The Colorado Rockies have agreed to a five-year, $50.5 million contract extension with right-handed starting pitcher Antonio Senzatela, reports ESPN's Jeff Passan. As well, Jon Heyman reports the Rockies have also agreed to terms with veteran first baseman C.J. Cron on an extension.
Senzatela, 26, was 4-10 with a 4.42 ERA (108 ERA+), 1.34 WHIP and 105 strikeouts against 32 walks in 156 2/3 innings this season for the Rockies. He was worth 1.8 WAR. In 12 starts last year, he was 5-3 with a 3.44 ERA (151 ERA+).
A departure from many pitchers these days, Senzatela is more finesse and control than power and strikeouts. Not only that, but he's much better in Coors Field than away. He had a 3.97 ERA in 15 home starts this season and 5.05 in 13 road starts. In looking at the latter, this is likely why the Rockies want to keep him around. The league ERA in Coors Field this season was 4.37 with the league average being 4.26.
Senzatela was set for two more arbitration years, so this deal buys those out as well as three years of free agency. It's also notable that it comes on the heels of the Rockies making their interim general manager the permanent holder of that job. As such, this serves as Bill Schmidt's first official piece of business after the announcement.
The Rockies have three pieces of the rotation in place for next season. Kyle Freeland, German Marquez and Senzatela are the holdovers. Jon Gray will officially hit free agency in a few weeks.
As for Cron, the 31-year-old is coming off a strong 2021 season, his first in Colorado. In 142 games, Cron batted .281/.375/.530 (130 OPS+) with 28 home runs. For his career, Cron has 146 home runs and an OPS+ of 114 across parts of eight big league seasons.
In light of these extensions, it'll be interesting to see how the Rockies proceed this offseason. They have the look of a rebuilding team, but they weren't horrible at 74-87 and don't have too much money on the books moving forward. It's likely they don't spend much in free agency, but there's a path for them to be active if they so choose.