The Rockies have a chance Saturday night to hit a number that would have sounded impossible a year ago: 43 wins. That would match last season’s total, and Colorado would get there before the end of July.
That’s the backdrop as the Rockies, sitting at 42-63, meet the Brewers, who come in at 64-39. It’s a small step on the standings page, but it says plenty about how far this club has come from last year’s 43-119 disaster - the worst season in franchise history and the third straight 100-loss year.
Warren Schaeffer was the one piece left standing after that collapse, and the interim manager helped keep Colorado from sinking into the worst record in baseball history. New president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta and general manager Josh Byrnes have kept Schaeffer in place while reshaping the roster, though the makeover is far from finished.
The trade deadline arrives Aug. 3, and the expectation is that the Rockies will sell. They’ve already moved reliever Seth Halvorsen, and more could follow depending on what the front office can get back and how those deals fit into the long-term plan. Colorado could wind up dealing a lot or only a little, but either way the roster is expected to look different after Aug. 3 than it did before.
That could also open the door for younger players to reach the majors soon, the kind of names Rockies fans already have in mind.
For Saturday, though, the focus is on the matchup at 5:10 p.m. Ryan Feltner takes the ball for Colorado against Milwaukee left-hander Robert Gasser.
Gasser enters at 2-4 with a 4.91 ERA, and he’s been better over his last seven starts, going 2-2 with a 4.97 ERA. In his most recent outing against Miami, he worked five innings, allowed three hits and one earned run, struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.
The numbers behind him are solid enough: opponents are batting .242 against Gasser, he has 48 strikeouts in 51.1 innings, and he’s issued just 14 walks. But Colorado’s lineup construction gives this one a little wrinkle.
The Rockies are set to send two left-handed hitters into the first six spots, with Jake McCarthy and TJ Rumfield batting from that side. Cole Carrigg and Willi Castro are switch-hitters and are expected to bat right-handed. That matters because Gasser has handled lefties well - opponents are hitting just .213 against him from that side - while right-handed hitters have done more damage, batting .255.
In Other News...
Rockies Fans Wont Believe The Trade Idea Involving Hunter Goodman
Hunter Goodman has become the kind of player teams start circling long before any real talks begin. The Rockies catcher is still under club control through 2029 and has not even reached arbitration yet, which makes him especially appealing to clubs looking for a longer-term answer behind the plate. Add in a breakout season at the plate, and it is easy to see why his name would surface in trade chatter even if Colorado has every reason to treat him as a core piece.
One speculative idea has the Yankees targeting Goodman as a catching upgrade for the 2026 deadline, a reminder of how much value a productive backstop can carry in todays market. For the Rockies, though, the question is less about whether Goodman would draw interest and more about whether any proposal could justify moving a player with this much control and this kind of offensive ceiling. That is the part of the conversation that will keep getting attention until someone is willing to put a real offer on the table. [Read more 🡒]
Rockies Fans Have Heard This Before But This Prospect Feels Different
Cristian Arguelles has become one of the more interesting names in the Rockies farm system, and for good reason. The 19-year-old outfielder has been making noise in the Arizona Complex League with a bat that has already drawn attention for how advanced it looks, giving Colorado a young hitter who seems to be forcing his way onto the radar a little earlier than expected.
What makes Arguelles stand out is not just the production, but the way evaluators talk about the approach behind it. Scouts see a hitter who can use the whole field, work at-bats and do enough damage to keep pitchers honest, even if parts of his game still need refining as he moves forward in development. For a Rockies organization that has spent plenty of time waiting on prospects to turn into something more, Arguelles at least gives them a reason to believe this one might be worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]
Rockies May Have A Real Tomoyuki Sugano Deadline Decision Now
Tomoyuki Sugano gave the Rockies a timely reminder of why he remains one of the more interesting names on their roster, working 5.1 innings against the Brewers and limiting the damage to two runs while piling up five strikeouts. For a club that is still sorting out its place in the deadline market, outings like that matter, because they can shift how rival teams view a veteran arm and how Colorado weighs the rest of the month.
The Rockies have other pieces that could surface in trade conversations as the Aug. 3 deadline approaches, with Mickey Moniak, Jake McCarthy and Antonio Senzatela also fitting the profile of players contenders might monitor. Sugano is the one who feels most complicated, though, because his value is tied not just to what he does on the mound but to what he means in a clubhouse that could use experience as much as it needs future flexibility. [Read more 🡒]