The Rockies have declined their option on lefty starter Brett Anderson, Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports tweets. Colorado will pay a $1.5MM buyout rather than exercising its $12MM option.

Anderson will be 27 in February and pitched very well in 43 1/3 innings in 2014, but the Rockies’ decision is understandable given his struggles to stay healthy. Anderson has not pitched more than 113 innings in a season since 2009, and he missed most of 2014 with finger and back injuries, having back surgery in August. Still, he might be an interesting buy-low free agent target for a team seeking a ground-ball pitcher — he has an excellent 55.4% career ground ball rate. Anderson is expected to be ready for spring training.