Finding A First Baseman In Colorado
The Rockies made a pair of additions in the first base department in late January. The club added Edouard Julien in a trade with the Twins, then picked up T.J. Rumfield in a deal with the Yankees. Even after bringing in two first base options in one day, president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta didn’t close the door on more acquisitions at the position.
Colorado’s first basemen ranked 29th in OPS last season. Michael Toglia “led” the way with a .592 mark in 329 plate appearances. The former first-round pick opened the season as the everyday starter. Toglia struck out nearly 40% of the time through two months and found himself back in Triple-A before the end of May.
Warming Bernabel looked like a possible answer after a ridiculous start to his career. The 23-year-old piled up 14 hits, including three home runs, in his first seven games. It went downhill pretty quickly from there. Bernabel finished the year with a 78 wRC+ and was outrighted off the roster in December.
No other Colorado bat reached 60 plate appearances at first base. A hodgepodge of Kyle Farmer, Orlando Arcia, Keston Hiura, and Blaine Crim filled in after Toglia was sent down. Crim is the only one of the group still on the roster (more on him in a bit). Here’s a rundown of the Rockies’ options at the position…
A waiver claim is the leading candidate to occupy the first base role, which might say something about the position battle. Johnston was scooped from the Marlins in early November. The move came shortly before DePodesta was announced as the new top executive, so it’s unclear who actually executed it.
Johnston was solid in his first foray into the big leagues, posting a 109 wRC+ across 121 plate appearances last season. While he’s often been old for each level, the 28-year-old also has a strong minor league track record. Johnston slashed .307/.399/.549 in 134 games between Double-A and Triple-A in 2023. He’s put up 23 home runs and 48 steals at Triple-A the past two years.
Blaine Crim
The 28-year-old Crim should at least be the right-handed complement to Johnston to begin the season. He went 0-for-11 with the Rangers last year, but found some success with Colorado after getting claimed off waivers. Crim popped five home runs in 15 games with the Rockies. The power production also came with a 36.1% strikeout rate.
Crim has taken a similar path to Johnston. He’s put up solid minor league numbers across multiple seasons, but has typically been older than the competition. Crim hit .284 with 18 home runs over 83 games at Triple-A last year before leaving the Rangers’ organization. He wasn’t nearly as productive in the minors with Colorado, though.
T.J. Rumfield
Julien is likely ticketed for the second base job, but the other aforementioned trade acquisition could factor into this race. Colorado sent reliever Angel Chivilli to New York in exchange for Rumfield. The 25-year-old slashed .285/.378/.447 at Triple-A in 2025. He’s delivered a 116 wRC+ or better in both stints at the highest minor league level.
Rumfield has already compiled 252 games at Triple-A, so there isn’t much left for him to prove. He’s in MLB camp as a non-roster invitee. A decent spring would go a long way toward challenging for a roster spot.
The third overall pick in the 2024 draft will likely have this job someday, but it might not be as soon as Rockies fans would want. The 22-year-old maxed out at Double-A in his first full professional season. He put up a 132 wRC+ at the level, so it’s hard to argue with the production, though some time spent in Triple-A is likely on the horizon.
Condon had an .820 OPS at three minor league stops last season, but the 70-grade power hasn’t shown up just yet. He finished with 14 home runs in 433 plate appearances last year.
A Free Agent Signing
DePodesta didn’t rule out another addition, and a handful of veterans remain available. Assuming the left-handed Johnston has at least a platoon role, that rules out Rowdy Tellez. Wilmer Flores, Rhys Hoskins, and Donovan Solano are right-handed options who could be had for a reasonable price. The 41-year-old Justin Turner probably won’t be signing up for part-time work on a rebuilding team.
Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images
Rockies Open To Further First Base Additions
The Rockies swung a pair of deals to add a couple options at first base yesterday, picking up Edouard Julien (and reliever Pierson Ohl) from the Twins in exchange for minor league pitcher Jace Kaminska and sending righty Angel Chivilli to the Yankees in exchange for first base prospect T.J. Rumfield. Both Julien and Rumfield could factor into the Rockies’ big league plans at first base, but new president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta indicated following that pair of trades that he’s still open to bringing in a first baseman (link via Manny Randhawa of MLB.com).
“I think really what we’re trying to do is to create really healthy competition on our roster,” said DePodesta. “Most of the players we have acquired do have a good amount of versatility.”
The 26-year-old Julien’s glovework at second base has been generally panned, and he hasn’t handled himself all that well at first base from a defensive standpoint, either. Still, DePodesta listed him as an option at both positions, noting that the Rockies are intrigued by Julien’s minor league track record and terrific rookie season.
Back in 2023, Julien indeed looked like a potential fixture in the Twins’ lineup. A top-100 prospect prior to his big league debut, he burst onto the MLB scene with a .263/.381/.459 slash (134 wRC+) and ripped 16 home runs in 408 plate appearances as a rookie. His 31.4% strikeout rate was clearly too high, but Julien also walked in nearly 16% of his plate appearances. Throughout his minor league tenure, he was hailed as something of an all-bat prospect who’d post huge OBP numbers with above-average power but lacked a clear defensive home.
The lack of a defensive home has proven true, but Julien’s bat has wilted over the past two seasons. He’s taken 509 MLB plate appearances since Opening Day 2024 and managed only a .208/.299/.324 batting line (79 wRC+). His walk rate has dipped to a still-strong 10.8%, while his strikeout rate has nominally climbed to 32%.
Julien, who’ll turn 27 in April, will be on the roster one way or another, given the fact that he’s out of minor league options. That could be at first base, second base or designated hitter. It’ll surely depend on who the opposing starter is, too, given that the lefty-swinging Canadian has hit just .209/.278/.313 in the 126 plate appearances he’s been afforded versus southpaws at the big league level.
Rumfield, too, could factor in at first base but isn’t a lock to do so from the jump — particularly not with Julien now in the fold. Rumfield is a 25-year-old who slashed .285/.378/.447 in Triple-A this past season and .292/.365/.461 there a season prior. He doesn’t have much left to prove in the minors, but the Rockies aren’t going to simply hand him the first base job, either. He’ll likely need to earn a spot with a solid showing this spring.
Even if Rumfield plays his way onto the roster, bringing in a veteran first baseman makes some sense. If the Rockies were truly confident that he’s ready for an immediate MLB look, they coudl’ve selected him in last month’s Rule 5 Draft. Rumfield was eligible for selection but not taken. Acquiring him via trade rather than the Rule 5 creates a path to give Rumfield some further minor league time.
There ought to be plenty of first base and designated hitter at-bats available in Colorado. Someone like Luis Arraez, Nathaniel Lowe or Rhys Hoskins would add some competition and a potential deadline chip, depending on how said veteran performs over the season’s first few months. A veteran signing would probably cut into playing time for players like Troy Johnston and Blaine Crim, but they’re both 28-year-olds with less than a year of big league service and fairly marginal Triple-A track records. There shouldn’t be any financial worries standing in the way of a more veteran addition; the Rockies’ projected $110MM Opening Day payroll (via RosterResource) would be their lowest since 2021 and second-lowest since 2015.
Rockies Trade Angel Chivilli To Yankees
11:06am: The two teams have formally announced the swap. It’s a straight one-for-one deal. The Yankees designated outfielder Michael Siani for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot.
10:45am: The Yankees and Rockies have agreed to a deal that will send reliever Angel Chivilli from Denver to the Bronx in exchange for minor league first baseman T.J. Rumfield, reports Jack Curry of the YES Network.
Chivilli is a hard-throwing 23-year-old righty who has shown an aptitude for missing bats and generating grounders but has yet to find consistent success in the majors. He averaged 97.1 mph on his four-seamer this past season and boasts an outstanding 14.4% swinging-strike rate in his young career, and he’s limited walks at a solid 8.1% clip. However, a penchant for serving up the long ball have undercut those swing-and-miss capabilities and otherwise solid command so far; Chivilli has served up an average of 1.99 homers per nine frames in each of his two partial MLB seasons.
Despite that big swinging-strike rate and a healthy 32.3% opponents’ chase rate on pitches off the plate, Chivilli comes to the Yankees with a below-average 17.4% strikeout rate in his career. His opponents have posted an awful 78.4% contact rate against Chivilli’s pitches that fall within the strike zone — league average in 2025 was 85.4% — but he’s put himself at a disadvantage by falling behind in counts far too often. Chivilli’s career 56.9% first-pitch strike rate (55.6% in 2025) is considerably lower than the 62% league average.
It bears mentioning that Chivilli has struggled more at Coors Field than on the road, though his ERA in both settings (7.06 at home, 5.03 on the road) is sub-par. He’s generated enormous swinging-strike rates on both his changeup (26.3%) and slider (23.4%) but struggled to miss bats with his four-seamer he threw in 2025 or the sinker he threw in 2024.
Though the bottom-line results haven’t been there yet, pitchers with Chivilli’s blend of velocity, command, ground-balls and raw bat-missing ability (even if it hasn’t manifested in big strikeout totals yet) are hard to come by. If the Yankees can coax some more swing-and-miss from one of his heaters and/or get him to throw first-pitch strikes with more frequency, there’s potential for Chivilli to develop into a high-quality late-inning option. He also has a minor league option remaining, so he’s someone the Yanks can send to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for further refinement if he doesn’t win a bullpen job in spring training.
Chivilli is controllable for at least five more seasons, which adds to his appeal. If he spends any notable time in the minors this year, the Yankees could push that to six full seasons. Chivilli currently has 1.036 years of big league service time, meaning he’ll need to spend 136 days on New York’s major league roster or injured list to remain on track for free agency following the 2030 season. If he spends about one-third of the season in the minors, that free agency timeline would be pushed back to the 2031-32 offseason, though he’d then project as a Super Two player who’d be arbitration-eligible four times rather than the standard three.
In exchange for that development project, the Rockies will pick up an interesting 25-year-old first baseman. Rumfield was blocked in the Bronx by Ben Rice but has a clear path to regular first base work in Colorado if he hits his way into the job. Based on his recent minor league track record, Rumfield has a good chance to do just that.
A 12th-round pick by the Phillies in 2021, Rumfield landed with the Yankees by way of the trade that sent righty Nick Nelson and catcher Donny Sands to Philadelphia. He spent the entire 2025 season with the Yankees’ top affiliate in Scranton, slashing .285/.378/.447 with 16 home runs, 31 doubles, a triple, five stolen bases (seven attempts), a huge 11.9% walk rate and an 18.4% strikeout rate that’s comfortably lower than average. The year prior, Rumfield hit .292/.365/.461 with 15 homers and similar rate stats in 114 Triple-A games.
The left-handed-hitting Rumfield is not yet on the 40-man roster. He went unselected in last month’s Rule 5 Draft despite being eligible. Baseball America ranked him 30th among Yankees prospects this offseason, noting that he makes plenty of contact, is adept at pulling the in the air and plays a fine defensive first base. There was no path to regular playing time for him in the majors with the Yankees, and he lacks the defensive versatility to profile as a true bench option for them. With the Rockies, however, Rumfield will head to camp with a legitimate chance to win the first base job this spring.
At the moment, 28-year-old waiver pickup Troy Johnston and perpetually injured veteran Kris Bryant are among the team’s options at first base. Newly hired president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta recently declined to even fully commit to Bryant being in spring training when asked by Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post, however, stating only: “That will be up to our medical people.”
Johnston has plenty of experience in the outfield corners as well, so even if the Rockies want to give him a real chance on the big league roster — he does have a solid Triple-A track record with the Marlins organization — he could fit into a bench/designated hitter role if Rumfield seizes the first base job.
Rumfield may not be a star in the making, but if he can turn in even average offense and glovework at first base, he’d be a seismic upgrade for a Colorado club that had far and away the worst first base output of any team in MLB — on either side of the ball. Colorado first basemen posted an atrocious .211/.268/.372 batting line in 2025. The resulting 62 wRC+ (indicating that was 38% worse than average at the position after weighting for ballpark) was 15 points south of the 29th-ranked Giants. Former first-rounder Michael Toglia paced the Rockies in first base appearances last year but hit just .190/.258/.353 with a mammoth 39.2% strikeout rate, -3 Defensive Runs Saved and -10 Outs Above Average in 88 games.
Phillies Acquire Nick Nelson From Yankees
The Phillies have acquired right-hander Nick Nelson and catcher Donny Sands from the Yankees in exchange for minor league first baseman T.J. Rumfield and minor league lefty Joel Valdez, per announcements from both clubs.
Nelson, 26 next month, has seen action in parts of two big league seasons with the Yankees, pitching to a combined 6.43 ERA in a small sample of 35 innings. The former fourth-rounder has whiffed 23.8% of his career opponents against a problematic 16.1% walk rate in that time. It hasn’t been an illustrious start to his career, but Nelson has averaged 96.6 mph on his heater with a solid 12.5% swinging-strike rate — and he carries a solid track record in the upper minors as well.
Outside of a brief run in Rookie ball back in 2016, Nelson has posted at least a 26.2% strikeout rate at every level, topping out with a 4.07 ERA in 73 Triple-A frames to this point in his still relatively young career. The righty has also kept the ball on the ground at a 48% clip in the Majors while averaging just 1.03 HR/9. With a pair of minor league options remaining and extensive work both as a starter and a multi-inning reliever, Nelson can be a useful depth piece for the Phils for the next couple seasons at least — even if he doesn’t cement himself as a regular on the big league roster.
The 25-year-old Sands spent the 2021 season in Double-A and Triple-A with the Yankees, logging a combined .261/.326/.466 with 18 homers and 16 doubles. Sands also has corner infield experience — albeit mostly coming in the low minors — and he has the potential to step up as an immediate backup option to J.T. Realmuto now that Andrew Knapp is no longer with the Phils.
Rumfield, 21, was the Phillies’ 12th-round pick just this past summer, meaning he only just became eligible to be traded following the season. He was assigned to the Phils’ Class-A affiliate out of the draft, where he hit .250/.426/.263 with a double, 21 walks and 11 strikeouts in his first 107 pro plate appearances. Given his status as a recent 12th-round pick, he’s obviously not regarded among the Phillies’ best farmhands, but he’ll give the Yankees a lefty bat with some obvious plate discipline to plug into the low levels of their minor league system.
Valdez, meanwhile, has yet to advance beyond the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League. He’s posted a 2.62 ERA with a 70-to-32 K/BB ratio in 75 2/3 professional frames, albeit against considerably younger competition. Valdez pitched this last season at 21 — more than two full years older than the average competition in the DSL.
At the end of the day, the move for the Yankees boils down to parting with some depth options to open a pair of 40-man roster spots and backfilling at the low levels of the system. Both Nelson and Sands give the Phillies some present-day depth options at positions where their own organization was thinner than the Yankees.