Welcome to the offseason!
Tuesday marked the day that free agency is officially open after teams became 40-man roster compliant. Now, teams begin the process of wheeling and dealing because the collective bargaining agreement expires in less than a month, and a lockout is looming, freezing the market.
Advertisement
The hope is that the Colorado Rockies are going to be busy shaping the roster and trying to plug holes through trades and free agency. The obvious area of need is starting pitching. After a league-worst 5.59 ERA as a team last season and a 6.28 ERA in the rotation, the Rockies are clearly in need of some pitching help. Due to injuries, shifting of roles, and free agency, the Rockies really only have two presumed locks in the rotation to start the year: Mason Adams and Gabriel Hughes. Even then, those aren't necessarily the headliners of a rotation at this point in their careers.
The job of the front office and new pitching coach Ethan Katz
is to fortify the starting rotation with experience and talent, as they tried to do last offseason. While a superstar like Tarik Skubal is well out of the question, there could still be some intriguing free agents that could be helpful for the coming season.
Today, let's take a look at a couple of arms that I find could be helpful.
Foster Griffin
With the departures of José Quintana and Kyle Freeland in free agency, the Rockies are lacking left-handed starting pitching options. So, why not take a shot at a southpaw who had a fantastic 2026 season?
Advertisement
After a lack of opportunity and success at the big-league level, Foster Griffin headed to Japan, where he spent three seasons with the Yomiuri Giants. While in the NPB, Griffin posted a 2.57 ERA with 318 strikeouts against 70 walks in 315.2 innings of work. That success finally landed him another MLB opportunity, and he signed with the Washington Nationals on a one-year $5.5 million contract.
Over 22 starts with the Nationals, the 31-year-old logged a 3.06 ERA with 116 strikeouts and 30 walks over 129.1 innings and was named an All-Star. The Nationals then traded him to the Cleveland Guardians for a four-player package, where he struggled a little bit more down the stretch, posting a 5.19 ERA in 43.1 innings across nine starts with 42 strikeouts against 15 walks. His ERA was a little skewed, however, because of one bad start in which he allowed eight runs in only 2.1 innings. He was effective in the postseason, where he pitched 10.1 innings and gave up four runs on 11 hits with no walks and 15 punchouts.
By the end of the season, Griffin pitched 183 innings (playoffs included) with a 3.59 ERA, a 22.6% strikeout rate, a 5.9% walk rate, a 44% ground-ball rate and 1.13 HR/9.
Those numbers are enough to make the Rockies interested, but it's also the fact that Griffin has a deep arsenal of pitches. Statcast recorded seven different pitches used in 2026, with heavy emphasis on the use of his cutter (32.5%).
Advertisement
Griffin lacks a power arsenal, averaging 91-92 mph on his fastball, but he has a deep arsenal, can throw strikes and pitch to contact for groundballs, and has a league-average strikeout rate. Those traits are worth exploring if the Rockies want to help stabilize the rotation. The hard part is figuring out a contract, as sites like MLB Trade Rumors predict a three-year, $39 million deal for Griffin. If the Rockies want better pitching, they are going to have to pay for it, but is one great year worth that kind of commitment to pitch in one of the hardest venues in baseball?
Colin Rea
The Rockies are going to likely add some experienced starters to the roster, much like they did last offseason. One name that immediately stuck out to me was 36-year-old right-hander Colin Rea.
A former 12th-round pick by the San Diego Padres in 2011, Rea was an okay backend starter across two MLB seasons in 2015-16. He then had to get Tommy John Surgery and missed the entire 2017 season and wouldn't make a return to the big leagues until a nine-game stint with the Chicago Cubs during the 2020 season. He spent most of the 2021 season in Japan before returning to the big leagues, where he made one appearance with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Advertisement
He then returned to Japan for the 2022 season, where he fared much better this time around and secured a deal with the Brewers again for the 2023 season. He proved to be a decent depth piece over two seasons with the Brewers in the rotation, which led him to sign with the Chicago Cubs in 2025 and again in 2026.
Rea was originally slated to serve as a long reliever for the Cubs this season, but the role was short-lived as injuries ravaged the Cubs' rotation. He returned to the bullpen after the Cubs made reinforcement trades later in the season, and he ended up compiling a 4.34 ERA across 137 innings, making 19 starts and 15 relief appearances.
In those 19 starts, Rea posted a 4.47 ERA in 100.2 innings with 75 strikeouts against 37 walks. He generally falls in line with other starting pitchers the Rockies have had over the years. He doesn't strike out many batters (17.2% in 2026) but also doesn't walk a ton (7.3% in his career) and had a 42.8% groundball rate in 2026.
Much like Griffin, he has a deep arsenal that includes seven pitches. He primarily workes off a 94 mph fastball, but compliments that with a heavy mix of sliders, sweepers, and changeups. Overall, he has shown both command and control of his arsenal. Plus, the added advantage of his swing role capabilities would give the Rockies some flexibility in game planning and how they want to attack Coors Field with the pitching staff.
Advertisement
Rea could be had on a deal close to Tomoyuki Sugano. A one-year deal in the $5-6 million range is well within the realm of possibility for his services, something the Rockies could easily afford. The main area of concern would be limiting how much damage is done from the abundance of contact he can tend to give up.
More to come
We'll have plenty of time to revisit this topic with other arms, but it's quite clear that the free agent market is quite as robust as in year's past. There are definitely pieces worth the Rockies time, but won't exactly tip the scales towards contention. Once again, it's a lot of filling holes until a better path forward is established for success.
I like the idea of Griffin and Rea, but there are a lot of unknown risks with both when it comes to Coors Field like any other pitcher. Are the Rockies willing to take those risks or will they look in other, cheaper directions?
Join the conversation!
Sign up for a user account
and get:
Advertisement
-
-
-
Comment on articles, community posts
-
Rec comments, community posts
-
New, improved notifications system!
Download the SB Nation app on iOS
or Android
.
Please keep in mind our
Purple Row Community Guidelines
when you're commenting. Thanks!
