Bill Schmidt is wasting no time as the full-time General Manager of the Colorado Rockies. Jeff Passan of ESPN reports the Rockies and right-hander Antonio Senzatela agreed to a five-year contract extension worth $50.5 million.
Right-hander Antonio Senzatela and the Colorado Rockies are in agreement on a five-year, $50.5 million contract extension, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN.
News at ESPN: https://t.co/g037RU6Jtv
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 5, 2021
Just minutes after the Senzatela news was made public, Jon Heyman reports the Rockies have also agreed to terms with slugger C.J. Cron on a contract extension.
CJ Cron and the Rockies are in agreement on an extension @JeffPassan 1st they were working on it
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) October 5, 2021
The Rockies initially signed Senzatela back in 2011, and he made his big league debut for the club in 2017. He is 36-35 with a 4.84 earned run average in 98 starts for the Rockies. Senzatela is not the flashiest pitcher in the world as his fastball sits in the mid-90s, and he relies primarily on a sinker-slide combination.
Senzatela feasts on accuracy and his ability to limit walks. His 1.73 walk rate was the lowest clip in club history since 1994, and the Rockies are banking the 26-year-old will stay the course as he enters the prime of his career.
The deal includes a team option in the final year and can ultimately keep Senzatela in the purple pinstripes through the 2027 season. Passan notes this deal is similar to the extension fellow pitcher German Marquez signed back in 2019 and comes with a new collective bargaining agreement in the works that is expected to boost player pay. Senzatela, Marquez and Cron are the lone three players tied up to the club beyond 2022.
This could be the first of many moves to retain some players for the long haul. Starting pitcher Jon Gray expressed a desire to remain with the Rockies during the season, and the feeling appears to be mutual from the Rockies front.
