasson Dominguez, plus the club is still interested in re-signing Cody Bellinger.  Doyle might be viewed as a fallback plan if Bellinger signs elsewhere, and Doyle’s presence would both provide some guard if Dominguez still isn’t fully ready for the Show, or if Grisham’s sharp defensive decline from 2025 carries over into next year.  Doyle is a right-handed hitter, so he could split time with the lefty-swinging Grisham in center field.

San Diego has Jackson Merrill in center field, flanked in the corners by Fernando Tatis Jr. and (after his club option was exercised) Ramon Laureano.  Merrill is coming off an injury-marred 2025 season but he was still productive at the plate, and though defensive metrics are split on his work in center field, he has done an overall solid job considering that he learned center field on the fly prior to making his MLB debut in 2024.  Tatis and Merrill are locked up over the long term, so Doyle could be a fourth outfielder in 2026, and the Padres could re-evaluate the situation once Laureano’s contract is up next winter.  The fact that the Padres and Rockies are division rivals might complicate any trade, however.

In regards to the Rox, it remains to be seen if the team will even trade Doyle at all, since they’d be selling low on a player who might well be in line for a rebound year.  Trade interest in Doyle has stretched back to at least last summer’s trade deadline, and there is a sense that Colorado might move an outfielder since the outfield is one of the few relative positions of depth on the roster.  New president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta is open to basically anything as he tries to turn around a 119-loss team, so if another team makes a big enough offer for Doyle, DePodesta could very well consider swinging a trade now in order bring some much-needed young talent into the organization.

Rockies Add Gabe Ribas, Matt Buschmann To Coaching Staff

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The Rockies finalized their previously reported hiring of Alon Leichman as pitching coach. They’ve also announced the hiring of Gabe Ribas as an assistant pitching coach and Matt Buschmann as bullpen coach.

Ribas gets his first job on an MLB staff. The 45-year-old has spent the last five seasons with the Tigers as their director of pitching. Ribas had previously worked in the Dodgers farm system and at a handful of college programs. He’d also had a brief professional playing career, topping out at the Double-A level in the San Diego system in 2004.

Buschmann, 41, reached the highest level as a player — albeit very briefly. He made three appearances for the 2016 Diamondbacks. The remainder of his 11-year playing career came in the minors. Buschmann has some experience as a big league bullpen coach. He held that role with the Blue Jays between 2019-22. He has spent the past two seasons with the Cubs as an advisor in their player development department.

Former big league catcher Dustin Garneau served as Colorado’s bullpen coach in 2025. The Rox had a 5.18 earned run average out of their relievers, beating only Washington’s 5.59 figure. Rox relievers were last in strikeout rate (19.7%) despite landing in the middle of the pack in whiffs. Garneau departed to become Atlanta’s catching coach after the season. Buschmann will get to work with a few big arms (e.g. Victor Vodnik, Seth Halvorsen, Juan Mejia) at the back of the Colorado bullpen.

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