With the back-and-forth happening behind the scenes, Byrnes and the other 29 MLB general managers are trying to conduct their business while rolling the dice on what the next CBA might bring to baseball.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of unknowns, but I think what we need to do and I think most teams and most agents believe, it seems like this month should be busy. So we\u2019re ready to be busy,\u201d Byrnes told The Denver Gazette in an exclusive interview on Tuesday. \u201cMore (busy) than most Novembers, where it\u2019s still a little bit of tire-kicking, I think now there will be more purposeful deal-making.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s probably the first order of business with the lockout looming. I think this November will probably be busier.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Hunter](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/AP26192127192511.jpg\")
Colorado Rockies designated hitter Hunter Goodman (15) in the eighth inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 5, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)<\/p>\n
Byrnes admitted the uncertainty ahead with the CBA has made deals or signings this time more difficult than in a standard offseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes it tough because you could argue on trades, if there are teams that need to offload contracts to now fit into a new system, they might not do that until or if, the rules change,\u201d Byrnes said. \u201cWe have to know there are some unknowns out there and probably make deals that try to make sense regardless (of potential CBA changes).\u201d<\/p>\n
Those rules are also impacting what teams like the Rockies might do in terms of potential contract extensions. All-Star catcher Hunter Goodman becomes arbitration-eligible this offseason and could be a candidate for a contract extension if the Rockies want to circumvent arbitration and lock him in long-term. However, with the potential financial implications of the new CBA, it\u2019s a layered thought process.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn that scenario, we would probably want to know what the new rules are going to be,\u201d Byrnes said.<\/p>\n
Byrnes said the Rockies will likely be \u201caggressive\u201d this offseason while rebuilding a rotation that has plenty of question marks heading into 2027. Colorado brought in three veteran free agents last season in Michael Lorenzen, Jose Quintana and Tomoyuki Sugano to mixed reviews.<\/p>\n
![\"Tomoyuki](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/AP26263708161737.jpg\")
Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano works against the Seattle Mariners in the first inning of a baseball game Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo\/RJ Sangosti)<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have to be pretty aggressive. It\u2019s certainly a gaping hole right now in our team,\u201d Byrnes said of the rotation. \u201cHowever good we could have been last year, it (starting pitching) just killed us. Particularly at the end, we were behind in every game in the third inning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn order to improve that, I think it\u2019s probably equal shopping in free agency and in trade scenarios. I think we have to be aggressive in both scenarios.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colorado finished 58-104, including a combined 15-33 in August and September, leaving the franchise with a foul taste in its mouth for how the campaign ended. Byrnes said the lessons learned throughout 2026, but especially at the end of the season, are shaping how the franchise attacks this offseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you lose 100 games again, there are bad optics associated with that,\u201d Byrnes said. \u201cFrom an offseason planning perspective, that was probably our true talent level so that\u2019s still not nearly good enough. We have to work off of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the only silver lining to the last two months is that it really bothered everybody that we were losing like that, because we had been more competitive before that. I think in some ways our roster was even better in August and September, and we still just weren\u2019t winning at all. That left a bad taste in everybody\u2019s mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now Byrnes and Rockies executives are in Las Vegas looking to find the best way to add to the roster and begin turning around the franchise after four consecutive 100-loss seasons. Without knowing the rules that lie ahead, that\u2019s a tricky task.<\/p>\n
Byrnes said the Rockies are ready to be busy. The next three weeks will show whether the rest of baseball is ready to move with them before the CBA clock runs out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 Rockies general manager Josh Byrnes said his team is \u201cready to be busy\u201d in an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":959798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,68232,182716,591,48937,527299,171280,527300,25104,85],"class_list":["post-959797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-coors-field","tag-josh-byrnes","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-free-agency","tag-mlb-las-vegas","tag-mlb-offseason","tag-mlb-owners-meetings","tag-rockies","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=959797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/959798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=959797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=959797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=959797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}