Rockies non-tender Toglia, tender contracts to arb-eligible players
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DENVER -- The Rockies did not tender a contract to first baseman Michael Toglia, whom the club designated for assignment on Tuesday, ahead of Friday's 3 p.m. MT non-tender deadline.
Colorado did tender a contract to each of its five arbitration-eligible players, though no deals have been reached yet. Those players are center fielder Brenton Doyle, right-handed pitcher Ryan Feltner, infielder/outfielder Tyler Freeman, right-handed pitcher Jimmy Herget and outfielder Mickey Moniak.
Arbitration-eligible players who were tendered a contract have until Jan. 8 to work out a deal with their club before exchanging arbitration figures. The two sides can continue to work on a deal after that date, but some may end up going to arbitration hearings.
Toglia, the Rockies’ top pick (23rd overall) in the 2019 Draft out of UCLA, made his Major League debut for Colorado in August 2022. His best season came in ’24, when he hit 25 home runs with a .767 OPS. But the switch-hitter wasn’t able to build upon that, posting a .611 OPS with 11 homers and a 39.2% strikeout rate in 337 plate appearances last season.
Along with the DFA of Toglia on Tuesday, the Rockies also acquired left-hander Brennan Bernardino from the Red Sox in exchange for outfielder Braiden Ward. On Wednesday, Colorado traded left-hander Ryan Rolison, the organization’s top pick in the 2018 Draft, to the Braves for cash considerations.
In a week of transactional deadlines, the first for new president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta, Colorado also added three players to the 40-man roster on Tuesday to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft -- right-hander Gabriel Hughes, outfielder Sterlin Thompson and left-hander Welinton Herrera.