The Colorado Rockies have added a pair of veterans to their mix, signing infielder Nicky Lopez and right-hander John Brebbia to minor league deals with invites to big league spring training. These are the kind of low-risk, potentially useful moves that fit where the Rockies are right now: coming off a brutal 119-loss season and looking for stability anywhere they can find it.
Let’s start with Lopez. He’ll be 31 in March and has built a reputation as a glove-first infielder.
His offensive numbers won’t turn many heads - a career slash line of .245/.310/.311 with just seven home runs over 2,374 plate appearances - but that doesn’t tell the whole story. He rarely strikes out (14.3% K rate), which speaks to his contact skills, but his 7.6% walk rate and lack of power have kept his offensive value limited.
His standout season at the plate came in 2021, when he hit .300/.365/.378. That line, however, was buoyed by a .347 BABIP - an outlier compared to the rest of his career.
Still, Lopez has managed to stay in the big leagues largely because of his defensive versatility. He’s played all four infield spots and even logged some time in left field.
The advanced metrics paint a mixed picture, especially at shortstop. Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) hasn’t been kind - he’s posted -11 runs at short, with a large chunk of that (-9) coming in just 344 2/3 innings for the White Sox in 2024.
But if you look at Outs Above Average (OAA), he grades out as 33 runs above average at shortstop, with positive marks at other positions as well. So while there’s some disagreement on his glove, teams clearly see value in his ability to move around the diamond and provide steady defense.
His 2025 season was a tough one. After getting regular playing time from 2019 through 2024, Lopez appeared in just 19 big league games this year, collecting only 28 plate appearances.
He had short stints with the Angels and Cubs, then spent the rest of the season bouncing around the minors with the Diamondbacks, Yankees, and Cubs again. It was a nomadic year for a player who’s been a steady utility option in the past.
That said, the opportunity in Colorado is real. Outside of Ezequiel Tovar, who has shortstop locked down, the Rockies’ infield is wide open.
Tyler Freeman is the only other infielder on the roster with more than 60 big league games under his belt. The rest - names like Kyle Karros, Troy Johnston, Adael Amador, Warming Bernabel, Ryan Ritter, and Blaine Crim - are either prospects or unproven at the MLB level.
Freeman could even end up in the outfield depending on how the roster shakes out.
The Rockies had some veteran utility types in 2025 - Orlando Arcia, Thairo Estrada, Kyle Farmer - but all are now free agents. That creates a lane for someone like Lopez to step in and compete for a role.
And if he does make the team, he can’t be sent down without his consent, thanks to his five-plus years of service time. That gives him a bit of leverage and stability if he earns a spot.
On the pitching side, Brebbia is a classic bounce-back candidate. He’s 35 now (turning 36 in May) and has a solid track record when healthy.
From 2017 to 2023, he was a reliable bullpen arm for the Cardinals and Giants, posting a 3.42 ERA over nearly 300 innings with a strong 25.5% strikeout rate and a tidy 7.2% walk rate. He wasn’t a closer, but he handled leverage spots well enough to tally two saves and 47 holds during that stretch.
The last two seasons, though, have been rough. After signing a $5.5 million deal with the White Sox ahead of 2024, he struggled to a 5.86 ERA between Chicago and a brief stint with Atlanta.
The strikeouts were still there - 27.7% - and the walks were manageable, but the long ball became a problem. He gave up a career-high 11 homers that year.
The Tigers gave him another shot in 2025 on a one-year, $2.75 million deal, hoping for a rebound. It didn’t happen.
He was designated for assignment in June after more struggles, then again ended up with Atlanta late in the year. He finished the season with a 7.71 ERA over 22 appearances.
His strikeout rate dipped to 22.6%, and his walk rate crept up to 10.4%. The home run issues didn’t go away either - he allowed five more in significantly fewer innings than the year before.
Injuries didn’t help either, as he missed time with a triceps strain.
Still, for the Rockies, this is exactly the kind of arm they need to take a chance on. Their 5.99 team ERA in 2025 was the worst in baseball, and the pitching staff is thin on experience.
Kyle Freeland and Antonio Senzatela are the only pitchers on the roster with more than five years of service time, and neither has been particularly effective lately. If either one bounces back next season, they could become trade chips, especially since both are only signed through 2026 with options for 2027.
Brebbia may not be a sure thing - far from it - especially in the thin air of Coors Field. But the Rockies are in a position where they need to take swings on guys like this.
They’ve already added Parker Mushinski on a minor league deal and are likely to keep adding pitchers in similar situations. If Brebbia can rediscover even part of his pre-2024 form, he could be a stabilizing presence in a bullpen that desperately needs one.
Bottom line: these are two low-risk, high-utility signings for a team that’s trying to rebuild from the ground up. Lopez brings defensive flexibility and veteran savvy to a wide-open infield, while Brebbia offers a potentially valuable arm in a bullpen that’s short on proven options. For the Rockies, these are the kinds of bets worth making.