In 2024 the Colorado Rockies had a total payroll budget of just over $146 million for the 40-man roster, according to Spotrac.com. Their 26-man active payroll was calculated to be $79.5 million.
But, despite that big budget, they lost more than a hundred games for the second straight year, finishing 61-101.
Kansas City, Cleveland, Baltimore, Detroit and Milwaukee all had lower 40-man payrolls, between $96.96 and $122.57 million. And all except Kansas City were below the Rockies in 26-man active salaries, ranging from $33.2 to $71.4 million.
Yet all five had winning records—as many as 93 wins and no fewer than 86—and all made the postseason.
While everyone considers the Dodgers, with their more-than-$300 million payroll heading into 2025, the hands-down favorite to win another World Series, money is not the sole determinant of a team’s success.
Among other factors are young players’ maturation and corresponding improvement, surprising individual performances (both good and bad), injuries and, simply, luck.
As the Rockies prepare to play their first game of 2025 spring training tomorrow, with a beginning 40-man payroll around $110 million, it’s important to remember what else can influence a team.
Kansas City is the best example. The Royals finished 56-106 in 2023. A year later—with only two new faces in the batting order—they made a 30-game improvement, finishing 86-76.
Veteran catcher Salvador Perez improved at age 34, to .271, 27 HR and 104 RBI.
In his first season as a regular, third-year player Vinnie Pasquantino (.247, 9-26 in 61 games in ’23) blossomed: .262, 19-97 in 131 games.
Superstar-to-be Bobby Witt, runner-up for American League MVP, outdid his .276, 30-96 in ’23 with a league-leading .332, plus 32-109 and a league-best 211 hits.
Such a turnaround is possible for the Rockies in 2025, for a couple reasons.
One is young players maturing, such as outfielder Jordan Beck (one of the injured for part of last year), first baseman Michael Toglia and catcher-outfielder Hunter Goodman.
Can at least one of them progress the way Vinnie Pasquantino did?
The other is injuries. In 2024, Colorado spent slightly more than $51 million—fourth-most in MLB—on players who couldn’t play for extended stretches of the season.
Can Kris Bryant, who has averaged 59 games per season the first three years of his seven-year free agent contract, recapture his health and pull off a Salvy Perez season, one year younger?
The lineup, of course, isn’t the whole story. KC re-made its pitching staff, too.
The Royals used 23 starting pitchers in ’23. They needed only nine in ’24, and five of them made 151 of the 162 starts. Veteran additions Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, together, had 29 wins.
In Denver, six Rockies pitchers started 140 games in ‘24. Three of those six are no longer with the team.
That leaves Austin Gomber, Ryan Feltner and Kyle Freeland (a combined 13-31 with a 4.78 earned run average in 81 starts) to be joined by reinforcements.
Maybe German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela will equal Lugo and Wacha this season after combining for only four starts and 16 1/3 innings last year.
The sleepers are rookies, righthander Chase Dollander and lefty Carson Palmquist. They’re non-roster invitees, which means they aren’t part of the 40-man payroll at this point.
Dollander could be this year’s Paul Skenes, the former Air Force Academy pitcher who transferred to Louisiana State, was the top pick in the 2023 draft, and was the National League Rookie of the Year last season.
Skenes went 10-3 with a 2.73 ERA for Air Force, then 13-2 and 1.69 for LSU.
While Skenes was starring for AFA, Dollander went 10-0/2.39 for Tennessee, and was considered by some to be the better prospect.
But, trying to get better, Dollander tinkered too much the next season and finished 7-6 and his ERA ballooned to 4.75. Because of that, he was available in the ’23 draft at No. 9 when it was Colorado’s turn to pick.
Skenes appeared in seven games for Indianapolis (AAA) at the start of last season, then went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA and 170 strikeouts in 133 innings for the Pirates.
Dollander, meanwhile, pitched at two levels in the Rockies farm system, going a combined 6-2/2.59, striking out 169 in 118 innings.
Don’t be surprised if he’s in the rotation to start the season and the Rockies are unexpectedly better.
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Denny Dressman’s 17th book, a collaboration with Kansas City artist Anthony High titled Black Baseball’s Heyday – Capturing An Era in Art and Words, will be published in late June. You can write to Denny at dennydressman@comcast.net.