The Colorado Rockies are clearly trying to turn the page on a rough chapter. After a season defined by a historically brutal run differential, the front office has responded with a trio of veteran arms to bolster the rotation-most recently adding left-hander José Quintana on a one-year, $6 million deal.
Quintana, now heading into his 15th Major League season, joins the Rockies with a wealth of experience and a proven track record of durability. He’s coming off a 2025 campaign in Milwaukee where he posted a 3.96 ERA across 24 starts. While the strikeout-to-walk ratio wasn’t eye-popping (80 Ks to 50 walks in 131.2 innings), Quintana managed to keep his team in games, which is exactly the kind of steady presence Colorado’s rotation has been missing.
This move follows earlier offseason additions of Michael Lorenzen and Tomoyuki Sugano-two more arms that bring experience and, just as importantly, leadership to a young and often overmatched pitching staff. Lorenzen and Quintana together account for 25 combined years in the majors, while Sugano arrives with serious credentials from Japan, where he won the Central League MVP three times. That’s not just résumé padding-that’s the kind of pedigree that can command respect in a clubhouse and help set a tone for a team trying to rebuild its identity.
The Rockies aren’t pretending these are long-term solutions. All three additions are on short-term deals, which gives the club flexibility while also providing a much-needed bridge for younger pitchers still developing in the system.
But make no mistake: this is about more than innings. It's about stabilizing a staff that, last year, couldn’t stop the bleeding.
To put it bluntly, Colorado’s pitching was historically bad in 2025. The Rockies finished with a run differential of minus-424-the worst in modern MLB history.
That’s not just a bad year; that’s a number that echoes through the record books. And while Coors Field will always be a tough environment for pitchers, the Rockies have to find ways to keep games competitive, especially with a lineup that isn’t built to slug its way out of deficits night after night.
The longest-tenured arms on the roster, Antonio Senzatela and Kyle Freeland, have been around since 2017. They’ve seen the ups, the downs, and everything in between.
But they can’t carry the load alone. That’s where the new additions come in-not just to eat innings, but to help change the culture of a rotation that’s been stuck in neutral (or worse) for too long.
Quintana’s signing doesn’t guarantee a turnaround. But it does signal that Colorado is serious about addressing its most glaring weakness. And with three new veteran arms in the mix, the Rockies are at least giving themselves a fighting chance to climb out of the basement.