Factory Of Sadness
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8 Free Agents The Cleveland Indians Need To Sign This Offseason

By Nick Dudukovich

Oct 1, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Bartolo Colon (40) in action during a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 1, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Bartolo Colon (40) in action during a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oct 1, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Bartolo Colon (40) in action during a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 1, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Bartolo Colon (40) in action during a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports /

Bartolo Colon, SP

He’s 43, but Bartolo Colon is like a fine wine. He gets better with age. OK, that’s not entirely true. He’ll never be the Cy Young Award candidate that he was in the early to mid 2000s, but he’s still very effective, even at his advanced age.

The Indians pitching staff should return healthy in 2017, but as Tribe fans witness firsthand, you can never have enough pitching, especially down the stretch.

Adding Colon would add a veteran arm who’s durable.

Colon, who will actually pitch next season at the age of 44, led the Mets in starts (33) and innings pitched (191 2/3) during the 2016 campaign. Remember, this is a rotation that featured young guns Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey. All that youth and it was the overweight 43-year-old taking the mound every fifth day.

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Colon is like snow in Cleveland in April. You can just count on it. The man hasn’t thrown fewer than 190 1/3 innings in a season since 2012.

Additionally, he’s still effective. If he stunk, he wouldn’t be logging all this innings.

During the 2016 campaign, Colon recorded a 3.43 ERA while averaging just over six strikeouts per innings. He also doesn’t walk a ton of batters, averting just 1.5 walks per nine innings.

It looks like Colon will leave the Mets because he wants a two-year contract. He was paid $7.25 million for his services last season. Giving a guy who’s going to be 45 in the second year of a contract seems crazy, but perhaps the Indians can sweeten up a one-year deal to entice him back to the place where his career began.

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