Photo Via @Rockies/X
Eli Whitney | August 6, 2026
The Rockies spent Monday subtracting. On Tuesday, they explained why that wasn’t the whole story.
Colorado announced a two-year, $16.25 million extension for Mickey Moniak on Tuesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after a deadline that sent Antonio Senzatela, Brenton Doyle, and Victor Vodnik out of the organization. The deal covers 2027 and 2028 — his final year of arbitration and what would have been his first year of free agency. For an outfielder whose name had circulated in trade talks all week, the timing was no accident — it was the point.
“Ever since I’ve stepped foot in Colorado, in Denver, this organization, it’s just felt like home,” Moniak said. “The amount of confidence they’ve shown in me, especially extending this kind of offer to allow me to stay here for the next two years and continue to be a part of what we’re building here — it means the world to me.”
The bet is on a version of Moniak that didn’t exist before he got to Denver. Signed to a one-year deal on March 27, 2025, the 28-year-old is hitting .278/.318/.571 this season with 19 home runs and 52 RBI in 75 games. Before signing the extension, he had 42 home runs and a .536 slugging percentage across 210 games in a Rockies uniform. The club’s preferred framing is the sharpest version of it: Since June 1, 2025, Moniak ranks second in the Majors in slugging at .577 and fifth in OPS at .901 among hitters with at least 575 plate appearances. His 2025 season set career highs in games, runs, hits, triples, home runs, RBI, stolen bases, slugging percentage, and OPS.
The framework came together fast. Moniak put it at roughly two and a half days, with the first contract reaching his agent during the opening game of the Royals series that started the homestand, a handshake agreement after Sunday’s game, and paperwork Tuesday. Paul DePodesta said the club initiated conversations with Moniak’s representative on Friday, but had been working on the idea internally for longer.
“We had been talking about it internally for probably a month or two, just as a possibility,” DePodesta said. “As we were starting to have conversations a week or two ago with some of the other clubs, we all felt like the better thing to do for us was to keep him — and not just keep him and play out the next year and a half, but really keep him, sign him to an extension.”
The distinction is the organizational argument. DePodesta was explicit that the deal was aimed at an audience beyond the player.
“It’s also a message not just to the rest of our team, but hopefully our fans and our market that we’re actually building towards something here,” he said. “This deadline wasn’t just about trading players away. It was actually about building towards something better going forward.”
Asked whether the extension was meant as a signal to other players who could become part of the Rockies’ future, DePodesta didn’t close the door.
“Yeah, potentially,” he said. “The first couple of months of this year, we’ve really been trying to figure out who we think can be a core part of this team going forward. We think we have a number of those pieces. Each situation is different — but I do think we’re open-minded.”
Warren Schaeffer’s reaction was less measured.
“Having Mickey be extended is music to my ears,” Schaeffer said. “Absolutely love it. Everybody in the clubhouse does. He believes that we’re going to turn this thing around quick, and he wants to be a part of it. That is worth so much.”
Schaeffer framed the value as continuity — a word that has been in short supply here.
“He brings everything off the field that you want from a leader and somebody that’s going to be here for a while,” he said. “He obviously brings it on the field, and he’s a great fit for Coors. He’s a great fit for our team.”
Moniak is one of the more experienced players in the room, and DePodesta suggested the reason has less to do with service time than mileage. The first overall pick of the 2016 draft, Moniak is now in his third organization after stops in Philadelphia and Anaheim, and has seen versions of professional baseball that most of his teammates haven’t
“We have a lot of players here where this is what they know of professional baseball — the Colorado Rockies,” DePodesta said. Mickey’s seen it in other places, and probably has a richer perspective of what we’re trying to do here.”
Moniak spoke on the leader label.
“Being labeled a leader is a funny thing. Nobody really tells you, ‘Hey, now you’re the leader, you’re the guy,’ he said. “I’ve been around some incredible leaders in this game, and there’s one common denominator: they’re the same guy every day.”
He dated the shift to spring training, when Schaeffer laid out a brand of baseball in the first team meeting. The record hasn’t quite followed — Colorado remains well outside the playoff race — but Moniak insisted the clubhouse reads differently than the standings.
“It’s one of the best clubhouses I’ve been a part of, and I’ve been a part of some good ones,” he said, pointing to Philadelphia in 2022. “Every single guy in our clubhouse didn’t want to go anywhere at the deadline.”
The other half of the decision has nothing to do with baseball. Moniak and his wife are expecting their first child, a daughter, and his wife’s mother and stepfather live about 25 minutes away in Centennial.
“It means everything,” Moniak said. “We’ve got a little girl on the way, so this couldn’t be a better fit, a better place to start our family. It truly couldn’t be a better fit for where we’re at in our lives.”
DePodesta noticed the collision of timelines as it happened.
“On Friday, when we initiated conversations with his representative, we were sitting around the room saying, ‘What a week for Mickey,” he said. “The holistic part of it is really important to us.”
Two years won’t decide whether the Rockies become the team DePodesta keeps describing. But it does mean when Colorado next sorts through who belongs to the future, one name is already answered.
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