The Colorado Rockies have more going for them this winter than they did a year ago, but that still hasn’t moved the needle much outside the organization.
Sports Illustrated recently rolled out its top 40 MLB free agents, with Nicholas Selbe and Will Laws offering projections for where those players might land. That adds up to 80 predictions. The Rockies were nowhere to be found.
That silence says plenty about how the league views Colorado right now, even with a new minority ownership partner in Penner Sports Group, the Denver Broncos’ owner, making a substantial investment in the club. The front office has also been reshaped, and the roster clearly needs work before the 2027 season. On paper, there are reasons to think the Rockies should have more flexibility than they’ve had in the past.
The question is whether that flexibility will translate into actual spending on major league talent. During an October postseason media session, president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta was asked directly whether the Rockies could significantly increase spending. In that same session, club president Walker Monfort said the Penner Sports Group investment helped wipe out debt taken on during the pandemic and the collapse of the regional sports television model.
That at least points to a healthier financial setup. What it doesn’t point to is a promise of a bigger payroll.
And that’s where the disconnect starts. Colorado is coming off its fourth straight 100-plus-loss season, finishing 2026 at 58-104.
The club’s payroll last season was about $121.6 million, which ranked 21st in MLB, according to Spotrac. With Kyle Freeland, Jose Quintana and Tomoyuki Sugano coming off the books, roughly $27.1 million opens up, also per Spotrac.
Even so, free agents have reasons to hesitate. The Rockies are still buried in a rebuild, and that’s not an easy sell to a premium target.
Coors Field adds another layer of difficulty, especially for pitchers. The altitude is a real hurdle, and the list of accomplished arms willing to take that on is not exactly overflowing.
Colorado’s biggest need is pitching, and the market includes names such as Tarik Skubal, Michael King, Freddy Peralta and Trevor Rogers. But landing that kind of arm would take a major commitment, and the Rockies have not exactly shown the outside world that they’re ready to make one.
That’s the larger issue here. Nobody expects Colorado to throw around a $400 million deal. But there should be some sign of movement, some indication that the club is ready to make a real push for at least one top-tier free agent.
The need on the mound is obvious. The Rockies finished 2026 with a 5.59 ERA, and the rotation was even rougher at 6.28. A new pitching coach might help, but it won’t solve everything by itself.
The organization is also putting money into scouting, player development and other baseball operations areas, and that matters. Still, from the outside, the biggest proof of progress would come in the form of a meaningful major league addition.
A targeted free-agent pitcher on a multi-year deal could help steady the rotation and buy time for younger arms to develop. For now, though, the latest projections suggest the Rockies are still viewed as a team on the margins, not one expected to land a prominent name.
In Other News...
Rockies Prospects Are Forcing Their Way Into The Conversation
The Arizona Fall League has a way of separating prospects who are just part of the pipeline from the ones who start making noise, and Jared Thomas and Fidel Ulloa both fit the latter category. Thomas, the Rockies No. 10 prospect and a second-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, put together a strong showing over 24 games, giving Colorado another reminder that his bat is moving in the right direction. Ulloa, a right-handed reliever taken in the seventh round of the same draft, also turned heads with a run of clean innings that helped him stand out in a crowded developmental setting.
Ulloas performance was good enough to land him on the National Leagues Fall Stars Game roster, which only added to the sense that the Rockies have a couple of names worth tracking closely this winter. For an organization that has been searching for more impact talent to emerge, the AFL offered a useful glimpse of two young players who are starting to force their way into the conversation, even if the bigger question is how quickly that progress can carry over into the next stage of their development. [Read more 🡒]