The name Bartolo Colon and the New York Yankees should never be linked in a sentence again this offseason.
Yes, Colon won the 2005 American League Cy Young Award, but that is not what resonates in my memory.
Back in 2008, the Red Sox were the only team interested in signing the overweight pitcher, who stood at 5’11″ and tipped the scale at 245 pounds. Making seven starts as a member of the Red Sox, the injury-prone Colon found himself back on the DL again.
At the time, Colon left Boston for his home in the Dominican Republic to tend to personal issues and never left. The reason was he didn’t feel like it.
Colon’s attitude is why no team wanted him in the first place. Add that to all the injuries and that, my friend, is the definition of being unreliable.
By no means am I trying to overlook how talented Colon used to be, but since he took home pitching’s biggest honor, he has been a mess.
In 2005, Colon had 21 wins in 33 starts and two complete games, giving up 26 home runs, striking out 157 and pitching a total of 222 innings.
Then, from 2006-2009, Colon had 14 wins in 47 starts and one complete game, allowing 44 balls to go yard, recording 172 strikeouts and pitching a total of 226 innings.
Need I say more?
Actually, I forgot to add last season, but Colon didn’t pitch in 2010, making his last Major League start July 24, 2009. That was when the White Sox took a chance on Colon even after he went AWOL as a Red Sox.
Reality is, acquiring a self-proclaimed reformed hazard is the last thing the Yankees can afford to do.
A person’s behavior at 37 years old doesn’t ever disappear completely. Colon is already running his mouth, as he is the voice behind this Yankee rumor.
Nothing has come from the Yankees regarding interest in Colon and no vis-à-vis has taken place. This leads me to think it is just Colon being Colon, no matter how much weight he has lost.
“Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.”- Franklin P. Jones
Hopefully, the Yankees have learned enough by now, but in New York, anything can happen.
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