In ESPN projection, Rockies rise one spot — and out of dead last

At least according to the ESPN rankings, the Colorado Rockies aren’t projected to have the lowest win total in Major League Baseball in 2025.

The Rockies sit 29th in the latest edition of ESPN’s Stock Watch — one spot higher than the place the Rockies occupied heading into Winter Meetings two months ago.

The report added 0.7 wins to ESPN’s projected win total for 2025, moving the Rockies to 57.1 wins from 56.4. The Chicago White Sox — which suffered a modern-era record 121 defeats last year, the most for any team since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders — are now 30th.

In December’s rankings, ESPN assessed the Rockies’ offseason — and in particular the decision to jettison second baseman Brendan Rodgers in favor of free-agent pickup Kyle Farmer — harshly:

Rodgers is a marginally better hitter, a much better defender and six years younger. But his arbitration-fueled salary might have ended up costing the Rockies a million or two more than what Farmer signed for. Of course, given the Rockies’ current payroll (projected to rank 18th by Cot’s Contracts) they could have easily kept Rodgers and still signed Farmer, who has enough positional versatility to be a quality utility player. This is no way to run a franchise.

No mention was made at the time of prospect Adael Amador, the young player the Rockies hope to see assume everyday second-baseman chores in the near future, with Farmer signed mainly as a bridge to the 21-year-old Dominican Republic native.

Two months later, ESPN’s breakdown actually focuses on prospects, along with some of the settled aspects of the roster:

At the very least, Brenton Doyle and Ezequiel Tovar are keepers. Ryan McMahon is a bastion of stability. German Marquez is apparently healthy again. The Rockies are giving long looks to the young arms of prospects such as Chase Dollander, Carson Palmquist and Sean Sullivan. For now, such small victories are where hopes live.

It’s a reminder of what is actually going on at Salt River Fields, where the Rockies had their first full-squad spring-training workouts Tuesday.

Although the Rockies’ starting pitching is healthier as a collective that it was at any point in 2025, and cautious hope continues to be expressed in Kris Bryant as he heads into the fourth season of his massive seven-year contract, the Rockies are defined by identifying which prospects will be a part of their young core — defined by where they could go, rather than what they are at the moment.

That is a direction, at least, and a starting point for the hopes of escaping the black hole of consecutive 100-l0ss seasons.