The Rockies and right-hander Matt Belisle have each exercised their half of Belisile's $4.25MM mutual option for 2014, according to MLB.com's Thomas Harding (on Twitter).
Belisle, 33, appeared in more than 70 games for his fourth straight season with the Rockies in 2013, pitching to a 4.32 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 1.8 BB/9 and a 48.6 percent ground-ball rate. Belisle struggled to strand runners and also suffered through a .321 batting average on balls in play, leading to an inflated ERA. His FIP (3.03), xFIP (2.99) and SIERA (2.98) all point to him as an excellent rebound candidate in 2014.
It's rare that both parties exercise their half of a mutual option, but the Rockies need bullpen help with Rafael Betancourt going down as a result of Tommy John surgery, and Belisle may have struggled to find a guarantee greater than $4.25MM on the open market due to his inflated ERA. He will rejoin a bullpen that currently projects to have Rex Brothers as the closer, though Rockies senior VP of Major League operations Bill Geivett has made it known that his team is prioritizing an impact reliever in free agency this offseason.
