PHOENIX — Michael Lorenzen’s agent pleaded for him to reconsider. For the past few offseasons, he claims that he has actually wanted to sign with the Colorado Rockies, volunteering his services in baseball’s worst pitching environment.
This offseason, as an $8 million deal was on the verge of actually, finally happening, he was offered one last chance to change his mind.
“‘You’re absolutely insane,’ Lorenzen said his agent told him. “‘Like, what are you talking about?’ Even as we were getting closer, he was like, ‘Are you sure. Like what are we doing?’”
It’s a rite for a newly signed player, on the first day of spring training, to authoritatively declare that you’ve ended up exactly where you wanted. In early February, every new baseball partnership is perfect.
The Rockies — coming off a rock-bottom 43-119 season — spent the offseason looking for pitchers who actually mean it. Not guys willing to take the Coors Field mound as a last resort, but those who actively want to be there.
“I want the challenge,” Lorenzen said. “It’s another way to grow in my understanding of pitching, and grow in my understanding of the game of baseball. That excites me. (The front office) couldn’t believe it. Like, ‘Why don’t we have to sell you?’”
It feels like a cliché to say that free-agent pitchers don’t go to Colorado, but for a decade, it’s been undeniably true. Since 2015, the Rockies have inked just two such players — Chad Kuhl, who earned $3 million in 2022, and Dakota Hudson in 2024.
The since-fired GM Bill Schmidt relied on struggling homegrown starters, waiver claims and minor-league deals to cobble together enough arms to painfully survive 162 games.
Pitching in Colorado is changing, however. Under the new leadership of team president Paul DePodesta, there will be adjustments in how hitters will be attacked and who calls pitches. They’re embracing the pitching-poor ballpark as an upper hand, starting with new personnel, and the $19.1 million invested in three experienced starting arms for 2026.
Lorenzen, Tomoyuki Sugano and Jose Quintana aren’t Cy Young Award talents, but they are real big-league starting pitchers. All who have a track record of throwing strikes, changing speeds, and utilizing at least five or six different pitches. They’ll enter a rotation that posted a ghastly 6.65 ERA and averaged only 4 2/3 innings per start in 2025.
“We are going to use Coors Field as the ultimate advantage,” said assistant pitching coach Gabe Ribas. “We are going to wear down the opponent. We want to put so much pressure on the other guys that it’s hard to play against us.”
Tomoyuki Sugano had a 4.64 ERA in 2025. (The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images)
The Rockies, at 43-119 last year, were two losses shy of tying the sport’s all-time loss record. It was one of the worst seasons ever, headlined by a pitching staff that had the third-worst full-season ERA in modern MLB history.
Manager Warren Schaeffer, who took over in May of last season, was adamant that last year would be left in the past. “I’m not going to talk a whole lot about last year,” Schaeffer said when asked. “Last year was brutal. And we don’t ever want to do that again.”
The Rockies are almost certainly not back, by any means. And last year’s wrongs have not yet been righted in any tangible way. Baseball Prospectus projects them to win 61 games, and FanGraphs has them at 65. They remain the most irrelevant club in a division full of contenders.
But this new front office and coaching staff are at least attempting to transition from something aimless to structured, all in one offseason.
“You end up with the right people. All three of these guys ran toward the challenge,” DePodesta said. “We didn’t have to sell them. If anyone was nervous of the idea of pitching at altitude, we didn’t sign them. It wasn’t going to work. We tried to not convince anybody.”
DePodesta is best known as one of the architects of the Moneyball A’s, but has been out of baseball for a decade, instead moving to the NFL, where he was an executive with the Cleveland Browns. DePodesta said his team will completely rethink the approach to pitching in their home park. The old strategy of avoiding contact at all costs will be replaced with a more conscious effort to attack hitters in the zone.
The team is even considering calling pitches from the dugout, a strategy imposed by the Miami Marlins last season, who employed Alon Leichman, Colorado’s new pitching coach.
This is a full reset, and everything associated with this club’s pitching will be reevaluated. Both in terms of tangible strategy, and embracing a mindset that having 81 games in this park is an advantage over visitors who have to make quick adjustments in three-day intervals.
The biggest key, they believe, is bringing in pitchers who have the right pitch mix, mindset and track record of eating innings.
“It doesn’t take a super deep dive to figure out what kind of guy we targeted,” Ribas said. “These are guys with an innate feel for the zone, who are innate athletes, who can really shape the ball.
“I think the league is going to be surprised,” he continued. “I think it’s very predictable what the Rockies would do in the past. It’s no secret that it was heavy fastball usage, particularly down to glove side. We’re going to open it up more to look a little bit more like what the league looks like.”
In the case of Lorenzen and Quintana, there were opportunities on the table to sign with other teams. The specifics remain unclear — such as whether they would have been guaranteed starting rotation spots elsewhere.
Quintana has been an above-league-average starting pitcher the past four seasons, compiling nearly 9 WAR during that time. He’s started games in the National League Championship Series the past two seasons, and is clearly still capable, just three weeks past his 37th birthday.
Lorenzen is two years removed from an All-Star appearance and a no-hitter, and has thrown at least 130 innings in each of the past three seasons.
No one will mistake this for the Dodgers’ billion-dollar starting rotation, which features eight All-Star games, two Cy Young awards, four MVP trophies and a World Series MVP honor. This isn’t the Mariners and their elite rotation that features five above-replacement starters. Nor is it the Yankees, who are paying three starters a total of $704 million.
The Rockies are still the Rockies. They’re just trying to change what that means.
“We know it’s a tough park, for sure,” Quintana said. “But we’ll make adjustments to pitch in our stadium the best way we can. … I think we’ve got the right people.”