For the second year in a row, and only the second time in franchise history, the Colorado Rockies lost 100 or more games in a season.
They followed up their 59-103 in 2023 with a marginally more successful 61-101 campaign in 2024. Despite owner Dick Monfort’s insistence that he believed the team could play .500 ball, the product on the diamond disproved him day after day. Although, being in what could be the toughest division in Major League Baseball would’ve made this a tall order regardless.
61-101 (.377), 5th in National League (NL) West
Rockies’ fans were not surprised in the slightest by the team’s performance last year, but there were some moments that showed they could still be exciting to watch.
Players like Brenton Doyle and Ezequiel Tovar had career years, with Tovar leading the National League in doubles and both players earning Gold Gloves for their defensive performances.
First baseman Michael Toglia broke out in his third year in the majors with 25 home runs, completely crushing his previous career best of four, and third baseman Ryan McMahon earned his first career All-Star nomination.
All this goes to show that despite the team’s disappointing 2024, there are still things for fans to look forward to in the coming season.
Major Comings and Goings
The major story of Colorado’s offseason is the retirement of longtime Rockie Charlie Blackmon, who called it quits after a 14-year career for the franchise. The four-time All-Star will move to the front office as a special assistant to the general manager.
Aside from this, it was an offseason of more loss in Colorado. It was announced in October that the Rockies planned to lower their payroll for the 2025 season.
This has been followed up by the departures of many longtime Rockies, including former third overall pick Brendan Rodgers, who has spent his entire six-year career with the club.
This also marked a major slimming down of the bullpen, as right-handed pitcher Cal Quantrill, right-handed pitcher Dakota Hudson and left-handed pitcher Jalen Beeks all elected to leave in free agency.
As for acquisitions, there was not a lot to write home about. The team re-signed catcher Jacob Stallings to a one-year deal with a 2026 option. The only notable signing from outside the organisation is that of second baseman Thairo Estrada from the San Francisco Giants. Aside from this, there really hasn’t been much movement out of Colorado this year.
Pros for 2025
While a playoff appearance in 2025 may be unrealistic for Colorado, hovering around .500 or closing the gap to fourth place is arguably achievable.
As mentioned, Tovar, Doyle and Toglia all had career seasons in 2024. The hope is that this trio will be able to improve further on their progress from the previous year in order to solidify themselves as the Rockies’ core players.
Another story to look out for is the impending bounce back season of Nolan Jones, who followed up his impressive 20 homer rookie season with a disappointing 2024 outing. Jones returning to form to join the other three would boost the Rockies offensive performance even further, holding them as one of the better offensive teams in the National League.
If the Rockies can sure up some of the bullpen issues they faced in 2024, then the team is looking at an overall more improved year.
With a few more wins added solely due to fixing problems with the pitching, Colorado could be much closer to that .500 benchmark set by Monfort two years ago.
Cons for 2025
The 2024 offseason has been and gone, and the Rockies did not make a single major free-agent signing.
While the dugout can deal with the pieces they have, the bullpen has only lost players as the offseason progressed.
With as questionable as Colorado’s pitching was last year, losing pieces to that puzzle is only going to make their problems a lot more noticeable. Playing at Coors Field was always likely to lead to being less attractive to pitching free agents, but the sheer lack of effort put in by the Rockies’ front office means that their pitching problem is only likely to get worse and worse.
A worse bullpen may lead to more games lost due to poor pitching, much like the many ninth-inning incidents of last year.
Expectations
While many are already preemptively penciling the Rockies in for another 100 loss season, I think that an increase in offensive production could help the Rox avoid another triple digit loss year. I think hovering slightly under the mark of .500 during the early portion of the year would be feasible.
However, no real moves have been made to address any of the Rockies’ weaknesses since last year. An increase in offensive production would have to offset the ongoing issues of the defence for the Rockies to avoid the depths of another 100-loss year.
While I think that their progression may be enough, the front office will need to address this issue in the future if they want to escape the basement of the National League.
Record prediction: 63-99, 5th in the National League West.
Featured Image Credits: Justin Edmonds/Getty Images
Joe Sell is the Colorado Rockies correspondent for Bat Flips & Nerds. Follow him on Twitter: @NyanBlaney
