Rockies Journal: ‘Frustrated Foursome’ of veterans looking for light amid historic losing season

Starting pitchers Kyle Freeland, German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela, and third baseman Ryan McMahon. They are the Rockies’ Frustrated Foursome — the only players remaining from the 2018 team that came one win away from winning the franchise’s first National League West title.

Since then, the Rockies have won 372 games and lost 565 (.387 winning percentage), entering a weekend series at Atlanta. The postseason has become a perpetual pipe dream. This year’s Rockies (13-55) are on pace to lose 131 games, which would shatter the 2024 White Sox’s modern era record of 121 losses. I’m thinking a 115-loss season is more realistic, but a third-consecutive 100-loss season is all but certain.

Usually ignored like a backwater town, the Rockies have become national media darlings for all of the wrong reasons. Hall of Fame baseball writer Jayson Stark, a famously entertaining numbers cruncher, recently penned a fascinating column on the Rockies’ historic woes.

OK, enough background. You get the ugly picture. But what do those four veteran Rockies think?

“It’s frustrating, for sure,” said Senzatela, whose spot in the rotation is surely in jeopardy, given his 1-10 record and 7.23 ERA. “We keep trying, man. It’s been hard.”

McMahon, who, along with Marquez and reliever Jake Bird, will be a central part of trade talks in the coming weeks, said he doesn’t dwell on the negative history.

“I don’t think about it, I really don’t, and I hope (my teammates) aren’t,” said Colorado’s 2024 All-Star Game representative. “I hope they are just showing up to work. Like anything else in this game, the process is so important. You do everything you can to be prepared, and show up and try to win every game.”

McMahon said he and his teammates have “definitely talked about” the losing behind closed clubhouse doors, but quickly added, “We don’t dwell on it. We try not to talk about it too much.”

Can the Rockies turn the corner and start winning some games?

“I think you have to believe you will,” he said. “I think our coaching staff and (interim manager Warren Schaeffer) are doing a great job. They have let us know that ‘Losing is not OK. So don’t get comfortable with losing.’ I think their message has been good.”

Like his good friend, Senzatela, Marquez uses “frustrating” as his go-to word to describe this season.

“But we are doing everything we can,” said Marquez, who’s scheduled to become a free agent after this season. “I feel like we are doing the right things to win, but we just aren’t getting them. So it’s frustrating, for sure. But there are a lot of games left. We have to make some adjustments.”

Marquez has had a poor season, going 2-8 with a 7.00 ERA, but he’s shown flashes of his talent. What he does in his next few starts will determine his trade value. The right-hander has sworn off social media and doesn’t read about the Rockies’ woes.

“I don’t like negative things to get into my mind,” he said. “I come to play baseball and give my team my best.”

Looking back at where the Rockies were in 2018 vs. where they are today, Marquez said, “It is what it is. That was a good team, but it is what it is.”

Freeland, never one to shy away from the truth, is trying to spin things forward.

“The record is, obviously, frustrating and angering,” he said. “But it is what it is, and we can’t change that. It’s in the past. The only thing we can do is focus on ourselves and continue to get better. I do think we’re getting better. We are looking through a much clearer lens as a team. But yes, it’s really tough.”

Freeland is fortunate that he can discuss his performance and the team’s woes with his wife, Ashley, and his father, Don.

“Right before Buddy got released, I had to go and sit down and have coffee with my dad and talk to him about a lot of stuff,” Freeland said, referring to manager Bud Black getting fired on May 11. “A lot of things were weighing on me. I was struggling at the time. The team was struggling at the time, and it was just, overall, terrible. I’m lucky to be able to have people I trust and people I can talk to.”

Freeland is close to Black, but he believes Schaeffer has the team pointed in the right direction. Specifically, he said that Schaeffer has been able to walk the fine line between being demanding and exacting while not weighing the players down. That’s not an easy trick.

“No, it’s not,” Freeland said. “He’s very good at setting the expectations and applying the pressure to this clubhouse — especially the younger guys — and letting us know that he expects performance and he expects certain things out of everyone.

“But he’s not applying so much pressure that we’re playing tight. He wants to see us play loose, but at the same time demands that we execute on a consistent basis.”

Freeland, a Denver native who saw his dreams come true when the Rockies drafted him in the first round in 2014, is not quite sure where the Rockies’ road will lead after this frustrating season.

“That’s a difficult question to answer,” he said. “We are asked that question a good amount in spring training. We were very excited about where this team was and with the young guys we had. I thought we had some veteran leadership.

“But right now, the picture is kind of unclear. We have to start winning together, and we have to find the image and identity of this team. I think we are slowly starting to do it, but we have to start piecing together full games now.”

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