December 02, 2007

To Ride The "Bart" or Not To Ride The "Bart" - THAT is The Question!


Omar traded for him once, and gave up prospects such as Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee and Brandon Phillips to get him, and then traded him when the Expos fell out of contention for current-Mets' hurler, Orlando Hernandez. Will history repeat itself and find former Angels hurler (and 2005 Cy Young Award winner) Bartolo Colon once more united with Omar Minaya?

On the plus side, it wouldn't cost us any draft picks to sign Bart, because the Angels did not offer him arbitration (and why should they, after paying him $30 million for the past 2, injury-plagued seasons). He wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg, salary-wise, because he has a LOT to prove, at age 35 this coming May, and again having been injured the past 2 seasons. He's reached 20 wins twice, and generally speaking, strikes out a lot more batters then he walks. When healthy, he's a top-of-the-rotation starter with wicked stuff and is prone to long winning streaks while strapping a team to his back.

On the negative side, Colon is never going to be confused with an olympic-caliber athlete, as his girth seems to grow with age at a disproportinate rate. He's been hurt the past two seasons, and he would be asked to replace the very-healthy, 200+ innings-eater, Tom Glavine, were he to join the Mets' rotation. Three of his last four seasons (including the 2 injury-shortened seasons) he's produced an ERA above 5.00, certainly no cause for celebration (the one season was his Cy Young winner, wherein he posted a 3.48 ERA, good but not spectacular). And yet...

...I just think that he's prime for a break-out season, not based on any logical thought. Having watched Bart for the past 4 seasons with the Angels, and remembering that brief stint with the Expos in 2002, I can't help but feel that, somehow, he's going to pull one more rabbit out of his hat and have another excellent season, were he to stay healthy (a GIANT "IF"). I think it's worth a gamble if it proves to pass that we can't land Haren or Bedard. He'd cost a whole lot less than a Silva or Livan, and we'd only need to sign him to a one-year deal (probably with an option, a la Randy Wolf, just in case) for around $5 million or so. At this point, I think it's worth trying to catch lightning in a bottle once more, knowing that Mulvey, Pelfrey, Humber and possibly Heilman are there just in case he fails...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice to see you back and i hope all is well with you and your family

Anonymous said...

the way the mets are going about this off season...i would say they would have to sign him...where else are they gonna go