Small victories.
The Colorado Rockies will take all of those they can get after completing an historically terrible season on the field in 2025. However, when it comes to salary arbitration cases, the team remains undefeated, having never lost a case in their more than three decades of existence.
This off season, Colorado reached one-year contract agreements with six players who were arbitration eligible. The group was led by outfielders Mickey Moniak, who signed for $4 million and Brenton Doyle ($3.1 mill),plus utility man Tyler Freeman ($1.525 mill), and pitchers Ryan Feltner ($2,45 mill) Jimmy Herget ($1.55 mill), and newly acquired Brennan Bernardino ($925,000) who joined the Rockies after a trade with the Boston Red Sox.
The Rockies will not have to go through the arbitration process with any players this offseason.
The conclusion of the process, coming more than a month before the start of spring training, locks in the Rockies player contracts for 2026 and keeps then near the bottom of the league in total payroll.
When it comes to the arbitration process, the only way to truly “win” is to settle the case prior to the scheduled hearing. Those hearings are often held right up until the start of spring training, and can be more than a little bit of a distraction to players needing to get physically…and mentally…ready for the season. On top of that, the hearings themselves are often contentious, leaving both sides, but the player in particular, with bad feelings about the way the team has treated him. In order for a team to win their case, they have to display for the arbitrator – right in front of the player – that he is not worthy of the salary he’s seeking. A player the team is counting on to contribute to a winning season is left feeling like the team doesn’t respect him. Hardly a long-term victory.
Sensitive to that, most team and most player agents work hard to settle these matters prior to the hearing. It’s one area where the Rockies have been uber-successful.
Only four times since they joined MLB in 1993 have the Rockies had to actually go to an arbitration hearing. All four times, against pitchers Denny Reyes (2002), Sun-Woo Kim (’06) and Brian Fuentes (‘08) and catcher/first basemen Wilin Rosario (’15) has the club actually had to go all the way to a hearing. They won all four cases.
Over the years, they’ve settled high-profile cases with players such as DJ LeMahieu in 2016, Nolan Arenado in 2019 and Trevor Story in 2020, although none of those players remained with the organization long-term.
Longer term contracts could be in the works with players like Doyle, a two-time Gold Glove winner, and perhaps Moniak, who had a breakout season last year after being acquired from the Los Angeles Angels. Doyle had been the subject of numerous trade rumors this off season given his age (27), his defensive prowess and his team-friendly contract status. In addition, Colorado acquired four-year veteran Jake McCarthy, another left handed hitting outfielder from Arizona this week, making a potential deal for Doyle slightly more attractive.
Even after getting Herget, Feltner and Bernardino under contract, and having signed veteran righthander Michael Lorenzen in the past week, the Rockies still need substantial help on the mound, which is why they may consider offers for Doyle and other position players.
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