After
falling short in the 2015 World Series, the best the New York Mets could do
this year was a loss in the National League Wild Card game. During the upcoming
offseason, they face a series of decisions in a number of areas as they hope
that their fragile pitching staff can somehow rebound from an injury-plagued
campaign.
One of the
question marks among the team’s pitchers is whether or not to bring back
veteran Bartolo Colon. While a look at his statistics would ordinarily elicit
an emphatic thumbs up regarding that concern, the team has to weigh the fact
that he’ll be turning 44 years-old two months into the 2017 season.
Of course,
weighing anything connected to Colon inevitably brings the question back to his
less-than-svelte physique. At 5-11 and 285 pounds, there’s seemingly no way he
should be able to continue making contributions on the mound. Yet in the last
four years, he’s somehow been able to compile a record of 62-40, making 125
starts along the way.
Looking
back two decades, when Colon’s career began with the Cleveland Indians, it’s
doubtful that many gave Colon much chance of still being a pitching option in
2017. Over his 19 seasons, he’s played for eight different teams and twice won
20 games. In 2005, he won the Cy Young award with the Los Angeles Angels after
winning 21 games at his peak.
That peak
crumbled the next year when Colon required Tommy John surgery. From 2006 to
2009, he managed a record of just 14-21 and was seemingly finished. After
sitting out in 2010 due to further elbow surgery and then receiving a
controversial stem cell procedure to his arm, his career was invigorated. That
comeback stalled in 2012 with a 50-game
suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs.
Since that time, however, Colon has had no subsequent issues.
The fact
that Colon was able to put together a 15-8 record during the 2016 season shows
that he’s really had no dropoff in performance. Few pitchers have ever
maintained any level of success after the age of 40, which makes Colon
something of a physical freak. Those 15 wins actually led a Mets staff that was
besieged with injuries.
Colon’s
salary last year was $7.25 million and he’s reported to be seeking a two-year deal.
That may give the Mets pause, yet given the vast number of uncertainties, the
team may not have many other options.
They have
to hope that Matt Harvey and others get back to their old selves since signing
free agent pitchers from other teams has either been expensive or a crapshoot.
It wouldn't hurt to offer him his 2015 salary of $11 million to acknowledge his
past contributions. As far as a two-year deal, the team should offer him a team
option on the second year. There will be plenty of moves made this offseason, but with no other considerations on the horizon, this
can serve as a band-aid for this wounded staff.
