Rockies starter DFA'd following rough start to season

The Colorado Rockies have designated starter José Ureña for assignment, tweets Suzie Hunter of DNVR Sports. The move creates a spot on the active roster for the expected reinstatement of Germán Márquez from the 15-day injured list Wednesday. Colorado’s 40-man roster tally dips to 39.

Ureña has spent parts of two seasons in Colorado. He first signed a minor league contract with the Rox last May, and he was added to the major league roster in early July. The sinkerballer started 17 big league games last season, pitching to a 5.14 ERA across 89 1/3 innings. While Ureña only punched out 15.2% of opposing hitters, he kept the ball on the ground on over half the batted balls he surrendered.

It wasn’t a resoundingly successful effort, though the 31-year-old showed enough for the Colorado front office. The Rockies re-signed him on a one-year, $3.5M free agent contract at the start of the offseason. That deal, which also included a team option for the 2024 campaign, ensured he’d get another crack in the season-opening rotation.

Things haven’t played out the way the organization hoped. Ureña has been tagged for 22 runs over 18 1/3 frames through his first five starts. He has a ghastly 9:14 strikeout-to-walk ratio and is inducing swinging strikes on a career-worst 7.2% of his offerings. This year’s 44.3% grounder rate is also down a few points from his typical level. He hasn’t made it past five innings in any of his five outings, all of which Colorado has lost.

The struggles were pronounced enough for the Rockies to move on from Ureña just a few weeks into the season. He has more than enough service time to refuse an optional assignment to the minor leagues. The only way to take him off the MLB roster was a DFA, which’ll almost certainly involve eating the remainder of the contract.

Other clubs are unlikely to trade for or claim Ureña and assume the roughly $3M remaining on his deal. He’s a virtual lock to hit free agency—either by release or rejection of an outright assignment—within the next week. In all likelihood, he’ll be looking at minor league offers at that point.

The Rox will welcome Márquez back to front a rotation that also includes Kyle Freeland, Austin Gomber and Ryan Feltner. Righty Noah Davis has filled in for Márquez while he’s been on the shelf with a minor forearm strain. Antonio Senzatela, who has been out since last summer with an ACL tear, began a rehab stint with Triple-A Albuquerque this evening and should be back in the majors within the next couple weeks.