And So the Colorado Rockies’ 2025 Season Begins

Apologies for missing last week’s newsletter. I ended up with some family stuff that required my attention. When it was resolved on Sunday, I thought I would write a quick newsletter about the Nolan Jones-Tyler Freeman trade, but before I had even finished drafting, the Colorado Rockies had announced Zac Veen would be starting the season in Triple-A Albuquerque. At that point, I threw my hands in the air and decided to wait until things were sorted out.

And, I’m glad that I did given that on Wednesday night, the Rockies announced they had signed recent Los Angeles Angel Mickey Moniak. Then on Thursday morning, they DFA’d Sam Hilliard, and, finally, on Thursday afternoon, the Rockies announced their Opening Day roster.

That the Rockies now have three players on their roster that they did not have five days ago, seems a bit odd. I mean, that‘s a lot of personnel turnover in a relatively short period of time. Here’s how general manager Bill Schmidt explained the decisions to Thomas Harding:

Freeman’s addition makes the roster more flexible, since he has starting experience in the infield and outfield, and has a Minor League option. Moniak, like Hilliard, can play all three outfield positions defensively. But he is a little more than four years younger and the Rockies believe there is greater upside.

(Moniak also told Harding that Schmidt had scouted him in 2016 before he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies. That makes Moniak, Kris Bryant, and Nolan Jones who are players the Rockies scouted and only signed later. Sensing a trend here.)

Although I can appreciate what the Rockies are attempting to do, much of this seems like a panicked reaction to Thairo Estrada’s injury last week. (What the Rockies will do in eight weeks when Estrada returns is anyone’s guess.)

But the roster is (perhaps?) set, and the season starts today, so it’s worth spending some time considering the possibilities.

Will the Rockies Be a Better Baseball Team?

Before the moves earlier this week, I thought they would be slightly improved, say a 97-win team. Brenton Doyle looks to be picking up where he left off, and perhaps Ezequiel Tovar will become more judicious at the plate. (Despite his talent, given the surplus of exceptional shortstops, Tovar will not be considered “elite” until that part of his game improves.)

Plus, Germán Márquez and Antonio Senzatela are back in the rotation with the latter looking better than the former. (Clearly, that could change given the limitations of spring training stats.) Still, this is not a remarkable rotation — save Ryan Feltner’s potential to continue surprising folks.

While the Rockies have been busy on the personnel front, there’s no sense these moves made them a better team. If nothing else, they have lost the potential of a Nolan Jones revival.

Prediction: This will be the third-consecutive 100-loss season. I think the Rockies will go 61-101.

Will They Be Active at the Trade Deadline?

I suspect they will attempt to move players, but whether they have anyone other teams will be interested in is a separate question.

Scott Alexander seems an obvious trade candidate, and I will be surprised to see him with the Rockies at season’s end. (For all their problems, the Rockies have had some success with signing free-agent pitchers and trading them in July.)

I suspect the Rockies thought Estrada would be highly tradable — and he may be yet — but he’s got an injury to recover from, and his last two seasons were waylaid by injuries. He needed time early in the 2025 season to show what he could do, and that’s probably not happening.

It might be possible to trade Germán Márquez, but there are a lot of innings on that arm (1020.0 IP), and he has not looked sharp (though he has looked fine) in spring training. Similarly, Austin Gomber was another trade candidate, but the fact that he’s beginning the season on the IL with shoulder soreness is not encouraging. Again, depending on the market and how these pitchers fare in the first part of the season, they may become trade candidates, but that seems less likely than it did a few weeks ago.

In the tradition of Jake Cave, Moniak and Kyle Farmer also seem like they are not players other teams will be interested in unless they have significant turnarounds with the Rockies.

It’s possible the Ryan McMahon market opens up again and that Kyle Karros shows well enough that the Rockies decide to move on.

But that’s a lot of ifs.

Although I think the roster looks quite different come September, I suspect that will have more to do with promotions than trades.

Who Gets Called Up?

Granted, the Rockies told fans this would be a “competitive” spring training, which it was not, so I am hesitant to take the organization at its word. However, I do think we’ll see heavy traffic between Albuquerque and Denver with Veen making the trip before mid-May and Dollander and Zach Agnes not long after that.

(Or maybe Sam Hilliard will clear waivers, get hot in ABQ, and he’ll be called up instead of Veen.)

But for me, a promising season means that a number of prospects see significant playing time.

How Will the Fans Take It?

To be clear, I spend my time with serious, not casual fans, but I get a sense that folks who pay attention to baseball have had it. The losing has long been old as is the Rockies’ struggle to find an identity. Plus, any excitement generated by the prospects has been diluted with the signings of and trades for players fans don’t know and who appear to provide little in terms of upgrades.

I think this year, fans will let the organization know.

Booing is a not a regular thing at Coors Field, but it may be this year, in large part due to an organization that refuses to change and seems fine with losing. Remember: Fans were promised a competitive spring training, and Zac Veen delivered only to be demoted. I think there will be little patience with that this season.

Closing Thoughts

It was a weird spring training at the end, and I expect the weirdness to continue into the season. (Look, the Rockies are starting the season a day late in the New York Yankee’s spring training facility. The “weird” has been fully activated.)

Whether that’s good, I have no idea. But I do know that baseball’s back, and the world is better when there’s baseball.

Landmarks

Yesterday was a big one for Kris Bryant.

If I were a gambling person, I would hazard that this is an important year for Bryant. If he cannot stay healthy, I wonder if the Rockies look for a way to remove him from their roster.

What I’m Reading

• Evan Lang’s “Zac Veen’s failure to “earn” a roster spot calls Rockies’ youth movement into question” (Purple Row) — This was the best thing I read on the Rockies’ handling of Veen.

• Patrick Saunders’ “Rockies' Zac Veen hopes big-league call comes sooner rather than later” (Denver Post) — Saunders spoke with Veen about his return to Triple-A. (For me, the subtext in this one was clear.)

• Thomas Harding’s “Bold predictions for the Rockies ahead of the 2025 season” (MLB.com) — I always take Harding’s evaluations seriously.

Closing Thoughts

And that’s it for this week.

If nothing else, at least we have baseball. The Rockies will start in Tampa Bay before heading up to Philadelphia for a series. After that, we’ll have a sense if the recent changes are working before the Rockies host their home opener next weekend against The Athletics (another weird 2025 twist).

As always, thanks for reading.

Renee

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Rockies Pitch is a newsletter that focuses on Colorado Rockies baseball. Find me on Bluesky at @Renee.Dechert.com.