Michael Lorenzen and the Rockies get what they want from each other

Every free agent signing is a trade. By the way, every job, wherever it is, is a transaction. The employer agrees to give you money and maybe even health insurance. You agree to give them your work. You’re trading something they want in exchange for something you want (or at least something you need to keep from dying). But we don’t tend to think about things this way. Everyone has to work, so everyone just gets the best job possible. For ballplayers who have achieved free agency, this generally means maximizing revenue. That’s what Michael Lorenzen did on Wednesday, then ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the muscular right-hander agreed to a one-year, $8 million deal with the Rockies (with a $9 million club option for 2027). Still, this deal is notable for the dire needs on both sides and the concessions they made to get them. Lorenzen wants to become a starting pitcher. That’s all he ever wanted. The Rockies want a starting pitcher who is willing to ply his trade under two adverse circumstances: in Colorado and for the Rockies.

In 2015, near the end of a rookie season in which he posted a 5.45 ERA and a 5.48 FIP, the Reds demoted Lorenzen to the bullpen. During six straight seasons in Cincinnati, Lorenzen wasn’t shy about wanting to start again and often seemed to be in line to get that opportunity, but underperformance and injuries (a UCL sprain, a major teres strain, a shoulder injury, even a bout of mono) pushed him into relief roles (and the occasional appearance as an outfielder). He started just five more games in his last six seasons with the Reds. Although he finished on a negative note, he posted a 3.65 ERA and 3.92 FIP over those six seasons. He had earned the opportunity to pitch wherever he wanted on his own terms, and he did just that. Lorenzen signed with the Angels, then the Tigers, then the Rangers, then the Royals and now the Rockies, all on one-year deals (usually with incentives), and all with the publicly acknowledged understanding that he would get a chance to start.

It was important to make that part clear up front because no matter how well he pitched, it was all too easy for people to put together a table showing his splits as a starter and reliever. You prefer the second guy, right? The one whose strikeout rate is within shouting distance of league average and who possesses some ability to keep the ball in the yard?

But Lorenzen persisted. He’s now 34 and has maxed out his arsenal of seven pitchers. Over the past four years, he has made 93 starts for six different teams. And he threw great! He had a combined ERA- of 99 and FIP- of 110. He was an average pitcher, a desirable enough arm that playoff-bound teams traded for him at the deadline in two of the past three seasons. In 2023, he threw a no-hitter. In 2024, thanks to luck in the form of a low BABIP and a high beach rate, he had an ERA of 3.31. He wasn’t so lucky in 2025, running an ERA of 4.64 to match his FIP of 4.59. Over the past three years, he has been around the top 50 in games started and innings pitched. Nevertheless, when things became real, when the season came to an end, when Lorenzen found himself in the playoffs, he also found himself back in the bullpen. In Colorado he doesn’t have to worry about that.

Lorenzen has found the toughest pitching environment in baseball, but he’s also found a situation where league-average numbers would leave him in a rarefied atmosphere. In 2025, Colorado’s starting pitchers ran an ERA of 6.65. That’s the worst figure ever. And when I say ever, I mean ever. It is the highest starting pitching ERA in AL/NL history. Fourth place belongs to the 1899 Spiders. (While the 2025 bullpen didn’t set a record, Colorado does own the highest combined bullpen ERA of any franchise, at 4.81.) RosterResource calls Lorenzen the Rockies’ number one pick. 2 starter, rear left-handed Kyle Vrijland and forward Chase Dollander, Tanner GordonAnd Ryan Feltner. Freeland was the only one of the four incumbents with an ERA of less than 6.00 or an FIP of less than 5.00.

But this is a new era. Lorenzen will be the first Major Leaguer to sign with the Rockies in the Paul DePodesta era. He will also be the team’s first investment in starting pitching of any content since 2015, when they signed Kyle Kendrick for $5.5 million. Somehow, Lorenzen is only the fifth starting pitcher to sign with the Rockies in the last seven years. I went through Colorado’s free agent tracker RosterResource to check this out. The tracker goes back to 2020, and the four starters I found put up a combined -0.1 WAR with the Rockies. They won 11 games together. Chad Kuhl ran the best ERA. It was 5.72.

It’s scary to think how many home runs Lorenzen could give up in the thin air of Denver, but he would have to crash spectacularly hard to be anything less than a significant upgrade to this rotation. Everyone gets what they want here, and all it took was a few extra millions on the one hand and the willingness to camp on a mountain on the other. The Rockies get to take their first step on the long road to reputation, signing their first decent starting pitcher in years. Lorenzen gets his money – almost certainly more money than he would have gotten anywhere else – and he gets what must have been his last chance to remain a starting pitcher. If he defies the odds and pitches well, maybe he can continue the streak and sign a similar deal next year.