A quiet offseason was always to be expected for a new executive working with one of the worst rosters in MLB history. The Rox are not going to invest much in the 2026 team. They don’t have many productive veterans to dangle on the trade market. The exception could come in the outfield, as DePodesta hinted he could take away that area to try to add controllable pitching.
Let’s look at the possibilities.
Brenton Doyle
Doyle probably has the highest ceiling of Colorado’s outfielders. He may also be the least likely to move. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported last month that the Rox were reluctant to sell low on the 27-year-old midfielder. Doyle has been under arbitration control for four seasons. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him at a salary of $3.2 million.
A great defensive player, Doyle has been a target for teams looking for help in a tight midfielder market. The question is whether he is able to bring anything to the plate. Doyle seemed to have taken a step forward in 2024. He hit 23 home runs while lowering his strikeout rate by nearly 10 percentage points from his 35% mark as a rookie. The hitter regressed dramatically last year, as he stumbled to a .233/.274/.376 line with 15 home runs. He kept his strikeout rate around 25%, but hit more ground balls and made less powerful impact than last year.
Mickey Moniac
Moniak is having his best year at the plate. The lefty hitter signed a $1.25 million contract after being released by the Angels in Spring Training and hit a career-high 24 home runs for Colorado. He hit .270/.306/.518 in 461 trips to the dish. Moniak made hard contact (an exit velocity over 95 MPH) on 45% of his balls in play, by far the best mark of his six MLB seasons.
The surface numbers appear to make the former first overall pick a strong trade chip for a rebuilding team. The underlying splits are not so flattering. Moniak did the vast majority of his damage at Coors Field, where he hit .303/.348/.598 with 15 longballs. His .230/.255/.425 swing against Denver is a lot less encouraging. Moniak’s velocity stats have been inflated by his usage, as the Rox protected him against left-handed pitching for up to 60 plate appearances.
There was also a dramatic dip in Moniak’s defensive qualities. He was rated as a solid, if not exceptional, defender who could handle all three outfield spots for the Angels. His numbers in Colorado were well below average wherever he played. Moniak remains a plus runner with an average arm, so the tools are there to be a competent defender, but it’s a different question for interested clubs.
Moniak has between four and five years of service. He is controllable through 2027 and is expected to make an arbitration salary of $4.2 million.
Tyler Vrijman
Colorado landed Freeman last offseason Nolan Jones trade with the Guardians. FanGraphs and Baseball Reference each rated him around a win below replacement level in his first year in Colorado. However, he showed more or less the same profile as he did in Cleveland, which made him a trade target for the Rox a year ago.
Freeman hit .281/.354/.361 while striking out in less than 12% of his 428 plate appearances. He was by far the team’s most consistent base threat. The 26-year-old has zero power, but he puts the ball in play and has plus speed. As was the case with Moniak, Freeman’s WAR was depressed by terrible defensive metrics that don’t fully match his athleticism and arm strength.
A team that views the defensive upside as a one-year problem could still view Freeman as a piece of equipment they are willing to trade a depth arm for. He is controllable for three seasons with an arbitration projection of $1.8 million and has a minor league option remaining.
Jordan Beck
Beck was a supplemental first-round pick in 2022 and got his first taste of MLB pitching two years later. He struggled as a rookie, striking out at 35% while hitting .188 in his first 55 games. His second season was more promising. Beck spent a few weeks in Triple-A in April, but was otherwise on the MLB roster all season. He worked as Colorado’s top left fielder and posted decent counting stats. Beck hit 16 home runs, 27 doubles and five triples while stealing 19 bases.
Beck’s .258/.317/.416 batting line was worse than league average after taking Coors Field into account. He whiffed nearly 30% of his swings and struggled down the stretch, hitting .250/.316/.377 with a 32% strikeout rate after the All-Star Break. Beck’s physical tools are intriguing. He has above-average bat speed, runs well and has a strong arm. However, the approach and raw hitting ability are questions that go back to his college days, and the Rockies are probably better off keeping him around to see if he makes any progress at age 25.
Yanquiel Fernandez/Zac Veen
Veen and Fernández are left-handed cornerbacks who were once among the best offensive players in the Colorado system. Both players hit well in the lower minors, but seem to have fallen flat against pitching at the higher level. Neither has any sort of MLB track record. Veen played only twelve games in the big league. Fernández hit .225/.265/.348 over 147 plate appearances as a rookie.
Both players still have options left. As things stand now, they likely have a ticket to Triple-A Albuquerque. They’re all young enough to be candidates for a change of scenery, if Colorado’s new regime isn’t as optimistic about them as the previous front office had been. This theoretically also applies to prospects Sterling Thompsonthe only other outfielder on the 40-man roster. It seems more likely that Thompson will get a chance to work his way into Warren Schaeffer’s outfield next season after a .296/.392/.519 showing in Albuquerque.
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