15:52: Danielle Allentuck of the Colorado Springs Gazette reports (on twitter) that Freeland must reach 170 innings in 2026 to exercise the 2027 option. MLB.com’s Thomas Harding reports the full breakdown (Twitter link). Freeland will earn $7 million this season, $10.5 million in 2023, $15 million in 2024, and $16 million annually between 2025-26.
3:25 p.m.: It’s a $17 million option for players, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (on twitter). Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic Reports (Twitter link) that Freeland could also trigger a release clause after the 2024 season by finishing in the top five in one of the next two seasons at Cy Young.
3:14 p.m.: The Rockies are okay with lefties Kyle Freiland on a five-year, $64.5 million contract extension, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link). The deal also includes a player option for a sixth season. Freeland was controllable until arbitration in 2023, so the deal buys up three free agent years.
The deal apparently came about quickly, as Athletic’s Freeland Nick Groke revealed just last week that there had been “no movement” on an extension and that the club had made no offer. Within days, he and the team agreed on a long-term deal that would hold him for at least another three seasons. It’s certainly a particularly nice development for Freeland, a Denver native and longtime member of the organization.
Colorado selected Freeland as the eighth overall pick of the 2014 University of Evansville draft. He was considered a possible mid-rotation starter at the time, able to move quickly through the minors due to his honed strike-throwing ability. That prediction more or less proved to be the case as two and a half years later he was in the majors after performing well in the minors.
Freeland jumped straight into the Colorado rotation, starting 28 of his 33 appearances as a rookie. He had a 4.10 ERA in 156 innings this season and overcame a mediocre strikeout rate of 15.6% with an excellent 53.9% groundball percentage. The southpaw followed up with an outstanding second campaign that was the best season of his career so far. He made 33 starts and pitched 202 1/3 innings in 2017 and posted a 2.85 ERA despite starting 15 games at the league’s hittest-friendliest ballpark. That mark is still considered the lowest single-season ERA for a qualified starter in Rockies history, and offers plenty of evidence that Freeland could thrive despite the environmental challenges inherent in a Colorado pitcher.
Four years later, the Rox is probably still putting a lot of emphasis on that 2018 show. Freeland fought mightily in 2019, allowing for a 6.73 ERA. Colorado even voted him to Triple-A Albuquerque for a month and a half this year. He’s been solid but unspectacular for the past two seasons, posting a matching 4.33 ERA in both 2020 and 2021.
Freeland’s general profile – few strikeouts or breaths balanced by lots of grounders and plus control – hasn’t changed much over his time in the majors. However, since his stellar performance in 2018, he has owned a 5.32 ERA in 304 2/3 innings (including two starts so far in 2022). Colorado certainly views the 2019 season as an outlier, but even going back to the start of 2020, Freeland’s 200 1/3 innings with 4.58 ERA/4.65 FIP balls is more good than exceptional.
The Rockies clearly believe the southpaw, 28 (29 next month), is capable of returning to something closer to his early career form. It’s continuing a pattern for general manager Bill Schmidt and his staff, who have worked diligently to keep many of the team’s veterans on for the long haul. Over the past eight months, Colorado has been involved in drafting multi-year extensions Antonio Senzatela, Elias Diaz, CJ Cron, Ryan McMahon and now Freeland. These players participate in the Marquee Free Agent Pickup Chris Bryant and Personal Ass German Marquez as a long-term core in Denver.
Márquez, Senzatela and Freeland are each under the club’s control until at least 2024 and form the core of a rotation that Rox no doubt envision as the backbone of the club. Senzatela’s October extension — a $50.5 million five-year warranty that includes a club option for 2027 — is the latest deal for a starter with between four and five years of service. Freeland’s deal tops that of his teammate despite being almost two years older and having been less effective in recent years. Freeland and Senzatela are stylistically similar pitchers, but the former was slightly more prone to home runs and has an ERA about two-tenths of a run higher (4.33 for Freeland, 4.11 for Senzatela) dating back to early 2020.
There’s more to come.