Atlanta Braves Add Another 40-Something Pitcher: Bartolo Colon
Moving this off-season with almost shocking speed, the Braves have now signed three pitchers this week… and the latest is almost a shocker.
Media reports – Mark Bowman being the first – are indicating that the Atlanta Braves have signed 20-year veteran pitcher Bartolo Colon.
Source: Bartolo Colon has agreed to a deal with the Braves, pending a physical. Terms of the deal have not been revealed.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) November 11, 2016
As he says, the contract will not be official until the physical, but if any 40-ish player is ready to go, it’s probably Colon, who is a workout maniac.
Colon deal is straight 1 yr, not 1 yr and option like Dickey. #Braves
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) November 11, 2016
This is consistent with everything the Braves have been telling us the entire off-season: the team does not want to be in the position of blocking young arms coming up through the system.
Indeed, the idea of 1 or 2 year veteran deals suggest that the team believes some will be in Cobb County sooner than later. Names like Max Fried and Patrick Weigel have been bandied about as perhaps members of the 1st wave to come.
#Braves prez of bb ops John Hart has now signed Colon when he was 17 out of the DR for #Indians, and at 43 for #Braves
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) November 11, 2016
The Terms
Source: Bartolo Colon is one year, $12.5 million with #Braves. Pending a physical.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 11, 2016
Yes – that sounds a bit high. However, there’s a couple of factors to consider:
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- He’s been a bit better than R.A. Dickey (3.43 ERA in 2016, FWIW)
- It took more to get Colon to relinquish his love affair with the Mets (2014-15).
- It’s only one year, so it’s no big deal… well, except for Colon himself
So now the Braves have signed Josh Collmenter, R.A. Dickey, and Bartolo Colon all in one week.
With the latter pair, Atlanta should be able to count on something approaching 400 innings. Added to Julio Teheran and Mike Foltynewicz, that should present a pretty consistent rotation – something sorely lacking over the past few seasons.
UPDATE: Feelings from the Mets about this move are… mixed:
https://twitter.com/Noahsyndergaard/status/797100165110730752
Are We Done Then?
Not a chance. Coppolella is now in the driver’s seat. He no longer has to do anything else, but I strongly suspect that he will want to add a controllable young starter via trade.
Now that he has locked in the “short-term” pitchers, this goal might very well be someone to stand alongside Teheran and Folty at the front end of the rotation.
Coppy has been talking to Tampa Bay – we know this. We also know that Oakland has been talking with teams… and Coppy has spoken to roughly 20 of them.
So watch out – he might go big now on a trade since the rest of his pitching work is done.
Of course, he’s already gone Big Sexy on us, too.