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| Colon finished 6th in AL Cy Young voting in 2013. |
As of today, the Mets have agreed to a 2 year, $20 million dollar deal with RHP starting pitcher Bartolo Colon (18-6 2.65), pending a physical.
Mets fans might be confused as to why a rebuilding team might make a "let's win now" move such as this. Why bring on a 40 year-old to lead such a young rotation with other, perhaps more durable options on the table?
Of the notable FA starters New York may have inked this offseason, the following remained unsigned as of December 11th: Bronson Arroyo, AJ Burnett, Chris Capuano, Matt Garza, Aaron Harang, Ubaldo Jimenez, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Mike Pelfrey, Ervin Santana, and Johan Santana.
Of those, Arroyo, Jimenez, and Ervin Santana were the only realistic options for Sandy Alderson to go after. However, Jimenez and Santana are entering their age 30 and 31 seasons, respectively, so neither would have accepted any offer less than 4-5 years at this stage in their careers.
Alderson is unwilling to give a multiyear contract to any starter this year leaving him with only, outside of Bartolo Colon, former Red Bronson Arroyo.
Over the past two seasons, Arroyo has gone 26-22, posting a 3.76 ERA in 404 innings. Colon, though four years older, has 28-15 record to a finer 2.99 ERA, though in 342.2 innings pitched.
Alleged PED's or no, Colon is clearly the better pitcher of late, and his age has only minimally affected his innings.
Money-wise, Arroyo is allegedly seeking a deal worth 3 years for $36 million, making him slightly more expensive, and the third year is what most likely killed any talks between his representation and the Mets front office.
Both guys are solid teammates and carry positive clubhouse influence, and either will have successfully ate the injured Matt Harvey's missing innings in 2014.
Colon is a proven veteran who will undoubtedly assist in the development of the Mets' young arms, especially with the experience of more collected hardware than Bronson Arroyo has to brag about.
Sandy Alderson got a solid long-timer for a cheap price, on top of Colon's stellar season last year, I'm not sure what else Mets fans could have wanted.
Personally, I'm thrilled.
(Tweet me @brykrunyon51)
Couldn't agree more. And I'm an insanely disgruntled fan. 2 for $20 in this market is pennies. If he pitches well in 2014, you can move him in 2015 for pieces also. Flexibility. Fills a need now.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe some of the comments I've read on other blogs on the signing of
ReplyDeleteColon? At least half the comments say he's to old, two years is to much, he's
to fat, he cost to much, we should have signed a SS(Drew) instead! Wow like
Ricky Nelson once sang "you can't please everyone so you got to please your
self" The Sandy and the Wilpons knew they had to make several splashes this
off season or you were going to hear the echo in citifield this baseball season?
They did what they had to do and I believe there not done yet because our SS
is still not on the team yet and they are not going to have two starting first baseman on the team!
This is considered your big splash? Maybe if he jumps in a pool it might be!!!
DeleteI disagree with you, I would have rather combined this with chris Youngs money and bought in Beltran or add $7mil more and got Cano.. That would have had a more positive impact on the team. They better try and bring in another power bat (kemp or Tulo preferred).
ReplyDeleteWe didnt need this old man for our team. We could go bargain hunting for a starter or two in a month. We play in a pitchers park and so far are defense seems to be going in a positive direction. So that would help out any pitcher pitching there.
. We could have kept Den Dekker (who would have produced as well as chris young will) in one of the corner spots for minimum salary. And I would of preferred tommy Hanson or some other reclamation project to fill in til May.
Adding another $7 netted you one year of Cano's foolish contract. The Mets aren't getting Kemp (the outfield is full) and Tulo isn't available.
DeleteColon is not a reclamation project. Far from it. 18-6 with a 2.65 ERA last season with the A's. Will he do that next season, probably not. However in a market as crazy as this, 2/$20 is steal for a pitcher like Colon.
Trust me I love Lagares and think he will get a lot better offensively, but I think we need a real time clean up hitter. That's what cano would have brought to the table. Is cano worth that much $$$ not in my book, but the money the ball clubs are making, off us the fans, I would like it to be allocated to another superstar. Granderson is a great pickup but not the carter/ Hernandez pickup we need to truly put us over the top offensively. So Cano would have cost us $$$ and a second round draft pick, but we would have been able to keep all our youngsters on the farm.
DeleteSo I would of preferred him over the young an colon signings.