{"id":250234,"date":"2025-10-30T14:24:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T14:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/250234\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T14:24:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T14:24:07","slug":"rockies-should-explore-signing-this-veteran-starter-to-backstop-rotation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/250234\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockies Should Explore Signing This Veteran Starter to Backstop Rotation"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Germ\u00e1n M\u00e1rquez a free agent this offseason, the Colorado Rockies <\/a>will likely be looking for a veteran arm to backstop their rotation. <\/p>\n

Colorado has Kyle Freeland, Chase Dollander<\/a> and Tanner Gordon as the top returning starters. The Rockies<\/a> can also lean into McCade Brown, a late call-up from Double-A, and any number of minor league pitchers they\u2019re developing that could be ready for a call-up. <\/p>\n

Without a new general manager, it\u2019s hard to know the direction that Colorado will go. But a veteran that can eat innings is always an asset, especially when the comes on the cheap. <\/p>\n

The Athletic<\/a> (subscription required) recently ranked its Top 50 free agents and deep in the rankings was a name that should interest Colorado, no matter who the GM turns out to be \u2014 right-hander Adrian Houser. <\/p>\n

\"Tampa<\/p>\n

John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old resurrected his reputation in 2025. Signed to a minor-league deal by the Texas Rangers, he failed to make the opening day roster and became a free agent in May so he could sign with the Chicago White Sox. He found something with the Sox, going 6-2 with a 2.10 ERA in 11 starts, with 47 strikeouts and 22 walks in 68.2 innings. <\/p>\n

The White Sox traded him in July to Tampa Bay, where his numbers did take a turn \u2014 2-3 with a 4.79 ERA. But he proved that he could be a fourth or fifth starter in any rotation for the 2026 season. He finished 8-5 with a 3.31 ERA in 21 starts, with 92 strikeouts and 38 walks in 125 innings. It was his best season since going 10-6 with Milwaukee in 2021. <\/p>\n

There are a couple of reasons why the Rockies should be interested. First, it\u2019s his pitch make-up. He\u2019s a sinkerball pitcher. He used that pitch 46% of the time in 2025, per Baseball Savant<\/a>, and topped out at 94.4 mph. He has a slider, a change-up, a four-seam fastball and a curveball, and he uses each about 12-15% of the time. That four-seam can hit 95.2 mph. But that sinker is his bread-and-butter pitch, and it can be tough to hit.<\/p>\n

The other reason goes along with that pitch. Houser has a solid reputation as a ground ball pitcher, something that would play well at Coors Field. In 2025 his ground ball rate was 48.9%, which was in the 79th percentile in baseball. When possible, Colorado should gravitate toward those types of pitchers in free agency. <\/p>\n

Aside from those benefits, The Athletic projected that Houser would likely get a one-year deal worth $4 million. That\u2019s music to a new general manager\u2019s ears \u2014 once he\u2019s finally hired. Houser is a pitcher worth pursuing this offseason for Colorado. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Germ\u00e1n M\u00e1rquez a free agent this offseason, the Colorado Rockies will likely be looking for a veteran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-250234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}