Rockies Add Veteran Pitcher Jose Quintana on One-Year Deal
The Colorado Rockies have agreed to a one-year contract with left-handed pitcher Jose Quintana, bringing a veteran presence to their starting rotation as they prepare for Spring Training. The deal, pending a physical, is worth $6 million, according to Robert Murray of FanSided.
The 37-year-old Quintana joins the Rockies after a 2025 season with the Milwaukee Brewers where he posted a 3.96 ERA over 131.2 innings pitched, making 24 starts. He finished with an 11-7 record and 89 strikeouts.
This signing follows the Rockies’ earlier acquisitions of Michael Lorenzen and Tomoyuki Sugano, signaling a concerted effort to bolster their pitching staff ahead of the 2026 season. The Rockies’ 2025 starting rotation finished with a historically poor 6.65 ERA, the highest in any full MLB season, and the team is clearly aiming for significant improvement.
While Quintana’s recent results have been solid, his underlying statistics haven’t been as encouraging. He has consistently outperformed his peripherals for the past four seasons. His fastball velocity has declined into the low 90s, and his strikeout rate dropped to a career-low 16% last year. His pitch mix includes a sinker, changeup, curveball, four-seam fastball, and slurve.
Despite these trends, the Rockies’ front office and coaching staff appear to value Quintana’s ability to consistently take the mound and limit walks. First-year pitching coach Alon Leichman emphasized the team’s desire for pitchers with diverse arsenals, believing it makes them harder to game-plan against. Quintana’s five-pitch mix aligns with this philosophy, as do the repertoires of Lorenzen (seven pitches) and Sugano (six pitches).
“We’ve spoken about this internally a lot,” Leichman told Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post. “We want big arsenals. We think big arsenals will be harder to game-plan against. You know, if a guy has six, seven pitches, that’s harder to game-plan for than if a guy has two or three, right? So we think that’s an advantage. The more weapons you have, the more random you can be.”
Quintana is expected to slot into the Rockies’ rotation alongside Kyle Freeland as a reliable starter. Ryan Feltner and Chase Dollander will likely compete for the fifth starter role. Feltner missed much of the 2025 season due to back issues, while Dollander is a prospect looking to establish himself at the major league level.
The Rockies have now committed over $19 million to these three veteran starters. While none of Lorenzen, Sugano, or Quintana are expected to be high-value trade assets even with strong performances, their presence provides valuable experience and depth, particularly for younger pitchers like Gabriel Hughes and Sean Sullivan, who could see time with the major league club later in the season. This could reduce the reliance on pitchers McCade Brown and Tanner Gordon for early-season starts.
Quintana signed the contract after waiting until early March to finalize a deal last winter, settling for a deferred $4.25MM guarantee with the Brewers. He had previously posted a 3.75 ERA in 31 starts for the Mets.
