Jorge De La Rosa Exercises Player Option For 2013

Jorge De La Rosa is one of my favorite members of the Colorado Rockies, and we should all remember that he showed some nice loyalty when he re-upped with the team instead of pursuing a big free agent deal with a team like the New York Yankees and pricing himself out of Colorado. I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in and to get in the right mindset for this bit of news from the Denver Post’s Troy Renck:

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/TroyRenck/status/263794657459331074″]

Look at this way: if you were coming off of a season in which you barely pitched and pitched poorly when you did, but you still had the option to make $11 million the next year, wouldn’t you do it?

De La Rosa hopes to be ready for a full season in 2013. Image: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

I truly do not mean to ratchet up the snark too high for this news, because I am thrilled to have De La Rosa. On a pitching staff of kids who are trying to break through, he is the veteran who has been there before. Furthermore, I believe in his stuff and believe that he will have shook off the rust for a quality 2013 season. If everything goes well in winter ball, De La Rosa should be poised to be the team’s opening day starter and staff ace.

Food for thought: does anybody think he would have considered declining his player option if the paired pitching four man rotation thing was still in place? For the amount of money he will make versus his decreased value on the market, I have to believe he would have been back no matter what. Still, one has to wonder how much happier he was to exercise this option knowing that he will pitch in a normal rotation and not one where he would have had to earn an “ace exception” to go beyond 75 pitches.

Jorge De La Rosa will be a good top-of-the-rotation starter for the Rockies in 2013. Will it be $11 million worth? Business Insider recently ranked him the 18th most overpaid player in baseball, so that might be another discussion for another day.