The Colorado Rockies are finally acting like the last-place team they are. About time.
With the August 3 trade deadline less than a week away, Colorado has told the rest of the league that pretty much anyone on the veteran roster is available. Pitchers Antonio Senzatela, Kyle Freeland, Michael Lorenzen, and Tomoyuki Sugano are all on the block. Position players Mickey Moniak, Jake McCarthy, and Willi Castro are getting calls too.
The Rockies already fired the opening shot by sending reliever Seth Halvorsen to the Dodgers. That was the appetizer. The main course is coming.
Let’s be honest about where Colorado sits. They are buried in the NL West cellar, watching the Dodgers and Padres play meaningful August baseball while their own roster wonders what altitude will do to a Rule 5 pick next spring. The rebuild has been talked about for years. Now it might actually happen.
Senzatela is the most interesting name on the list. He has a 2027 club option, which is exactly the kind of team-friendly control contenders pay a premium for at the deadline. Every playoff team wants bullpen depth in October, and Senzatela has the resume to be a legitimate arm in a real pennant race. Expect the Dodgers, Phillies, and Blue Jays to be lurking.
Freeland and Lorenzen are a different conversation. Freeland is sitting on a 7.28 ERA. Lorenzen isn’t much better at 6.53. Both are pending free agents, which means Colorado is basically running a fire sale where the buyers are hoping a change of scenery and some sea-level pitching mounds turn things around. If the Rockies get anything more than a lottery-ticket prospect for either guy, general manager Bill Schmidt should treat himself to a steak dinner.
Sugano is the wild card. The veteran Japanese import has flashed enough this year to make a contender interested, especially one that needs innings and doesn’t want to overpay for a rental. He could go anywhere.
On the position player side, Mickey Moniak is the guy who could actually move the needle in a deal. He is a former No. 1 overall pick who has finally started to look like a big leaguer. Contenders looking for a lefty outfield bat with pop should be blowing up the Rockies’ phones.
Jake McCarthy gives you speed, defense, and a bench piece for a playoff roster. Willi Castro is the utility Swiss Army knife every good team wants in October. Neither is a franchise-changer, but both fit on a contender.
Here’s the real question. Are the Rockies actually committing to a rebuild, or is this just another summer of moving depth pieces while pretending the future is bright? The organization has spent years insisting they can compete in the toughest division in baseball with a middle-tier payroll and a farm system that keeps producing arms who get lit up as soon as they arrive at Coors Field.
Selling Senzatela, Moniak, and a few others won’t fix Colorado overnight. But it would be the first honest move the front office has made in a long time. The Rockies don’t need to win the deadline. They just need to stop pretending they are trying to.
Halvorsen already left town. By Monday at 6 p.m. ET, at least three or four more should be gone. If they aren’t, it’s time to ask what the Rockies are actually doing.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
