First-year Colorado Rockies president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta has some decisions to make this offseason. It starts with hiring a manager and a general manager. There are also decisions about the roster and how to try and improve it after a 119-loss 2025 season.
DePodesta started making some moves this week, but there is still a lot of work to be done. One area that has some decisions is surrounding the pitching staff as a whole. From the starting rotation to the bullpen, there are bound to be changes for 2026.
On Friday, several 2025-26 MLB free agents were non-tendered, and one was right-handed pitcher Alek Manoah. He is someone who would be a low-risk, high-reward chance that DePodesta should consider taking.
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Once seen as a future top-of-the-rotation piece for the Toronto Blue Jays, things have fallen apart for Manoah, who finished third in the Cy Young voting in 2022. He had a lost 2023 season before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2024. He was released by the Blue Jays and picked up by the Atlanta Braves.
Manoah was non-tendered, and Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report listed some potential landing spots for the once-promising fiery righty. He listed the Texas Rangers, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Athletics. However, he could be an option for DePodesta to take a chance, and Rymer explained one reason why.
“We wish there was a positive way to spin Manoah’s return in 2025, but his fastball was only sitting at about 91 mph in the minors. That’s about 3 mph below where he sat in his breakout 2022 season, when he had a 2.24 ERA over 196.2 innings,” Rymer wrote.
“Even so, Manoah is nothing if not an intriguing reclamation project. Even if he’s cooked as a starter, he might at least be turned into a reliever who could potentially gain a few ticks on his fastball from only pitching one inning at a time.”
The key with phrases in those paragraphs is a “reclamation project” and “he might at least be turned into a reliever.” A reclamation project is just what DePodesta could use in his rotation; he could use anything, as well as arms in the bullpen for a team that had the worst ERA in 2025.
DePodesta is not going to land any of the top free agent arms, nor is he going to be able to pull off a deal for some of the top arms in the trade market. He’s going to need to try and find some gold with some low-risk, high-reward signings, and Manoah would fit that category his winter.