Jimmy Rollins activates 2015 option
By Hayden Kane
The Philadelphia Phillies are officially on the hook for the $11 million option on Jimmy Rollins‘ contract for the 2015 season.
With his second at-bat on Friday night, Rollins activated the vesting option for next season by reaching a total of 1,100 at-bats over the course of the last two seasons.
Jimmy Rollins just guaranteed $11 million option for 2015 w his second plate appearance of game - 1,100 total over this season and last
— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyNBCS) July 25, 2014
Rollins has played well enough this season that this isn’t the worst news for the Phillies. He has been a 2.7 WAR player thus far in 2014, so while the Phillies will never get their money’s worth from him at $11 million for his age-36 season in 2015, they can at least hope for reasonably good production.
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This past off-season the Phillies explored the option of trading Rollins, at least in part, because of this $11 million option. The fact was, however, that those trade rumors never had much substance because Rollins has full 10-5 rights and could veto any deal. He did waver on that no-trade stance briefly, but in the end it seemed safe to assume that Rollins would remain in Philadelphia.
On the one hand this is not the worst outcome for the Phillies, as they get to continue with one of the guys who has been a face of the franchise out at shortstop. On the other hand, they probably would have liked to have gotten out from under the possibility that this 2015 option would vest. Either way, Rollins will be back out there for the Phillies in 2015.