It’s a sensible target for the club. Colorado’s rotation was historically poor in 2025. The club’s starters had a combined earned run average of 6.65. According to a message from Harding in October, that was the highest rotation ERA of any club since the statistic became official in 1913. Coors Field is clearly in the mix, but the numbers were poor even compared to previous Colorado clubs. The group was further thinned out at the end of the season German Marquez became a free agent. In short, there is no choice but up.
At this point, the club expects to have a number of experienced players in the mix. Kyle Vrijland enters his tenth season in the big league and is still under contract through 2026, with a conditional player option for 2027. Ryan Feltner has 339 2/3 innings to his credit. These two have experience, but offer little optimism. Feltner has a career ERA of 5.19 with average groundball and walk rates, but sub-par strikeout numbers. Freeland’s ERA has now been around 5.00 for three years in a row.
Antonio Senzatela was moved to the bullpen in August. Manager Warren Schaeffer said in September that the club planned to keep him there going forward Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Senzatela is signed through 2026 with a $14 million club option for 2027. Given his 6.65 ERA last year and the fact that there is no buyout on that option, it will certainly be declined.
Besides Freeland and Feltner, the other rotation options lack experience. Chase Dollander entered 2025 as one of the league’s top pitchers, but he posted a 6.52 ERA in 98 innings in his rookie season. The 40-man squad is also present Tanner Gordon, McCade Brown, Carson Palmquist, Gabriel Hughes And Bradley Blalock but everyone in that group has thrown fewer than 110 big league innings. Hughes hasn’t pitched in the major leagues yet. The other four names in that cluster have ERAs north of 7:00.
Given that context, adding a few veterans would make a lot of sense. They could stabilize the group and give the decision makers some freedom by keeping the younger guys in the minors until they are ready.
Getting these veterans to Colorado has generally been a challenge. Given the hitter-friendly environment at high altitude, free agent pitchers generally don’t want to sign with the Rockies. Looking at MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, which includes data going back to 2006, the club has signed a free agent pitcher just three times in that span to a deal with an average annual value of eight figures. They signed Jorge de la Rosa to a three-year, $32 million deal in 2010, then a one-year, $15 million deal with Jeff Franciscus in 2012, followed by a three-year, $52 million deal Wade Davis in 2017.
Byrnes provided a hint of optimism, for what it’s worth. “There are different levels of free agency,” the GM said. “It’s kind of interesting, without naming names. But with guys on shorter deals, I think there’s some intrigue. Everyone in the game knows it’s harder to pitch in Colorado, but I think a few guys want to take on that challenge, and we’ve brought in a pitching group that will turn every stone to solve this problem.”
Without Byrnes providing details, one can only guess what kind of free agents he’s talking about. It would make sense for a pitcher to have more play for the experiment toward the end of his career because he wouldn’t have to worry as much about a poor performance undermining his future earning power. That could align with the kind of short-term deal Byrnes was referring to.
Given the state of the club, the Rockies won’t target the best available free agents such as Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez or Zac Gallen. But veterans love it Wade Miley, Miles Mikolas, Alex Cobb, Jose Quintana, Patrick Korbin or Martin Perez make speculative sense. All are 35 or older and are looking at one-year offers in free agency.
The Rockies could also look to acquire starters via trade, although they don’t have much to offer other clubs. All the guys on their roster with trade value would ideally be flipped for prospects or controllable players. Perhaps they can acquire an unwanted contract from another club, although that path will also come with challenges. The Blue Jays and Mets may want to move on Jose Berrios And Kodai Sengarespectively, but to get such a guy the Rockies would have to get a notable salary during the rebuilding years. Berríos will earn $66 million over the next three years and Senga will earn $28 million over the next two years. Maybe those clubs are willing to eat some money to make a deal happen, but Berríos has a no-trade clause on eight teams and Senga can block trades with ten teams. Given the state of the Rockies and the challenges of pitching there, it seems reasonable to assume the Rockies would be blocked by both guys.
Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images
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