The 119-loss Rockies were one of the worst teams in baseball history. Can a front office shakeup (and an unexpected choice as the new baseball operations head) get the organization pointed in the right direction?
Guaranteed Contracts
- Kris Bryant, 1B/OF: $78MM through 2028
- Ezequiel Tovar, SS: $56.5MM through 2030 (includes $2.5MM buyout of $23MM club option for 2031)
- Kyle Freeland, SP: $16MM through 2026 (deal contains conditional player option for 2027)
- Antonio Senzatela, SP/RP: $12MM through 2026 ($14MM club option for 2027)
Option Decisions
- Thairo Estrada, 2B: Rockies declined their end of $7MM mutual option for 2026 (Estrada received $750K buyout, then elected free agency after being outrighted off 40-man roster)
- Kyle Farmer, IF: Rockies declined their end of $4MM mutual option for 2026 (Farmer received $750K buyout)
2026 financial commitments: $59MM
Total future commitments: $162.5MM
Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projected salaries courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)
- Jimmy Herget (4.069): $1.5MM
- Mickey Moniak (4.027): $4.2MM
- Ryan Feltner (3.071): $2.3MM
- Tyler Freeman (3.046): $1.8MM
- Brenton Doyle (2.161): $3.2MM
Free Agents
- Estrada, Farmer, German Marquez, Orlando Arcia, Lucas Gilbreath
The fact that Colorado is the last Offseason Outlook entry published (even after the World Series teams) speaks to the unusual length of the team's front office search. The free agent market opened yesterday, and the leaderless baseball operations department has already been making some transactions since the World Series officially ended, though the decisions to decline mutual options on Thairo Estrada and Kyle Farmer were both routine and expected.
The Rockies' struggles are usually attributed to owner Dick Monfort's extreme loyalty to longtime employees, resulting in an organization that has fallen behind the curve in fresh ideas and in most aspects of modern roster construction. Three straight 100-loss seasons and a gruesome 43-119 record in 2025 was enough to make even the notoriously insular Monfort realize that changes needed to be made. Manager Bud Black was fired back in May, and GM Bill Schmidt was let go at season's end.
This winter marked the first time that Monfort had actually done a formal external search for a head of baseball operations. Dan O'Dowd was already the general manager when the Monfort brothers bought the team in 2005. O'Dowd continued in the job until 2014, and successors Jeff Bridich and Schmidt were internal promotions.
Walker Monfort's new role as Colorado's executive VP led to some inevitable accusations of nepotism, though reports indicate that the younger Monfort (Dick's son) has been pushing for the Rox to adopt a new approach. The impact could be seen in Paul DePodesta's hiring as president of baseball operations, plus the fact that the other known candidates for the top job in baseball ops -- Guardians assistant GM Matt Forman, Diamondbacks assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye, Royals assistant GM Scott Sharp, and former Astros general manager James Click -- had no prior ties to Colorado's organization.
In classic Rockies fashion, however, the front office search wasn't exactly routine. It seemed like Forman and Sawdaye were the finalists, except reports then emerged that the two were out of the running, with Sawdaye reportedly turning down a job offer and Forman taking himself out of the process. Former Rockies reliever Adam Ottavino unexpectedly then emerged as a known candidate, throwing another curveball into the process that was ultimately ended when yesterday's news broke about DePodesta's hiring.
DePodesta has two decades of MLB front office experience with five different teams, including a two-year (2004-05) run as the Dodgers' general manager and five years working as Billy Beane's chief lieutenant with the Moneyball-era Athletics. It's the kind of distinguished resume that most Colorado fans were probably hoping to see from the Rockies' hire....except for the oddity of DePodesta spending the last decade working outside of baseball as the Cleveland Browns' chief strategy officer.
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Just light Bryant on fire already. Even if he bounces back, what does that look like? A 110 wRC+ out of the DH spot? And that’s best case, right?
Open up the spot, use it on somebody who might do something like Lewin Diaz or Jarred Kelenic (or, ideally, a minor league FA, but I couldn’t find a good list up yet)..
As a thing to excite fans they could blow a wad on the son of a former Rockie star, Bo Bichette, but they’d need to grossly overpay to get him or any decent free agent I’d figure. They do have the budget space though.
That’s exactly what they shouldn’t (and won’t) do right now. We need a bridge to at the very earliest 2027, so everything should be for that.
As a Red Sox fan I’d love to see them send Yoshida and one or two of their pitching prospects at risk of getting snatched in the Rule 5 draft in exchange for Kyle Freeland. He’s been good away from Coors and it would free up the DH spot for an Alonso/Schwarber signing
Colorado should be using the OKC Thunder as an example. Grab prospects for taking on bad contracts, then flipping those veterans at the trade deadline. OKC got a first round pick to take on Al Horfords contract then traded him to the Celtics the next year for another 1st.
Yoshida is owed 37MM. It’ll take a lot more than a couple rule 5 risks to have anybody eat that contract.
They could even trade Goodman for example to the Rays for Lowe plus several prospects. Same with Tovar to Boston for Story plus a bunch of prospects. It’s time to think high floor and quantity.
There are some stories where a pay wall makes no sense.
Maybe, but not this one. Good stuff as always
Polishuk drew the shortest straw and got the Rockies outlook.
What do you do at this point? No one can pitch, they used to get extra offense from Coors and now their lineup isn’t even great. And it’s sad to see Dollander struggle so badly. I hope they can be competitive again because they do seem to have a big fan base but it’s hard to see a path to success.
The Rockies will lose 105-110 games in 2026. Thats the real outlook.