Lorenzen DFA'd by Rockies after struggling at Coors -- and away from it

DENVER – Right-handed starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen's attempt to tame Coors Field ended Monday, when the Rockies announced that they had designated him for assignment.

Lorenzen, 34, became a rare veteran free agent to join the Rockies without having pitched for them previously when he took a one-year, $9 million contract with a $250,000 buyout on a $9 million club option for 2027 – although righty Tomoyuki Sugano and lefty Jose Quintana later signed one-year contracts.

However, Lorenzen went 3-11 with a 7.08 ERA in 26 games -- including a 7.14 ERA in 25 starts. At Coors Field, Lorenzen never found success with one of his key pitches -- a sinker that starts inside to righty batters – and struggled to a 9.12 ERA in 48 1/3 innings. There were solid stretches on the road, but his ERA was 5.61 in 67 1/3 innings. In his final start, he gave up six runs in 3 2/3 innings Saturday at San Francisco in a 7-1 loss.

"Hopefully, I conveyed well to Michael that I really do appreciate that he wanted to come here and take on this challenge,” Rockies general manager Josh Byrnes said. “This isn’t how we wanted it to turn out. He’s pitched a long time with a lot of success in the big leagues and he wanted to do this.

“As we go forward, whether it’s from our own system, trades or free agents, we’ve got to be able to acquire pitching and get the best out of it.”

Righty Tanner Gordon (0-3, 5.55 ERA in 17 games, five starts) will move into Lorenzen’s rotation spot.

"I love Mike – we built a good relationship,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “It was just time.

"T.G. [Gordon] has been awesome. He’s going to get a shot to pitch every fifth day and keep doing what he’s been doing.”

While the history of veterans from elsewhere taking on Coors is spotty at best, Lorenzen is not necessarily a referendum on whether pitchers from other Major League clubs can thrive in Denver.

Sugano entered Monday night’s start against the Dodgers as the Rockies’ best 2026 pitcher -- 12-5 with a 4.43 ERA, including 7-3, 3.93 at Coors. Quintana was 2-3 with a 5.27 ERA through nine starts but on an upswing when he went to the injured list in May with a left elbow strain. Quintana has been throwing bullpens recently and is pushing to return.

However, Lorenzen’s plight was much like that of the last free agent before this past winter who had never pitched for the Rockies to sign as a free agent – Dakota Hudson, who signed in 2024 but also did not finish the year with the Rockies.

"It’s unfortunate how the season unfolded for him and for us, but I’m sure where he lands he will have an easier time,” Rockies pitching coach Alon Leichman said. “Obviously, I’m wishing him nothing but the best.

“It’s not like I feel like we whiffed on that. It just didn’t work out -- take it for what it is. But I still like his arsenal. I like how diverse it is. I like everything about it. We just couldn’t figure out a way to put it all together so it led to better results. His underlying metrics were much better than actual results, which is unfortunate.”