Seeking to create what Paul DePodesta calls a “robust, competitive, versatile and fluid” roster, the Rockies made a pair of trades Wednesday, two weeks before the club opens spring training.

First, Colorado moved to improve its first base depth by acquiring Yankees minor leaguer T.J. Rumfield in exchange for talented but inconsistent right-handed reliever Angel Chivilli.

Then Colorado acquired infielder Edouard Julien and right-handed pitcher Pierson Ohl from Minnesota in exchange for minor league right-handed pitcher Jace Kaminska and cash considerations.

Both Rumfield and Julien are left-handed hitters, something that DePodesta said the Rockies need. Earlier this month, Colorado struck a deal with Arizona to acquire athletic outfielder Jake McCarthy, also a left-handed hitter.

None of the players Colorado has acquired this offseason is considered a marquee talent, and Julien and McCarthy are coming off subpar seasons, but the Rockies’ new president of baseball operations, believes they all have a big upside.

“It’s much harder to acquire guys when they are coming off a career year, and these players were not necessarily in that situation,” he said. “But we feel really strongly about their capabilities. We hope we can build on that foundation and get them back to where they were and maybe even exceed where they were.”

The Rockies opened two spots on their 40-man roster by trading Chivilli and by designating outfielder Yanquiel Fernández for assignment.

Julien, who turns 27 in April, has experience at second base and first, both positions where the Rockies needed depth. He’s flashed potential, particularly during his 2023 rookie season with the Twins, when he slashed .263/.381/.459 and hit 16 home runs. However, his strikeout rate that season was 31.4%.

Over the last two seasons, Julien bounced back and forth between the majors and the minors and is now out of options. Over the past two seasons, he slashed .261/.406/.440 at Triple-A and his strikeout rate was high.

“We were really intrigued by the player, and he had a really good record with the bat, even going back to High-A, Double-A, Triple-A, and into his rookie season,” DePodesta said. “He’s produced at the major league at different times. The last couple of years, he hasn’t had as consistent opportunities as he did in his rookie year, but we liked his versatility. He can play first, and can play second, and we like that left-handed bat against right-handed pitching.”

As a true first baseman, Rumfield has a bigger upside than Julien. Rumfield was blocked in the Yankees organization by Ben Rice’s emergence. His path to the majors appears clearer in Colorado.

Rumfield spent the entire 2025 season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, slashing .285/.378/.447 with 16 home runs, 31 doubles, a triple and five stolen bases. He had an impressive 11.9% walk rate vs. a 18.4% strikeout rate. In 2024, Rumfield slashed .292/.365/.461 with 15 homers in 114 Triple-A games.

“He’s a solid defender at first base to go along with his bat,” DePodesta said. “He’s been a very productive hitter at Triple-A at age 24 and 25. He’s got really good bat-to-ball skills, and he has some emerging power.

“He’s a guy that can manipulate the bat pretty well and, as a consequence, has hit for average, along with some of that juice. We think he’s a nice combination of skills.”

Rumfield was drafted in the 12th round out of Virginia Tech in 2021 by Philadelphia and was traded to New York before the 2022 season. He gained some traction that season and won the batting title in the Arizona Fall League in 2022, hitting .400.

The Rockies are searching for a solution at first base after they cut ties with former first-round draft choice Michael Toglia. Currently, rookie Blaine Crim sits on the depth chart as Colorado’s top first baseman. The Rockies claimed Crim off waivers from the Rangers in early August.

The Rockies are hoping that No. 2 prospect Charlie Condon will evolve into their first baseman of the future. There is a chance he would make his big-league debut late in the 2026 season.

Ohl, 26, went 0-3 record with a 5.10 ERA and 27 strikeouts across 14 games (three starts) with the Twins in 2025. Across five minor league seasons (2021-25), he was 24-24 with a 3.61 ERA, 373 strikeouts and a 1.13 WHIP in 90 appearances (60 starts). He was named a Texas League postseason All-Star in 2023 and 2025. DePodesta said Ohl could be used as a reliever or a starter.

The hard-throwing Chivilli, 23, went 3-8 with a 6.18 ERA  in 73 games with Colorado over parts of the last two seasons. He was originally signed by Colorado as a non-drafted international free agent in 2018.

Chivilli averages 97 mph with his fastball and also throws an excellent changeup. But he struggled with consistency and gave up too many home runs, averaging 1.99 homers per nine innings over his first two seasons.

“There are a lot of things about Angel that are really attractive, and we weren’t anxious to move him,” DePodesta said. “But we do feel like our bullpen is an area of depth, and there have been a number of clubs that have been asking about our bullpen arms over the course of the last couple of months. Ultimately, this was a deal that seemed to fit and came together for us for T.J. Rumfield.”

The Rockies’ surplus of young, emerging outfield talent made the left-handed-hitting Fernandez expendable.

“It came down to, if we do lose someone, from what part of the roster can we afford to do that?” DePodesta said. “That left-handed hitting outfield spot was just where we were a little heavy.”

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