RSS Rockies Team Notes

Rockies Assistant GM Zack Rosenthal Resigns

Rockies VP of baseball operations and assistant general manager Zack Rosenthal has resigned from the organization, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports. Rosenthal has been in the assistant GM role since the 2014-15 offseason, and the VP position was added to his portfolio following the 2021 season, after Bill Schmidt was elevated from interim GM to the full-time job.

Schmidt is now out after a disastrous four-year run, as Colorado has won only 231 games since Opening Day 2022. This year’s squad was simply one of the worst teams in MLB history, with an astonishing 43-119 record and the worst rotation ERA (6.65) and run differential (-424) in baseball’s modern era. Ownership has already stated that the Rockies’ next front office boss will be someone from outside the organization, which seems like a long overdue step for a club often criticized for being too insular and not in touch with analytical and developments trends are commonplace in the sport.

With this in mind, it isn’t surprising that other longtime front office staffers like Rosenthal are on the way out, as the next top executive will likely have a wide berth to bring in their own personnel. Since Schmidt’s title was GM rather than president of baseball operations, Rosenthal was his de facto number two, as the Rockies’ only assistant general manager.

Rosenthal told MLB.com’s Thomas Harding (multiple links) that he made his own decision to step away. “I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to stay with one single organization for 20-plus years,” Rosenthal said. “So many amazing experiences and memories. My first full-time season was the World Series year [in 2007]. That was magical…I want nothing but success for the Rockies. This city deserves a team that competes, because there’s nothing like Coors Field in October.”

Starting his baseball career as an account manager with the A’s and as an intern with the Red Sox, Rosenthal arrived in Denver in 2006 as a player development intern. From there, he became a baseball ops assistant and then the director of baseball operations. Beyond just the baseball-specific duties, Rosenthal was also the Rockies’ assistant general counsel for much of his time with the club, dealing with legal matters related to front office matters and the team’s business operations.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/10/rockies-assistant-gm-zack-rosenthal-resigns.html
 
Sandy Alomar Sr. Passes Away

Former All-Star infielder Sandy Alomar Sr. has passed away, per an announcement from the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League. He was 81 years old and would have turned 82 this coming weekend.

The father of big leaguers Roberto Alomar and Sandy Alomar Jr., Sandy Sr. enjoyed a 15-year playing career of his own. From 1964-78, he suited up for the Angels, Yankees, White Sox, Braves, Rangers and Mets. The elder Alomar made the 1970 All-Star team as a member of the Angels during a season in which he batted .251/.302/.293 and played in all 162 games while providing quality defense and 35 stolen bases.

In all, Alomar hit .245/.290/.288 in 5160 major league plate appearances across his decade and a half as a big league player. He played primarily second base but also logged more than 1200 innings at shortstop and made a handful of appearances at the hot corner. Alomar was known for his glove and speed more than his bat; he totaled just 13 career home runs, 126 doubles and 19 triples but piled up 227 career stolen bases. He’s one of just 300 players to ever steal at least 225 bags in his career.

Beyond his career as a player, Alomar logged parts of 16 season as a coach in the major leagues, spending time with the Padres (third base coach), Cubs (first base coach), Rockies (third base coach) and Mets (bench coach, first base coach). He also managed in the minor league ranks for both the Cubs and the Mets and spent several seasons coaching and managing teams at home in the Puerto Rican Winter League.

Our condolences go out to each of the organizations Alomar impacted, as well as the Alomar family and friends, and the countless fans he accrued over a baseball career that spanned more than 50 years.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/10/sandy-alomar-sr-passes-away.html
 
Rockies Have Interviewed James Click, Scott Sharp, Matt Forman In Front Office Search

The Rockies are looking outside the organization for a new front office leader. Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic reports that they have interviewed James Click of the Blue Jays, Scott Sharp of the Royals and Matt Forman of the Guardians. It’s possible that the club has spoken with others but that’s at least three external candidates to have interviewed.

Colorado just wrapped up a third straight season of at least 101 losses. They haven’t had a winning record since 2018. Understandably, changes are necessary, even for a famously loyal and insular club like the Rockies. Manager Bud Black was fired in May. A few weeks ago, it was revealed that general manager Bill Schmidt and the club would also be parting ways. When the Rockies announced the Schmidt news, they noted that they would be looking for an external candidate to be the new head of their baseball operations. That’s a notable shift for the Rockies, who have received criticism for always promoting from within. It seems they are following through on the plan to look elsewhere, based on these potential candidates.

Of the three, Click is the one with experience running a front office. After many years working for the Rays, the Astros hired Click to be their general manager going into the 2020 season. The Astros were already a good club at that time but previous general manager Jeff Luhnow had been fired in the wake of the sign-stealing scandal.

While Click had a head-start by inheriting a very strong team, he at least kept the good times rolling. They made it to the ALCS in the shortened 2020 season. In 2021, they won the West and made it to the World Series, though they lost to Atlanta. They managed to win it all in 2022, toppling the Phillies in the World Series that year.

Despite that continued success, Click and owner Jim Crane reportedly didn’t get along behind the scenes, leading to a rare instance of a club parting ways with a front office leader on the heels of a World Series title. A few months after leaving Houston, Click joined the Blue Jays as vice president of baseball strategy. He was reportedly a candidate for the Red Sox job a couple of years ago before pulling himself out of the running due to family considerations. The Sox eventually hired Craig Breslow to run their front office.

Sharp has been with the Royals since 2006, initially hired in a player development role. He got the assistant general manager title in 2015 and later added senior vice-president to his nameplate. Years ago, he received reported interest from clubs like the Mets and Angels. Last winter, he was connected the Giants general manager job working under president of baseball operations Buster Posey. Sharp withdrew his name from the running due to family considerations and Zack Minasian ultimately got that job. Last month, Sharp was connected to the Nationals’ front office search, before they hired Paul Toboni as president of baseball operations.

Forman joined Cleveland back in 2013 in a scouting role, getting promoted to assistant general manager after the 2016 season. He later added the title of executive vice-president to his office door. Like Sharp, he was connected to the Washington job last month before Toboni was hired.

Time will tell if any of these three are frontrunners or if they are just some of many names under consideration. What is also unknown is how much interest these three, or front office candidates in general, will be interested in joining the Rockies. Building a winner in Colorado will be a unique challenge. The altitude conditions are famously awful for pitchers. Even the hitters face a unique challenge, as breaking balls move differently in the mountains than at sea level. That means the bats are constantly adjusting when going on the road and back, leading many Rockies to have very wide platoon splits. It’s also been supposed that the thin Denver air present difficulties for injury management.

Those particular conditions may scare off some executives. On the other hand, the unique conditions might also attract a certain individual who is drawn to solving the puzzle and getting the recognition that would go along with that feat. There’s also the standard observation that there are only 30 jobs running a front office, so an individual who wants such a job may not want to close any doors. Teams generally don’t stand in the way of their employees interviewing for promotions elsewhere, so it’s unlikely the Jays, Royals or Guardians would stand in the way of these guys pursuing the job.

Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...sharp-matt-forman-in-front-office-search.html
 
Chris Owings Announces Retirement

Infielder Chris Owings announced his retirement on his Instagram page last week. He last played in affiliated ball in the Dodgers organization in 2024. Now, it appears the 11-year big-league veteran will hang up his spikes at the age of 34. “This game has given me more than I could’ve ever imagined,” said Owings, who went on to thank his family, coaches, and the various organizations of which he had been a part during his career.

chris_owings_diamondbacks_2018-200x300.jpg


Owings was drafted in the first round by the Diamondbacks in 2009, making his major-league debut four years later. He would spend six seasons with Arizona, playing a total of 575 games out in the desert and batting .250/.291/.378 with a 73 wRC+. During that time, he maxed out at 552 plate appearances in 147 games in 2015. The following year, he led the majors in triples (11) while batting .277/.315/.416 in 119 games and splitting time between shortstop and center field. After leaving the Diamondbacks following the 2018 season, he went on to spend brief major-league stints with the Royals, Red Sox, Rockies, Orioles, and Pirates, often acting as a utility player. His last big-league appearances came in 2023 with Pittsburgh. He signed a minor league pact with the Dodgers in February 2024 and played in 80 games at the Triple-A level before being released in July of that year.

In all, Owings played in 723 games and earned just over $11MM in his career. He batted .239/.286/.364 with 550 hits, 37 home runs, 220 RBI, and 79 stolen bases. He was also a serviceable defender, grading out as below-average in 2,105 1/3 innings at shortstop (-11 career DRS) but above average in 1,647 2/3 innings at the keystone (9 DRS). We at MLBTR congratulate Owings on a solid career and wish him the best in retirement.

Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/10/chris-owings-announces-retirement.html
 
Rockies To Narrow Front Office Search To Finalists Next Week

With the Nationals hiring Paul Toboni as president of baseball operations, the Rockies are the only team searching for a new front office head. That could soon be coming to an end, as Thomas Harding of MLB.com reports that the Rox will narrow to a group of finalists next week.

Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post hears similarly and writes that the Rox still have yet to determine whether the new hire will be given the title of general manager or president of baseball operations. That could be based on whomever they hire. If they tab a GM from another club, they’d need to give that person the president of baseball ops title to represent a promotion.

There are three known interviewees for the Rox’s top job: Royals assistant GM Scott Sharp, Guardians AGM Matt Forman, and Blue Jays vice president of baseball strategy James Click. It’s not clear how many other candidates are under consideration. Click is the only one of those three who has experience running a baseball operations department. He led the Astros between 2020-22, winning a World Series in the last of those seasons. He clashed with owner Jim Crane, though, and the Astros moved on after Click rejected a one-year extension offer on the heels of the championship.

While the front office leader is the most significant hire, Saunders reports that the team is also set to hire a chief revenue/strategy officer. That person will work mostly on the business side, though the stated goal is for increased revenues to be reinvested back into the team’s notoriously thin baseball operations infrastructure.

According to Saunders, the front office search is being headed by executive vice president Walker Monfort — the son of owner Dick Monfort. It’s not entirely clear how the baseball operations staff is structured in the interim. Former GM Bill Schmidt and assistant GM Zack Rosenthal are both out, and the team did not name an interim general manager. It stands to reason they’ll want their new top executive in place by the end of the month. The World Series could end as soon as October 28 in the event of a sweep. The trade market reopens the day after the World Series and the first few days of the offseason see plenty of waiver activity.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...ont-office-search-to-finalists-next-week.html
 
Rockies To Part Ways With Pitching Coach Darryl Scott

Darryl Scott will not return as the Rockies’ pitching coach in 2026, according to Thomas Harding of MLB.com. Scott briefly played in Colorado’s minor league system in 1995 and 2000 and later rejoined the organization as a minor league coach in 2009. He has worked for the Rockies in various capacities ever since, including as a pitching coach for four of the team’s minor league affiliates.

Ahead of the 2020 season, the Rockies promoted Scott, then their minor league pitching coordinator, to the major league coaching staff. He took over the role of bullpen coach from Darren Holmes, which he would hold for two seasons. In October 2021, he was promoted to pitching coach, replacing Steve Foster.

In four seasons under Scott, Rockies pitchers rank third-last in the majors in adjusted ERA (ERA-), trailing only the Athletics and Nationals. Even accounting for park factors, their ERA has been more than 10% higher than league average in each of the past four years. They’ve ranked 30th out of 30 teams in strikeout rate every year of Scott’s tenure as pitching coach, and they haven’t limited walks or hard contact to compensate for all those batters they’ve failed to strike out.

Scott can’t take the blame for all, or even most, of his team’s pitching struggles. It’s not as if the now-ousted GM Bill Schmidt ever gave him a ton of talent to work with. Not to mention, coaching in the high altitude of Coors Field is an enviable task for even the most ambitious of pitching gurus. Still, it’s not a good look for Scott that Colorado’s pitching only seemed to get worse in every season under his supervision. Several of the team’s pitchers have regressed in recent years, and few have lived up to their full potential.

So, the Rockies will add “pitching coach” to their list of offseason needs, although hiring a new front office leader and deciding whether interim manager Warren Schaeffer will stick around next season are significantly higher up on the task list. To that point, Scott might not even be the only coach the Rockies have to replace this winter. If their new executive wants a new manager, their new manager could very well decide to overhaul the coaching staff and hire a group of his own.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/10/rockies-to-part-ways-with-pitching-coach-darryl-scott.html
 
Rockies Narrow Front Office Search To At Least Two Finalists

Reports emerged a few days ago that the Rockies were entering the finalist stage of their search for a new front office leader, and the field has now been whittled down to perhaps just two names. The Athletic’s Brittany Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal report that Guardians assistant GM Matt Forman and Diamondbacks assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye are under consideration for the job, though it is possible another unknown finalist may also still be in the mix. Former Astros GM James Click and Royals assistant GM Scott Sharp had been candidates for the Rockies job but are no longer in consideration.

Forman, Sharp, and Click were the only names linked to the Rockies’ search, though naturally the team has likely been speaking with other candidates like Sawdaye who weren’t publicly known until now. Sawdaye has previously been a candidate for top front office posts with the Giants (before Farhan Zaidi was hired) and Angels (who hired Perry Minasian), plus he was at least contacted by the Nationals about their president of baseball operations opening this offseason before Paul Toboni was hired. Sawdaye has never held the top post in a front office before, but he did take over day-to-day operations for the D’Backs in 2021 when GM Mike Hazen took a temporary leave of absence.

Sawdaye is a longtime executive who started his baseball career with a 15-year stint in the Red Sox front office, rising to the levels of VP of international and amateur scouting. He worked closely with Hazen for a decade of that time, and when Hazen was hired as Arizona’s GM in October 2016, Sawdaye followed as Hazen’s assistant GM and has since been the de facto chief lieutenant within the Diamondbacks front office.

All this time in the NL West has given Sawdaye plenty of familiarity with the Rockies, and thus Sawdaye may well have some insight into how the Rox can get their organization on track. Colorado’s search for a new front office head is particularly intriguing since owner Dick Monfort is finally looking at external hires, as a way of bringing some fresh perspective into an organization that has long been accused of being too insular and outmoded in its thinking.

Seven straight losing seasons will tend to convince a team that things need to be changed, especially after the particular embarrassment of the Rockies’ near-record 119-loss campaign in 2025. Whether it’s Sawdaye, Forman, or another finalist who gets the job, a massive task lies in front of them in simply modernizing the Rockies’ baseball operations department, before getting around to upgrading the on-field roster.

The latest round of interviews for the finalists will take place later this week, Ghiroli and Rosenthal write, with the assumption being that the Rockies will have someone hired before the GM Meetings in early November. Interim manager Warren Schaeffer technically remains a candidate for the full-time managerial position, but chances are the new GM/president of baseball operations would want to make their own choice as Colorado’s next skipper.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...-office-search-to-at-least-two-finalists.html
 
Staff Notes: Rockies, Baker, Kiekhefer, Tigers

The Rockies’ search for a front office leader will drag into the offseason. Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post reports that the Rox don’t intend to announce their baseball operations hire until next week. The World Series will end on Saturday at the latest, but the Rockies are apparently content to go at least a few days into their offseason activity without a GM in place.

Colorado doesn’t have any free agents who’d receive consideration for a qualifying offer. Their option decisions are easy calls to buy out Kyle Farmer and Thairo Estrada. It’s not a big deal not to have a GM for either of those moves. However, the first five days of the offseason see plenty of waiver activity as teams are required to get their rosters down to 40 without the injured list. Colorado has top waiver priority as the worst team in the league. It would be ideal to have a permanent baseball operations leader for those opportunities, but it doesn’t appear they’ll be in place for that rush. The GM will also need to oversee a managerial search process that could take weeks. Guardians assistant general manager Matt Forman and Diamondbacks AGM Amiel Sawdaye are among the finalists to replace Bill Schmidt in the GM chair.

While we await Colorado’s decision, let’s turn to a few teams that have made minor front office or coaching moves.

  • The Pirates parted ways with vice president of player performance John Baker, reports Jason Mackey of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. A former big league catcher, Baker had been with the Bucs for the past five seasons. He spent his first four years as the organization’s farm director before moving to the more nebulous player performance role last winter. Michael Chernow replaced Baker as the player development director in January.
  • There are a couple changes coming to Oli Marmol’s coaching group with the Cardinals. Katie Woo of The Athletic reports that assistant pitching coach Dean Kiekhefer and game-planning coach Packy Elkins will be reassigned to strategist roles. Woo notes that the Cards intend to hire an assistant pitching coach and an assistant hitting coach later in the offseason. She also writes that the club will add new hires in international scouting and player development. Cardinals fans will want to read the full column, which includes quotes from new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom on building their front office infrastructure without replacing most of the key staffers from the John Mozeliak era.
  • The Tigers are hiring Alex Smith away from the Cubs to work as their vice president of baseball strategy, report Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. Smith had been on Craig Counsell’s staff with the somewhat vague title of strategy coach. Smith had spent three seasons on Chicago’s MLB staff — one under David Ross and two with Counsell. Sharma and Mooney write that he was largely tasked with helping the coaches integrate data into their preparation. The Cornell product returns to a front office after working in the Cubs’ analytics department between 2015-22, overlapping with Detroit president of baseball operations Scott Harris for two years. Harris had worked as Chicago’s assistant general manager in 2018-19.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/10/staff-notes-rockies-baker-kiekhefer-tigers.html
 
Pirates Claim Dugan Darnell

The Pirates announced that they have claimed right-hander Dugan Darnell off waivers from the Rockies. He was immediately transferred to the 60-day injured list, so the Bucs didn’t need to open up a 40-man roster spot. In late August, it was reported that Darnell would be undergoing surgery to address a torn labrum in his hip, a procedure with a recovery timeline of about eight months.

There was no previous indication that the Rockies had removed Darnell from their roster. It’s common at this time of year for teams to place players on waivers, as many clubs are facing roster crunches. The 60-day IL goes away five days after the World Series, so players need to retake 40-man roster spots. Some breathing room is created by others reaching free agency but teams often need to clear space. Even if a team doesn’t need space now, having it is valuable throughout the winter for other moves, including protecting guys from the Rule 5 draft.

RosterResource projected the Rockies to have 41 guys for 40 roster spots at the beginning of the offseason, including Darnell. It seems Colorado tried to open a spot by passing Darnell through waivers but the Pirates intervened. The Pirates will face a crunch of their own, as RosterResource projects them to have 42 guys for 40 spots, not including Darnell. The Bucs will therefore have to do some clearing in the coming days.

For now, they are bringing a fresh relief arm into the system. Darnell, 28, was signed by the Rockies as an undrafted free agent in 2021. He got a very limited big league debut this year. He was called up August 1 but then left hip inflammation put him on the IL three weeks later. In that debut, he tossed 11 2/3 innings over nine appearances. He allowed five earned runs on ten hits and seven walks while striking out five.

That’s a small sample of work, so presumably the Bucs are also putting some stock in his minor league track record. He has thrown 255 1/3 innings on the farm with a 3.74 earned run average, 30.6% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate. That includes 53 2/3 Triple-A innings in 2025, pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, with a 3.19 ERA, 28.8% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 43.5% ground ball rate.

Given Darnell’s surgery timeline, he likely won’t be available until the middle of next year. Perhaps the Bucs will keep him on the 40-man through the winter and then put him on the 60-day IL again once it returns in spring training. It’s also possible the Bucs try to pass him through waivers unclaimed during the offseason, therefore keeping him as non-roster depth.

Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/10/pirates-claim-dugan-darnell.html
 
Kris Bryant Still Bothered By Back Pain, Not Considering Retirement

Kris Bryant has played in only 170 games over his four seasons with the Rockies, and the 2025 campaign saw Bryant appear in just 10 games before his recurring back issues brought his season to an early close. Lumbar degenerative disc disease has left Bryant feeling pain while performing basically every baseball activity not related to swinging, and the former NL MVP told the Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders, and this discomfort has now extended to his day-to-day life.

“It’s exhausting for me waking up and hoping to feel [better],” Bryant said. “I can’t tell you the last time I woke up feeling I’m in a good spot….If you asked me two or three months ago, I would say [my back pain] was not affecting my everyday life. But now it is, which is really annoying to me because usually when you kind of just rest, it’s supposed to get better. So maybe I’m at a point where I should just do a bunch of stuff to see if that helps me.”

Bryant has already explored multiple avenues to try and fix his back, including an ablation procedure last May. He isn’t currently doing any baseball activities, as Rockies head trainer Keith Dugger has Bryant on a regular Pilates regiment in order to help reinforce his core. However, it remains to be seen if this treatment or anything will be able to get Bryant back on a path to regular on-field action, which is still his goal.

“That’s the thing that eats at me the most. It’s tough to describe,” Bryant said. “I’ve played this game for 30 years now, not professionally, of course, but it’s all I have ever known….But watching the playoffs and seeing some of my friends still playing, that gives me the motivation to try and play. So I don’t have those conversations [about retirement], thank goodness, because I don’t want to. I just want to be a baseball player.”

Three years and $78MM remain on the seven-year, $182MM free agent deal that Bryant signed with Colorado during the 2021-22 offseason. The signing can unfortunately be considered one of the biggest misfires in free agent history, given how little has Bryant has played, and his lack of production when he has played (.244/.324/.370 and 17 home runs over 712 plate appearances in a Rox uniform). The Rockies’ horrific 231-417 record over the last four seasons is far from Bryant’s fault alone, yet his contract has become somewhat symbolic of this low point in the franchise’s history.

A pivot point may be coming since the Rockies are searching for a new head of baseball operations, and focusing on external candidates in an attempt to finally bring some fresh ideas and new perspectives into the organization. Given the lack of progress with Bryant, it is hard to call his situation a top priority for the incoming new executive, as there seemingly isn’t much to do besides hope that Bryant can get healthy enough to play.

Working out a deferred payment plan for the remainder of the contract may be the eventual outcome for Bryant and the Rockies, since he naturally isn’t going to retire outright and walk away from the money still owed. However, Bryant (who turns 34 in January) isn’t ready to pursue that avenue yet, and only he knows when enough will be enough from a physical and mental standpoint.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...-by-back-pain-not-considering-retirement.html
 
Lucas Gilbreath, Aaron Schunk Elect Free Agency

The Rockies outrighted infielder Aaron Schunk and lefty reliever Lucas Gilbreath off their 40-man roster, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. Both players had been outrighted before in their careers and exercised their right to elect free agency.

There’ll be plenty of waiver movement as soon as the World Series ends. Teams need to activate everyone from the injured list and get their roster counts down to 40. The Rockies were already positioned to do so with Germán Márquez, Thairo Estrada, Kyle Farmer and Orlando Arcia hitting free agency. They’ll only need to reinstate Kris Bryant and Jeff Criswell from the injured list.

Colorado had also tried to sneak reliever Dugan Darnell through waivers this afternoon, but the Pirates intervened. Dropping Schunk and Gilbreath gets them down to 37 players. There could certainly be a few more cuts once they finalize a GM hire. Colorado has top priority on the waiver wire, which they should leverage to churn the back half of the roster next week.

Schunk and Gilbreath will each look for the second teams of their careers. Colorado drafted Schunk in the second round in 2019. The Georgia product has had brief MLB stints over the past two seasons. He has fanned 41 times in 131 trips to the plate, batting .222/.246/.302 over 55 games. The righty hitter owns a .291/.348/.468 line over parts of three seasons at Triple-A Albuquerque.

While that’s a solid line on the surface, it’s below average after accounting for the extremely hitter-friendly environment. The 28-year-old Schunk is a good defensive third baseman with a plus arm but hasn’t found much consistency at the plate. He was a two-way player with a mid-90s fastball at Georgia but hasn’t pitched in pro ball. Speculatively speaking, it’s possible another team would be intrigued to see if he’s willing to try his hand on the mound again.

Gilbreath, 30 in March, was a seventh-round selection back in 2017. He had a couple productive seasons as a middle reliever/setup man between 2021-22. He underwent Tommy John surgery in Spring Training ’23 and has barely been a factor since returning from the operation. Gilbreath made three MLB appearances late last year. He only pitched once in the big leagues this past season, striking out two while allowing an Alexander Canario home run in a mop-up inning in Pittsburgh on August 22.

Colorado optioned Gilbreath back to Albuquerque at the end of that game. He gave up a 7.59 earned run average with poor strikeout and walk numbers over 42 2/3 innings in the minors. Before the surgery, Gilbreath had a 93-94 MPH fastball and an 81-82 MPH slider that served as an excellent secondary pitch. The fastball dropped to 92 in 2024 and backed way up this year, as he was in the 89-90 MPH range. The breaking ball has also lost nearly three ticks relative to the pre-injury level.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/10/lucas-gilbreath-aaron-schunk-elect-free-agency.html
 
Latest On Rockies’ Front Office Search

The Rockies have been on the hunt for a new head of baseball operations ever since GM Bill Schmidt departed the club at the beginning of October. With the offseason now officially upon us, the pressure to find the next person who will lead Colorado’s front office is growing significantly.

While Diamondbacks assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye and Guardians assistant GM Matt Forman both emerged as finalists for the job in recent weeks, today a report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post suggests that, at least for the time being, neither Sawdaye or Forman appear poised to be named the Rockies’ head of baseball operations. Thomas Harding of MLB.com adds that conversations with both Sawdaye and Forman have been “productive,” but the Rockies are still in the midst of their search and “the feeling was” that other candidates were still in the mix despite Sawdaye and Forman being the only two publicly identified finalists.

It’s not clear if Sawdaye and/or Forman are still in the running for the job or if they’re no longer under consideration, but at the very least it seems as though the Rockies will spend at least the first few days of the offseason without a proper head of baseball operations. That’s not completely unheard of, as the Astros famously parted ways with James Click early in the 2022-23 offseason and didn’t hire a new head of baseball operations until late January, with club chairman Jim Crane running baseball operations in that interim period.

As previously mentioned, Sawdaye and Forman are the only two names who have been confirmed as finalists for the role. Click and Royals assistant GM Scott Sharp were once part of the search but are reportedly no longer in consideration. Former Twins GM Thad Levine was connected to the position immediately after Bill Schmidt’s departure, but has never been confirmed to have even spoken to the Rockies about the role to this point.

Whoever ultimately ends up taking the reins of baseball operations in Colorado, their first decision will be one that becomes less flexible the longer the search drags on. The Rockies finished the season with interim manager Warren Schaeffer at the helm of the dugout, but his future in the role as well as the futures of the rest of the coaching staff in the organization are set to be determined by the club’s eventual baseball operations hire. If the team’s search for a new baseball operations leader drags deep into the offseason, the continuity offered by keeping Schaeffer and much of the Rockies coaching staff in the fold could become more valuable as other candidates settle into roles elsewhere around the league.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/latest-on-rockies-front-office-search.html
 
Rockies Turn Down Mutual Option With Thairo Estrada; Estrada Remains On Roster

The Rockies have turned down their end of a mutual option with infielder Thairo Estrada, reports Thomas Harding of MLB.com. For now, Estrada remains on the roster and the Rockies technically could retain him for 2026 via arbitration, though that seems unlikely.

Estrada, 30 in February, had some good seasons with the Giants. However, in 2024, he struggled enough to get outrighted off the roster midseason and became a free agent afterwards. The Rockies signed him to a one-year, $4MM contract coming into 2025. That broke down as a $3.25MM salary this year, followed by a $750K buyout on a $7MM mutual option.

If Estrada had bounced back to his 2021-23 levels, it would have been a nice buy-low move. Unfortunately, it turned into mostly a lost season. Estrada made separate trips to the injured list for a right wrist fracture, a sprained left thumb and a right hamstring strain. He only got into 39 games and slashed .253/.285/.370 for a wRC+ of 66.

Given that performance, the Rockies obviously weren’t going to crank up his salary by picking up the option. He does not automatically become a free agent, however, as he is still shy of six years of major league service. The Rockies could retain Estrada for 2026 via arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Estrada for a $3.8MM salary through the arbitration process.

Even at that price point, the Rockies are probably planning to move on, since Estrada is now coming off two straight years of struggle. If the Rockies don’t tender him a contract, he will become a free agent later in the offseason. He would then be looking for another bounceback opportunity, which could be a minor league deal or perhaps a modest major league pact.

Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...thairo-estrada-estrada-remains-on-roster.html
 
Rockies Decline Mutual Option On Kyle Farmer

The Rockies have declined their end of a $4MM mutual option on infielder Kyle Farmer for the 2026 season, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding reports. Farmer will instead get a $750K buyout and head into free agency.

The decision is not a surprise. Farmer, 35, has long been a glove-first utility guy in the majors. The Rockies signed him just under a year ago to provide a veteran boost to their young infield. The deal guaranteed him $3.25MM in the form of a $2.5MM salary plus the aforementioned $750K option buyout.

Farmer got into 97 games for Colorado this year, stepping to the plate 300 times. He slashed .227/.280/.365 for a wRC+ of 65. Even though he’s never been a huge threat at the plate, that was a drop from the .250/.310/.391 line and 89 wRC+ he carried into the year.

The Rockies, with no current front office leader, have made the easy decision to move on. They could perhaps bring Farmer back to serve as a multi-positional bench piece again, but they will have a few months to consider other available options as well. Farmer will look for his next opportunity, which could be a minor league deal or a major league pact at a lower price point.

Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/rockies-decline-mutual-option-on-kyle-farmer.html
 
Rockies Have Spoken With Adam Ottavino About Top Front Office Job

Rockies owner Dick Monfort has spoken with longtime big league reliever Adam Ottavino about the team’s top front office vacancy, reports Tim Healey of The Boston Globe. (That’ll presumably be a general manager but the title could change based on whomever they hire.) Meanwhile, Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic reports that Guardians’ assistant general manager Matt Forman and Diamondbacks’ AGM Amiel Sawdaye — previously reported to be finalists for the position — are now out of the running.

It’s unclear how seriously the Rockies are considering Ottavino as a candidate to run baseball operations. The 39-year-old not only has no front office experience of any kind, he’s still technically an active player. Ottavino pitched in the majors with the Yankees as recently as this past April. He made three appearances before electing free agency. He spent the rest of the season as a free agent but has not officially announced his retirement.

Ottavino has long been expected to find a front office or coaching role once he concluded his playing career. He was well-versed in using analytics as a pitching development tool. He’s also media savvy and has frequently appeared as a guest analyst on the MLB Network over the offseason. Still, it’d be shocking if a team hired him as their top decision-maker before he gets any kind of post-playing experience.

The Rockies have been one of the sport’s most insular organizations with front office and coaching hirings. They’ve already announced that they would not promote from within this time around. Ottavino would be an outside-the-box hire, but he also has close ties to the franchise and to Monfort. He has spent almost half of his MLB career in Denver. He posted a 3.41 earned run average over 361 appearances with the Rockies between 2012-18.

Ottavino is personally familiar with the challenges of pitching (and succeeding) at Coors Field. He discussed exactly that in an MLB Network appearance in May. It makes sense that the Rockies would want him in a front office role of some kind, yet a GM hire would obviously be a massive amount of responsibility.

There doesn’t appear to be a clear timetable for the Rockies to install anyone at the top of baseball operations. Forman and Sawdaye were the only two known remaining candidates coming into today. Ghiroli writes that they were indeed the only two finalists as of last week. It seems they’re now branching back out.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...adam-ottavino-about-top-front-office-job.html
 
Rockies Claim Troy Johnston

The Rockies announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed infielder/outfielder Troy Johnston off waivers from the Marlins. Colorado also reinstated Kris Bryant and righty Jeff Criswell from the 60-day injured list, adding both back to the 40-man roster.

Johnston, 28, was a 17th-round pick by Miami back in 2019 and has been a career-long Marlin to this point. He made his big league debut this season after a lengthy run of productive campaigns n the upper minors. The Gonzaga product hit .277/.331/.420 with four home runs in 121 plate appearances during his first run at the MLB level.

In Johnston, the Rockies are adding an older but controllable player with a strong minor league track record. Johnston is a career .281/.367/.458 hitter in seven minor league seasons. His .267/.345/.438 slash in parts of four Triple-A campaigns is weighed down a bit by an awful debut there back in 2022 (116 plate appearances), but he’s been an above-average hitter with the Marlins’ top affiliate in Jacksonville each season since.

Though Johnston has primarily been a first baseman in the minors, with more than 4300 innings logged at the position, he’s also suited up for 826 innings in left field and 492 innings in right field. Since his contract was selected to the 40-man roster for the first time this season and he wasn’t optioned back down thereafter, he’ll join the Rox with a full slate of three minor league option years remaining.

It’s not entirely clear who’s making roster calls in the Colorado front office at the moment. The Rockies fired GM Bill Schmidt shortly after the season, and longtime assistant GM Zack Rosenthal left the club shortly thereafter. Owner Dick Monfort and his son, executive vice president Walker Monfort, have been conducting a search for a new baseball operations leader over the past month but have yet to announce a hire. It’s possible they’re making calls with input from some of the still-remaining midlevel baseball operations executives while continuing through a hiring process that as of last week was down to two finalists but once again appears more wide open.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/rockies-claim-troy-johnson-waivers-marlins.html
 
Rockies To Hire Paul DePodesta To Run Baseball Operations

The Rockies are reportedly in agreement with Paul DePodesta to run baseball operations. The team has yet to announce the hire, nor whether he’ll be the general manager or president of baseball operations. In any case, it’s a stunning move that brings DePodesta back to baseball after a decade.

DePodesta has worked with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns since January 2016. He has not been the general manager. His relatively vague title has been chief strategy officer. DePodesta has worked under a few GMs in Cleveland — the past five of which have come under executive vice president and GM Andrew Berry. He has seemingly held a high-ranking scouting/player acquisition position without ever having the top spot in football operations.

The Browns have made the playoffs twice in the past eight years and are coming off a 3-14 season that had them in last place in the AFC North. They’re currently 2-6 and at the bottom of the division as they’re amidst another rebuild.

Before his move to the NFL, DePodesta was a high-ranking baseball operations executive. He’s probably most famous for his time as the assistant general manager with the A’s under Billy Beane. That’s due largely to the success of Moneyball, the Michael Lewis book chronicling the A’s being at the forefront of using more advanced player metrics to succeed despite significant budgetary constraints. That was adapted into an acclaimed 2011 film in which Jonah Hill played a composite character that was largely based on DePodesta.

USATSI_13907736-200x300.jpg


While Moneyball’s popularity makes DePodesta most associated with the A’s, his highest-ranking MLB position came when he accepted the general manager job with the Dodgers in 2004. DePodesta was just 31 years old at the time. He held the role for two seasons, winning 93 games and the NL West title in 2004. The team stumbled to a 71-91 showing the following year, and the Dodgers fired him at the end of the ’05 campaign. DePodesta worked as a high-ranking assistant with the Padres and Mets for the next decade before making the jump to the NFL.

Now 52, DePodesta returns to baseball almost 20 years since his last GM job. He’s facing a monumental challenge. The Rox are coming off a 43-119 season that is tied for the third worst of the modern era. Their -424 run differential was somehow even worse. They were the first team since 1899 to be outscored by more than 400 runs. They scored the second-fewest runs in MLB despite playing half their games at Coors Field. They allowed 122 more runs than the next-closest team.

Despite the abysmal state of the major league roster, the Rockies don’t have the kind of high-end farm system that one would expect from a club that has finished fourth or fifth in the division in seven straight years. Baseball America credited them with two Top 100 prospects on their latest update in August: recent top five picks Ethan Holliday and Charlie Condon. As a result of those consecutive lottery picks, the Rockies are prohibited by the CBA from picking any higher than 10th in the 2026 draft.

There aren’t many buildings blocks on the MLB roster. Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, center fielder Brenton Doyle, and starting pitcher Chase Dollander have the best chance to be key pieces of a long-term contender. They’re all coming off underwhelming seasons. Hunter Goodman was the team’s best player in 2025. He was one of only four primary catchers to hit 30-plus homers, but he’s a 26-year-old coming off a breakout season in which his strikeout and walk profile was poor. He’s probably more of a good complementary player than someone who’d be one of the three to five best position players on a contender.

On top of all that, the front office faces the unique challenge of building a pitching staff that can succeed at altitude. They’re always likely to face heavier pitch counts and workloads over the course of a 162-game season at MLB’s most hitter-friendly park. Colorado hitters need to adjust to different pitch movements at home and on the road. They’re in a division with the two-time defending World Series winners. The Padres have won 90-plus games in two straight seasons. The Diamondbacks and Giants have been around average of late, but both teams have the kind of impact position player talent that the Rockies have not developed since the Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon heyday.

DePodesta will be the surprise choice to turn things around. The Rockies had seemingly settled on Diamondbacks assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye and Guardians AGM Matt Forman as the finalists last week. Bob Nightengale of USA Today writes that Sawdaye rejected Colorado’s offer, while Forman took himself out of consideration. That led them to go well outside the box for DePodesta.

It’s Colorado’s first external GM hiring in more than a decade. They’d stayed internal with the promotions of Jeff Bridich and Bill Schmidt. DePodesta’s first task will be the final managerial decision of the offseason. Interim skipper Warren Schaeffer has been in limbo since the team moved on from Schmidt at the end of the regular season.

Thomas Harding of MLB.com first mentioned that DePodesta was a strong candidate for the position. ESPN’s Jeff Passan mentioned that they were nearing a deal, while The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, Brittany Ghiroli and Zac Jackson first reported the agreement was in place.

Image courtesy of Ken Blaze, USA Today Sports.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...aul-depodesta-to-run-baseball-operations.html
 
Thairo Estrada Elects Free Agency

The Rockies announced Thursday that infielder Thairo Estrada passed through waivers unclaimed and elected free agency. Colorado also claimed right-hander Garrett Acton off waivers from the Rays. He’d been designated for assignment by Tampa Bay earlier in the week.

Colorado turned down its end of a mutual option on Estrada earlier this week, but since he has yet to accrue six years of major league service, he remained on the roster as an arbitration-eligible player. After Estrada missed most of the 2025 season due to injury and hit just .253/.285/.370 when healthy, the Rox will move on and Estrada will head to the open market in search of new opportunities.

Estrada, 30 in February, had a solid three-year run with the Giants from 2021-23, hitting a combined .266/.320/.416 with plus defense and plus baserunning. Injuries have tanked his production since late in 2023, however. Estrada suffered a broken left hand that year, then missed time with a ligament injury in his left wrist in 2024. He broke his right wrist when he was hit by a pitch this spring and, after returning, missed additional time due to thumb and hamstring injuries. He’s been limited to 546 plate appearances across the past two seasons and turned in a woeful .228/.258/.351 batting line in that time.

Second base has been Estrada’s primary position, though he’s also seen ample time at shortstop and briefer appearances at third base and across all three outfield slots. Statcast pegs him as a plus defender at second, though Defensive Runs Saved is on the other end of the spectrum. At the very least, he’s a fleet-footed utility man with experience at six defensive spots and a lower-than-average strikeout rate at the plate.

Acton, 27, signed a two-year minor league deal with the Rays going into 2024. He had undergone Tommy John surgery prior to signing that deal and missed the entire 2024 campaign. He was added to the 40-man late in 2025 and tossed one scoreless inning in the bigs. He threw 58 2/3 innings in Triple-A with a 3.68 ERA, 30.1% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...-free-agency-rockies-claim-garrett-acton.html
 
Offseason Outlook: Colorado Rockies

The 119-loss Rockies were one of the worst teams in baseball history. Can a front office shakeup (and an unexpected choice as the new baseball operations head) get the organization pointed in the right direction?

Guaranteed Contracts

  • Kris Bryant, 1B/OF: $78MM through 2028
  • Ezequiel Tovar, SS: $56.5MM through 2030 (includes $2.5MM buyout of $23MM club option for 2031)
  • Kyle Freeland, SP: $16MM through 2026 (deal contains conditional player option for 2027)
  • Antonio Senzatela, SP/RP: $12MM through 2026 ($14MM club option for 2027)

Option Decisions


2026 financial commitments: $59MM
Total future commitments: $162.5MM

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projected salaries courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)


Free Agents


The fact that Colorado is the last Offseason Outlook entry published (even after the World Series teams) speaks to the unusual length of the team's front office search. The free agent market opened yesterday, and the leaderless baseball operations department has already been making some transactions since the World Series officially ended, though the decisions to decline mutual options on Thairo Estrada and Kyle Farmer were both routine and expected.

The Rockies' struggles are usually attributed to owner Dick Monfort's extreme loyalty to longtime employees, resulting in an organization that has fallen behind the curve in fresh ideas and in most aspects of modern roster construction. Three straight 100-loss seasons and a gruesome 43-119 record in 2025 was enough to make even the notoriously insular Monfort realize that changes needed to be made. Manager Bud Black was fired back in May, and GM Bill Schmidt was let go at season's end.

This winter marked the first time that Monfort had actually done a formal external search for a head of baseball operations. Dan O'Dowd was already the general manager when the Monfort brothers bought the team in 2005. O'Dowd continued in the job until 2014, and successors Jeff Bridich and Schmidt were internal promotions.

Walker Monfort's new role as Colorado's executive VP led to some inevitable accusations of nepotism, though reports indicate that the younger Monfort (Dick's son) has been pushing for the Rox to adopt a new approach. The impact could be seen in Paul DePodesta's hiring as president of baseball operations, plus the fact that the other known candidates for the top job in baseball ops -- Guardians assistant GM Matt Forman, Diamondbacks assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye, Royals assistant GM Scott Sharp, and former Astros general manager James Click -- had no prior ties to Colorado's organization.

In classic Rockies fashion, however, the front office search wasn't exactly routine. It seemed like Forman and Sawdaye were the finalists, except reports then emerged that the two were out of the running, with Sawdaye reportedly turning down a job offer and Forman taking himself out of the process. Former Rockies reliever Adam Ottavino unexpectedly then emerged as a known candidate, throwing another curveball into the process that was ultimately ended when yesterday's news broke about DePodesta's hiring.

DePodesta has two decades of MLB front office experience with five different teams, including a two-year (2004-05) run as the Dodgers' general manager and five years working as Billy Beane's chief lieutenant with the Moneyball-era Athletics. It's the kind of distinguished resume that most Colorado fans were probably hoping to see from the Rockies' hire....except for the oddity of DePodesta spending the last decade working outside of baseball as the Cleveland Browns' chief strategy officer.

landing-logo.png

Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription​

BENEFITS
  • Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
  • Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
  • Remove ads and support our writers.
  • Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/offseason-outlook-colorado-rockies-16.html
 
MLBTR Podcast: Surprising Option Decisions, Qualifying Offers, And Paul DePodesta

The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…


Check out our past episodes!


The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...ons-qualifying-offers-and-paul-depodesta.html
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top