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Rockies Re-Sign José Ureña

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The Rockies and right-hander José Ureña are in agreement on a contract for 2023. It’s a one-year, $3.5MM guarantee that comes in the form of a $3MM salary for 2022 along with a $500K buyout on a $4MM club option for 2024.

Ureña, 31, is a veteran who has appeared in each of the past eight MLB seasons. The first six of those were with the Marlins and the seventh was with the Tigers, with the righty generally soaking up innings by inducing a fair amount of ground balls. In 2022, he began the year with the Brewers but was let go in May after just four relief appearances. He latched on with the Rockies on a minor league deal and made it up to their big league team by July. He eventually made 17 starts for Colorado and continued in his usual low-strikeout, high-grounder fashion. He logged 89 1/3 innings with a 5.14 ERA, 15.2% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 50.3% ground ball rate, with all of those being pretty close to his career marks.

Since Coors Field is notorious for its offense-forward environment, Ureña was likely better than that ERA indicates. All of the advanced metrics were a bit kinder, as he had a 4.53 FIP, 4.46 xFIP and 4.83 SIERA. Those still aren’t amazing numbers, but the Rockies often have trouble convincing pitchers to make Denver their home. As the season was winding down, reports emerged that both he and the club were happy with their arrangement and were interested in a reunion. Giving the mutual affection and constant need for arms in Colorado, signing up for another year at a modest price point seems to be a good fit for all parties.

By bringing back Ureña, the club adds a reliable veteran to a rotation that has a lot of uncertainty at the moment. Germán Márquez and Kyle Freeland should have two spots spoken for, with Ureña now taking a third. There’s not much guaranteed beyond that right now though. Antonio Senzatela should enter the mix at some point, though he was diagnosed with a torn ACL in August. At the time, the estimated recovery period was given as 6-8 months, meaning Senzatela could miss a chunk of the beginning of the season. There are other options to fill out the back, such as Austin Gomber, Ryan Feltner and Noah Davis. In the case of Davis, he is unproven as he has just a single inning of MLB experience at this point. Gomber and Feltner are a bit more established, though they each posted ERAs above 5.50 in 2022.

Given that uncertainty, this signing should only be the beginning of the steps the Rockies take to address their rotation before Opening Day. They might not be well-positioned to be huge players in the free agent pitching market, given their payroll. Roster Resource estimates that today’s signing pushes next year’s outlay to $157MM. The franchise record for an Opening Day figure is $131MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, meaning they are already almost $30MM into uncharted waters here. Given those circumstances, and the fact that free agent pitchers are usually loath to voluntary make Coors Field their home, the next moves could come via other means or might be similarly modest.

Robert Murray of FanSided first reported that the two sides were in agreement. Jon Heyman of the New York Post first had that it was a major league deal and that it was worth $3.5MM (Twitter links). Thomas Harding of MLB.com first reported the club option for 2024. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com first reported the $3MM salary for 2023, $4MM figure for the option and $500K number for the buyout (Twitter links).

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Rockies, José Ureña Interested In Reunion

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Right-hander José Ureña has only been in the Rockies’ organization for a few months, but the relationship has evidently gone well so far. Danielle Allentuck of the Colorado Springs Gazette relays that both he and the club are interested in continuing their arrangement in 2023.

“I said it first thing: I am so thankful for this organization, what they did for me,” Ureña said, as relayed by Thomas Harding of MLB.com. “I’d be open. I like to play here.” Manager Bud Black seems as impressed by Ureña as the righty is with the team. “The way he’s thrown, we’re going to have a look at it when he goes into free agency,” Black says.

Ureña, 31, began the year in the Brewers’ bullpen, logging 7 2/3 innings over four appearances before getting designated for assignment in early May. After electing free agency, he signed a minor league deal with the Rockies and was eventually selected to the big league club in early July.

Since that time, Ureña has made 17 starts for the Rox with a 5.14 ERA. That’s obviously not a super impressive number, but it’s worth remembering the hitter-friendly reputation of Coors Field. Advanced metrics that take park factors into account have a slightly more favorable view of his work, with Ureña registering a 4.82 SIERA, 4.53 FIP and 4.45 xFIP since coming to Colorado. He’s never been a huge strikeout guy and this year is no exception, striking out 15.2% of batters faced, just below his career mark. His 50.3% ground ball rate is above-average, though, something he has long been able to accomplish. He’s also done a decent enough job at avoiding getting lit up this year, as he’s in the 59th percentile in terms of barrel rate and 56th percentile in terms of average exit velocity.

Due to the offensive orientation of their home park, the Rockies often face challenges convincing pitchers to come to the mountains. That makes it somewhat sensible for them to be interested in retaining any pitcher who finds any kind of success and is willing to take their money. However, it’s worth noting that we are talking about a mere 17 starts here and the numbers can change quickly. Back in July, it was reported that the club was interested in extending Chad Kuhl, who had a 4.78 ERA at the time. But he’s had very poor results since then, seeing his ERA climb up to 5.72 for the season.

Regardless, it’s possible that the club won’t be looking to throw huge money around this offseason, either on the rotation or elsewhere. They began this year with an Opening Day payroll of $131MM and have never been above $146MM in that department, with numbers from Cot’s Baseball Contracts. For next year, they’ve already got about $135MM on the books, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. That figure doesn’t include the salaries of their arbitration-eligible players, who will surely add to that total. Unless the club wants to suddenly blow past their previous spending levels, they won’t have a ton to work with.

For next year’s starting rotation, with Kuhl and Urena both heading into free agency, two spots should be taken up by Germán Márquez and Kyle Freeland. A third spot would go Antonio Senzatela if he were healthy, but he tore his ACL in August and might not be ready to go for Spring Training. Ryan Feltner has made 18 starts this year and could be in the mix for 2023, though he has a 6.01 ERA and still has options. There aren’t really any clear answers beyond that, with most of the club’s top pitching prospects currently in the lower levels of their farm system. Given all that uncertainty and the potential lack of available funds, it seems like they might be going into the offseason with their sights set on pitchers like Ureña.

Rockies Designate Colton Welker For Assignment

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The Rockies announced they’ve designated corner infielder Colton Welker for assignment. The move clears a spot on the 40-man roster for José Ureña, who has been selected onto the active roster. (The team first announced Ureña’s forthcoming promotion last night). Reliever Justin Lawrence was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque to open space on the active roster.

A former fourth-round pick, Welker developed into one of the system’s more interesting prospects early in his pro career. Baseball America placed him among the organization’s top ten farmhands each season from 2018-21. That’s partially a reflection of Colorado’s generally shallow systems of late, but some evaluators suggested Welker could blossom into a bat-first regular at the hot corner. He posted strong numbers in the lower minors and consistently ran lower than average strikeout rates on his way up the ladder.

Welker has seen his stock fall considerably over the past two seasons. He was hit with an 80-game suspension in May 2021 after testing positive for a banned substance. That kept the Florida native to a 23-game stint in Albuquerque. Welker was called up to make his major league debut last September, but he scuffled during a 19-game cameo.

Optioned back to the Isotopes to open the 2022 season, Welker suited up just ten times and tallied 45 plate appearances. He got out to a fast start and seemed as if he’d be on the radar for another MLB look, but he landed on the minor league injured list on April 23. Six weeks later, he underwent shoulder surgery that ended his 2022 season.

Players on the minor league injured list still occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. Colorado could’ve recalled Welker and placed him on the major league 60-day IL, but doing so would’ve required paying him at the prorated MLB minimum salary for the rest of the year (a bit under $350K). Colorado instead elected to take him off the 40-man roster and risk losing him to another club.

Injured players cannot be outrighted, so the Rockies will have a week to trade Welker or release him. The latter course of action is likely, at which point the league’s 29 other teams would have a chance to grab him off release waivers. That’s not unheard of — the Giants have added Luis González and Darien Núñez in similar situations, for instance — but it’s also possible he’ll pass through waivers unclaimed. In that event, Welker would be a free agent, and the Rockies could then look to bring him back on a minor league deal.

Rockies To Select Jose Urena

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The Rockies are planning to select right-hander José Ureña to start tomorrow night’s game against the Dodgers, tweets Danielle Allentuck of the Colorado Springs Gazette. Ureña, who signed a minor league contract in May, is not yet on the 40-man roster.

Since joining the organization, the 30-year-old has made five starts with Triple-A Albuquerque. Ureña has been tagged for a 7.29 ERA through 21 innings with the Isotopes, only striking out 13.9% of batters faced while walking more than 11% of opponents. The Rox’s front office clearly doesn’t believe that rough showing is representative of Ureña’s current form. Albuquerque is one of affiliated ball’s most hitter-friendly environments, which no doubt hasn’t helped his cause.

Ureña has struggled of late at the big league level as well. A former Marlin and Tiger, he posted an ERA above 5.00 in each season from 2019-21. He broke camp this season with the Brewers in a relief role and allowed five runs (three earned) in 7 2/3 frames, walking five while striking out three. Milwaukee fairly quickly cut bait, designating him for assignment a few weeks into the season. Ureña has remained adept at keeping the ball on the ground, though, and he posted a pair of sub-4.00 ERA seasons in Miami in 2017-18.

The Rockies lost Antonio Senzatela to the 15-day injured list last week, as the righty is dealing with shoulder inflammation. Ryan Feltner has been the top depth option behind the club’s primary starting five, but he’s been on the minor league injured list over the past week while dealing with a rhomboid strain. Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post writes that Feltner is expected to pitch for the Isotopes this weekend after a successful simulated game today, but he won’t be an option for tomorrow’s contest.

Colorado’s 40-man roster is full, so they’ll need to make a corresponding transaction to accommodate Ureña’s promotion. The Rox have just two players on the major league 10-day or 15-day IL: Senzatela and first baseman Sean Bouchard, who went on the shelf with an oblique strain last week. The Rockies could bring up Colton Welker from the minors and put him on the major league 60-day IL to free a spot on the 40-man roster, as Welker underwent season-ending shoulder surgery last month. Doing so would require paying him at the MLB minimum rate, however.

In other Rockies news, the team informed reporters that reliever Tyler Kinley underwent successful elbow surgery recently (Allentuck link). He’s expected to be sidelined roughly one calendar year. Colorado announced that Kinley would require a season-ending procedure in mid-June, but the team didn’t specify whether he’d need a full Tommy John procedure or a less invasive surgery. The one-year timeline would seem to point towards the latter outcome, although he’s apparently still unlikely to be back on an MLB mound much before next season’s All-Star Break.

Rockies, Jose Urena Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rockies have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander José Ureña, reports Thomas Harding of MLB.com (Twitter link). He’ll head to the team’s Arizona complex before embarking on an affiliated assignment.

Ureña elected free agency earlier this week after being outrighted by the Brewers. The 30-year-old broke camp with Milwaukee and spent a month on the active roster, appearing in four games out of the bullpen. Ureña tossed 7 2/3 innings of five-run ball, striking out three batters and issuing five walks. The Brew Crew then designated him for assignment on the deadline to trim active rosters from 28 to 26 players; Ureña has enough service time that he couldn’t be optioned to the minors without his consent.

That brief run in Milwaukee marked the eighth consecutive season in which the Dominican Republic native has appeared in the majors. He spent the first six years of his MLB career in Miami, primarily working as a starting pitcher. Ureña’s tenure with the Marlins was up-and-down, but he posted consecutive seasons with an ERA below 4.00 while soaking up a rotation workload from 2017-18. He’s consistently run below-average strikeout and swinging strike numbers, but he typically posts capable ground-ball marks.

Ureña caught on with the Tigers last season but put up a 5.81 ERA in 100 2/3 innings. He managed a personal-best 52% grounder rate last year, though, which is no doubt of interest to the Colorado front office. While his early results with the Brewers weren’t good, he also averaged north of 96 MPH on his fastball in abbreviated stints.

The Rockies have started the year 16-15, although that respectable showing still places them at the bottom of a loaded NL West. Colorado starters have the league’s third-lowest strikeout rate (17.8%), but they’ve been among the five best in terms of generating grounders (47.7%). Ureña fits a similar profile and could be a rotation or long relief depth option.

Jose Urena Elects Free Agency

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The Brewers announced today that right-hander Jose Urena cleared outright waivers and has elected free agency. The 30-year-old will now head out onto the free market, able to pursue opportunities with all 30 clubs in the league.

Urena began his big league career with the Marlins, working primarily as a starter. He had some solid seasons in Miami, with 2018 arguably marking the high point of his career. In 174 innings that season, he managed an ERA of 3.98, along with an 18.3% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate. In the estimation of FanGraphs, he was worth 1.6 wins above replacement that year. Things fell off from there, however, as his ERA went north of 5.00 in each of the next three seasons, two of those with Miami and then one in Detroit.

The Brewers signed Urena at the end of March, with only about a week until the season was set to begin. He appeared in four games this season, logging 7 2/3 innings. He got some decent results, with a 3.52 ERA in that small sample, but he managed only a 8.3% strikeout rate. Urena’s always been more of a ground ball guy, but that rate was low even compared to his previous work. His 13.9% walk rate was also higher than in any previous season.

That’s an exceptionally small sample size, but the Brewers evidently saw enough to move on, as Urena didn’t survive the rosters shrinking from 28 to 26 last week. He was designated for assignment but, as a player with more than five years of MLB service time, he had the ability to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, which he has now done. His fastball was averaging above 96 MPH in his brief action this year, which could lead another team to take a flier on him in some capacity.

Brewers Designate Jose Ureña For Assignment

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The Brewers designated righty José Ureña for assignment, according to Will Sammon of The Athletic.  Additionally, Luis Urías has returned from his IL stint and figures to reassume his role as the team’s primary third baseman.

Ureña signed a minor league deal with Milwaukee in Spring Training but was selected onto the big league roster the following day. Ticketed for relief work thanks to the Brew Crew’s loaded rotation, Ureña wound up making just four appearances. He tallied 7 2/3 innings of five-run ball, walking five batters while striking out only three. He generated swinging strikes on a below-average 9.1% of his offerings.

While Ureña has never had especially strong control or swing-and-miss numbers, he has typically managed high-end ground-ball rates throughout his career. Early on in his Milwaukee tenure, though, his grounder rate sat at a league average 42.9%. Ultimately, the Brewers decided to move forward without the 30-year-old as part of today’s deadline to trim active rosters from 28 to 26 players.

Ureña will now be traded or placed on waivers in the coming days. As a player with more than five big league service years, he has the right to refuse an outright assignment even if he passes through waivers unclaimed. Ureña has averaged north of 96 MPH on his fastball through the season’s first few weeks, so he figures to at least attract interest on a minor league deal if another club isn’t willing to grant him an immediate MLB roster spot.

Urías missed the season’s first month due to a left quad issue. He’s now in line to make his season debut after positing a career-best .249/.345/.445 showing over 570 plate appearances in 2021. His return will be a welcome development for a Brewers team that has gotten a meager .182/.289/.227 line from its replacement third basemen — primarily Jace Peterson and Mike Brosseau — thus far.

Brewers Select Jose Urena To Major League Roster

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March 30: The Brewers have already selected Urena to the 40-man roster. McCalvy tweets that the initial structuring of the contract as a minor league pact was largely a mechanism to get Urena into camp and perform a closer evaluation of the right-hander. President of baseball operations David Stearns tells reporters that the club views Urena as more of a long reliever than a starter at present (video link via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Jounal-Sentinel). He stopped short of declaring Urena a lock to make the Opening Day roster, but the right-hander is out of minor league options, so that seems likely, barring an unexpected health setback.

March 29: The Brewers announced this evening they’ve signed right-hander José Ureña to a minor league contract. Manager Craig Counsell told reporters he’ll receive an invite to big league Spring Training (via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com).

Ureña has seen a fair bit of rotation work in each of the past seven seasons. The native of the Dominican Republic spent the first six campaigns of his big league career with the Marlins. He never posted overwhelming strikeout totals, but he was consistently solid at keeping the ball on the ground and posted back-to-back sub-4.00 ERA seasons in 2017-18.

The lack of swing-and-miss has caught up to Ureña in recent years, however. He’s posted an ERA north of 5.00 in each of the last three seasons, two in Miami and last year with the Tigers. Ureña soaked up 100 2/3 innings for Detroit, but he managed just a 5.81 ERA with a 14.7% strikeout rate that’s about eight percentage points below the league average.

To his credit, Ureña did manage a career-best 52% grounder rate with the Tigers. He averaged just under 94 MPH on his sinker, and he’s held right-handed opponents to a modest .248/.320/.385 line over the course of his career. That could make Ureña a capable multi-inning relief option if Milwaukee considers deploying him in that role.

The Brewers have arguably baseball’s best starting staff, so the bullpen figures to provide Ureña a cleaner path to the big league roster. Milwaukee is set to open the season with a top five of Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta, Adrian Houser and Eric Lauer, and top prospect Aaron Ashby seems to be next in line for rotation innings.

Tigers Preparing To Return Jose Urena, Matthew Boyd To Rotation

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The Tigers have designated Ian Krol for assignment in order to make room for Jose Urena, who will come off the injured list tomorrow, per Evan Woodbery of MLive Media Group (via Twitter).

In 12 appearances, Krol has a 5.11 ERA/3.82 FIP covering 12 1/3 innings. Urena has been out since July 17th with a groin strain. The veteran right-hander posted a mostly unimpressive 80 innings of 6.19 ERA baseball through 17 starts. Nevertheless, Urena is scheduled to reclaim his spot in the rotation tomorrow.

Matthew Boyd is also returning to the Tigers this weekend to start Sunday’s game. Another roster move will be required to bring him onto the roster. Boyd hasn’t pitched since June 15th, but he’s a big piece of their rotation moving into next season.

Tigers Outright JaCoby Jones

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June 10: Jones indeed cleared waivers and has been sent outright to Triple-A Toledo, per an announcement from the Tigers. He’ll remain with the organization and collect the remainder of this year’s salary but no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. As a player with three-plus years of service who has been outrighted from the 40-man roster, he’ll be able to become a free agent at season’s end (unless he’s selected back to Majors and finishes the year on their 40-man roster).

June 6: The Tigers announced they’re selecting the contract of right-hander Jason Foley from Triple-A Toledo. To create 40-man roster space, they’re designating outfielder JaCoby Jones for assignment. Additionally, righty Michael Fulmer has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to June 3, with a right shoulder strain. As expected, José Ureña has been reinstated from the IL to take Fulmer’s place on the active roster.

Jones’ designation registers as something of a surprise. Acquired from the Pirates at the 2015 trade deadline in exchange for Joakim Soria, Jones has appeared in the big leagues with Detroit in each of the past six seasons. He’s been a fairly regular contributor between 2018-21, starting about half the team’s games between center and left field. Altogether, Jones managed just a .219/.282/.389 (78 wRC+) mark in that time, albeit with intermittent flashes of enough power and defensive upside to keep the Detroit front office intrigued.

Across the board, advanced defensive metrics lauded Jones’ glovework between center and left field in 2018. The Tigers gambled he could play a full-time center field after that season, although the metrics all suggest he dropped off rather significantly in that regard between 2019-21. Jones has proven similarly inconsistent on the other side of the ball. Despite always-lofty strikeout rates, the right-handed hitter has occasionally shown enough thump to be a productive hitter. That was particularly true in 2020, when Jones hit .268/.333/.515 across 108 plate appearances before suffering a season-ending hand fracture.

For as strong as Jones began the 2020 season, he opened 2021 with an absolutely dismal start at the plate. He hit just .170/.210/.250 over 105 trips to the dish, leading the Tigers to demote him to Toledo. Things haven’t gotten much better with the Mud Hens, as Jones is off to a .205/.255/.364 start in the minors, where he’s struck out in 18 of his first 47 plate appearances.

The Tigers will now have a week to trade Jones or place him on outright waivers. Any team that claims Jones off waivers would assume the remaining portion of his $2.65MM salary (approximately $1.7MM). Given Jones’ immense struggles this season, it seems unlikely another club will put in a claim, although it’s at least possible the Tigers could agree to pay down some of that money in exchange for a prospect if a rival team has interest in acquiring Jones via a small trade.

The more probable outcome is that Jones will clear waivers and be sent outright to Toledo. As a player with between three and five years of MLB service time, Jones technically has the right to refuse a minor league assignment and elect free agency. Doing so, however, would require forfeiting the remainder of his guaranteed salary, so Jones would almost certainly accept an outright assignment and look to play his way back to Detroit at some point this season.

Foley, a 25-year-old reliever, is now in line to make his major league debut. In their writeup of the Tigers farm system, Eric Longenhagen and Kevin Goldstein of FanGraphs note that Foley works in the 96-99 MPH range with his fastball. Longenhagen and Goldstein call Foley a potential “foundational piece of the Tigers bullpen,” but note that his relatively advanced age and injury history, including a 2018 Tommy John surgery, add some risk to the profile. Foley has thrown ten innings of four-run ball with ten strikeouts and four walks at Triple-A this season, his first crack at the minors’ highest level.

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