4:12 p.m. ET
Jeff Passan ESPN
Conclude
- ESPN MLB insider
Author of The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports
Left-hander Kyle Freeland and the Colorado Rockies have agreed a five-year, $64.5 million deal that includes a sixth-year player option, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN.
The contract ties the 28-year-old Freeland to his hometown team through at least the 2026 season and guarantees him the most money for a Rockies pitcher since they signed Mike Hampton in a $121 million deal more than two decades ago.
The Rockies announced the Freeland renewal on Tuesday, but did not disclose financial terms.
Freeland is the third starter Colorado has signed long-term in recent years. Right-hander German Marquez signed a five-year, $43 million deal with a club option in 2019 in 2019, and right-hander Antonio Senzatela was signed to a five-year, $50.5 million deal over the winter with a club option in 2027. The Rockies renewed in March also third baseman Ryan McMahon by six years and $70 million.
At 7-3, Colorado has the third-best record in Major League Baseball but is still behind the 8-2 Los Angeles Dodgers and 7-2 San Francisco Giants entering Tuesday’s games.
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Freeland’s best season came in 2018 when he finished with a 2.85 ERA over 202⅓ innings and finished fourth in Cy Young’s vote in the National League. He struggled the next season and has been consistent ever since with 4.33 ERAs in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season as well as 120⅔ innings last year when he missed the first two months of the season with a shoulder injury.
His recovery, as well as his last 18 starts, in which he posted a 3.24 ERA over 100 innings, convinced the Rockies he was worth more than $80 million guaranteed to squander. The team picked Freeland with the eighth overall pick of the 2014 amateur draft, and he’s been a staple of their rotation since his debut in 2017.
Freeland should reach free agency after the 2023 season. His 2022 salary was yet to be determined, with the Rockies offering $6.425 million and Freeland demanding $7.8 million in arbitration.
In his first two starts this season, Freeland posted a 10.00 ERA and allowed 14 hits and four walks in nine innings with seven strikeouts.
With Freeland, Marquez, Senzatela, McMahon, Kris Bryant, CJ Cron, Randal Grichuk and Elias Diaz all signed for next season and contributing $16 million to cover traded star third baseman Nolan Arenado’s salary the Rockies already have a payroll surplus of $100 million for next season.