DENVER -- The Rockies spent 2026 learning just how tricky it is to build a pitching staff for Coors Field, and the offseason now turns into a search for answers that don’t come easy. The organization has a clearer sense of what didn’t work. What it still needs is a plan that fits the altitude, the roster, and the reality of a staff that was never settled.
One thing seems certain: whatever comes next will not look conventional.
Colorado tried plenty of versions last season - openers, multi-inning relievers without a set closer, a more traditional bullpen with a closer, even piggybacked starters. None of it kept the numbers out of the ditch. The Rockies finished with a Major League-worst 6.28 starter ERA and a 4.80 bullpen ERA, fourth-worst in the Majors.
“It may look very different throughout the course of the season, depending on what pitchers we have available to us,” president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta said. “But going with five starters and eight relievers, and expecting the five starters to all go six innings every time out -- that's probably unrealistic here [at Coors Field], or at least less realistic here than it is in most other places.”
The bigger issue is how the club prepares the staff before the season even starts. Last year’s pitching coaches were hired in December, which meant pitchers were absorbing new ideas, including the addition of pitches, while also trying to get ready for Spring Training. Roles kept shifting during the year, too.
This offseason should be different. Once the Rockies have their personnel in place, they can map out offseason work around the way they actually want to deploy pitchers in 2027.
“Every team knows that the best preparation comes from clarity in October, and we’ve done a lot of work to stay ahead of these guys’ offseason preparation,” Rockies director of pitching Matt Daniels said. “There’s a certain way you’re supposed to build up your workload tolerance for these lengthened out roles.”
That leads straight to the next question: where do the arms come from?
The Rockies’ free-agent pitching signings in 2026 were a mixed bag. Tomoyuki Sugano was their most effective starter, though he faded in the second half.
Jose Quintana started slowly before a left elbow injury wiped out five months. Michael Lorenzen came in with energy, struggled, and was released in August.
All three are impending free agents, and Quintana appears to have the best chance of coming back. He plans to pitch for Licey in the Dominican Winter League.
Their arrivals did at least tell DePodesta something important: Colorado can convince pitchers to take on the challenge. The question now is whether the Rockies can do better than last year’s trio of 30-something veterans known for throwing strikes.
DePodesta has made clear that free agency is only part of the equation. Trades for established pitchers and lesser-known acquisitions who fit the club’s models are also on the table.
“Each year, the market will offer up probably different types of pitchers, and we just need to decide whether or not we think those will fit here in cores,” he said.
However the Rockies attack the market, it will shape everything else.
That includes whether they have to break up an offense that showed real improvement. There has been no appetite to move catcher Hunter Goodman, who hit 41 homers, or outfielder Jake McCarthy, who solved the leadoff spot.
The team has also committed to the left-handed bat and leadership of Mickey Moniak. And shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, whose contract runs through at least 2030, may be too tied into the future to deal.
That group helped lift the lineup, but Colorado still needs more from it. The real issue is whether the Rockies can keep that core intact while still being aggressive enough to fix the pitching.
Defense in the outfield is another area under the microscope. Brenton Carrigg, McCarthy and late-season callup Zac Veen bring athleticism, while Moniak has passable range.
But the best Rockies teams have been clean and airtight in the field, and this one wasn’t. Carrigg and Veen had rookie mistakes that were especially costly at Coors, and there was sloppiness throughout.
Jordan Beck was the best defender among the group, though his offense was a problem.
All of the outfielders were challenged during exit interviews with manager Warren Schaeffer, the coaches and the front office.
Then there’s the ninth inning, where the Rockies may again have to decide whether to go with a defined closer or keep mixing and matching.
Colorado has been here before. After going 75-87 in 2016, then-general manager Jeff Bridich signed Greg Holland to a one-year deal, and Holland’s 42 saves in 2017 helped push the Rockies into the postseason. Bridich later brought in Wade Davis, who saved 41 games for another postseason club in Colorado.
The expectation this time is for something far less dramatic. Still, the club could re-sign Jordan Romano, who joined in July and had strong stretches along with the kind of Coors Field rough patches that come with the territory. DePodesta wouldn’t commit either way.
“When you do have an established closer, it can help define you know other roles in the ‘pen and make others sort of more comfortable,” DePodesta said. “That being said, you don't always have it.
“I don't think you have to have it. There are good teams that have used lots of different guys that end up racking up saves. But I think if you have the right guy in the right situation, it can be helpful.”
In Other News...
Jake McCarthy Is Making A Strong Case To Be Part Of Colorado's Core
After another season buried beyond 100 losses, the Rockies are still searching for more than just short-term fixes as they try to build toward meaningful improvement by 2027. Jake McCarthy has quickly become one of the more encouraging pieces in that conversation since arriving from Arizona, giving Colorado a steady, productive outfield option at a time when the roster badly needs players it can envision around for the next few seasons.
McCarthys fit is about more than a good year at the plate. He has already made a case as a core part of the next Rockies team, and the front office now has a decision to make about how aggressive it wants to be in keeping him locked in before the arbitration process gets in the way. A modest extension would give Colorado some cost certainty and buy an extra year of continuity, which is the kind of move that can matter for a club still trying to turn promising pieces into an actual foundation. [Read more 🡒]