As a Mets fan, a baseball fan or even just an appreciator of the human condition, it’s impossible to not love Bartolo Colon. The hefty and colorful 42-year-old makes us cheer, laugh and nod in approval with gutty performances on the mound, comical swings at the plate and big brotherly support in the clubhouse. His baseball career has been a winding road of revelation, resignation, resolve and redemption. His final scene may not come in a Mets uniform, but we’ve certainly had a front row seat to the defining act of this enchanting one man show.
Colon was born May 24, 1973 in Altamira in the Dominican Republic. According to JockBio: Bartolo Colon Biograhy, Colon grew up in a home without electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing and worked 12-hour days picking beans and fruit with his siblings and father. The family could not afford balls or gloves so they substituted tightly wound rags for balls and milk cartons for gloves. A star athlete in high school, Colon was signed by the Cleveland Indians at age 19.
Following two stellar years in the minors that included a dominant single A season, a triple A no hitter and an organizational minor league player of the year award, Colon debuted in the majors on April 4, 1997. After a rocky rookie year, Colon developed into a top line starter and made the All-Star game in his sophomore season, going 14-9 with a 3.71 ERA in over 200 innings. In 1999, the then high 90’s- throwing righty helped lead Cleveland to the playoffs with an 18-5 record. He finished fourth in the Cy Young voting. Colon continued his excellent pitching for the Indians in the early 2000s, going 15-8, 14-12 and 20-8 in 2002, a season he wound up splitting between the Indians and Expos after being traded in one of the highest profile midseason trades in history.
The GM of the Montreal Expos at the time was none other than Omar Minaya, who was aggressively trying to bring a first championship to the floundering Canadian franchise. He desperately wanted a veteran ace pitcher to lead his rotation and was willing to empty the farm for the right arm. In what would go down as possibly the worst trade ever made, Minaya shipped future All-Stars Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips to Cleveland for Colon.
Following a strong half season (10-4, 3.31 ERA) that wasn’t enough to push the Expos into the post season, Colon signed a free agent deal with the Chicago White Sox. In the windy city, Colon established himself as a workhorse, throwing a career high 242 innings and a league high nine complete games en route to another 15-win season. Bart’s reward for this big season was an off-season trade to the Angels where he would spend the next four seasons, including his 2005 Cy Young Award season in which he went 21-8 with a 3.48 ERA.
Following his career year, Colon suffered a rotator cuff tear in a playoff game against the Yankees. He spent most of the 2006 season on the disabled list and struggled mightily to regain his form in 2007. He signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox in the offseason and clawed his way back to the big leagues in May. Following seven solid starts, Colon headed home to the DR to deal with personal issues. The following season, at age 36, Colon managed just 12 starts in a return to the White Sox.
Colon spent about a year and a half away from baseball dealing with a recurrence of shoulder pain and bone chips in his elbow. According to a Wall St. Journal article, In March 2010, he received a transplant of stem cells to repair the damaged tissues in his right shoulder. The orthopedic surgeon who performed the surgery said he had used human growth hormone in similar surgeries, but not with Colón. The surgery was scrutinized by MLB but no wrongdoing was found.
In 2011, Colon enjoyed his first full, reasonably healthy and effective season in a long time, pitching for the Yankees. Despite arriving to camp a reported 30 pounds overweight, Colon secured a spot in the rotation and made 26 starts to the tune of a 4.00 ERA. He then signed a one year deal with the A’s for 2012 and really seemed to find his groove again, pitching to a 3.43 ERA. That is until he was suspended 50 games by MLB after testing positive for synthetic testosterone. Two weeks prior, the Giants’ Melky Cabrera was caught for the exact same violation.
Despite the suspension, Colon was resigned by the A’s and it turned out to be a smart move as the burly righty seemed to reinvent himself as a control pitcher with a sinking fastball. In 2013, Colon improbably made the All Star team with an 18-6 season and a career best 2.65 ERA. At age 40, the big man finished sixth in the American League Cy Young voting. In the off season the Mets signed the rotund righty to a two-year contract to add veteran presence to a young pitching staff in transition. Over the two seasons, Colon earned his pay winning 29 games in 62 starts and nearly 400 innings pitched. Notably, Colon had a terrific stretch toward the end of this season to help lead the Mets to their first post season in nine years.
In his post season career, Colon pitched in the AL Division Series four times with the Indians, twice with the Angels and once with A’s. This year he made his eighth appearance as a Met, only this time it was out of the bullpen. The rubber armed vet was a pleasant surprise to his coaches, teammates and fans as he was able to warm up quickly and come in throwing strikes. In three appearances against the Dodgers, Colon spanned four innings, struck out five and allowed just three hits. In his first career League Championship Series, Colon pitched a critical scoreless inning and a third against the Cubs when he bridged the gap between rookie Steven Matz and the Mets’ regular late inning arms. He earned the win for his scoreless work – his first post season win in 14 years.
This storied pitching career seems to be hitting a loud crescendo as Colon is poised to play a key role out of the Mets bullpen in the 2015 World Series. The crafty vet has proven himself valuable as a reliever in this third act of his career. Perhaps he can come back next season, at age 43 and play the role of crafty, veteran setup man a la late career Rick Honeycutt. Or maybe he’ll go back to starting. Whether it be in a Mets uniform or not, we’ll all be following Bart’s next move.
If he settles in as a reliever, and is tasked with getting anywhere from 3 to 6 outs per appearance, Bart can probably pitch through his age 45 season, if not a little longer.
outside of the current playoff & world series games, i doubt colon plans on becoming a relief pitcher at this stage of his career. pretty sure this is his last run in a mets uniform, but he’s been a lot of fun to watch over the past two years.
thanks for the great read. nicely done.
Thanks, jb hill. I’ve enjoyed Bart immensely and it looks like his teammates have as well. Given his clubhouse presence and our middle relief (Clippard is a free agent) I was just hoping this was a way for him to come back. I can’t see the Mets bringing him back strictly as a starter. Barring injury, Niese is going to keep the 5th spot warm until either Montero is ready or Wheeler is healthy.
Fun, going through Bartolo’s career again. Well do I remember that Kinson Indians team from 1995, which felt like a case of the rich getting richer at the time. Baseball America ran a photo of him looking near-thin, hard tho that is to believe.
Last spring, when the Mets rotation started looking crowded — in other words before Wheeler went down — I floated the idea of Colon assuming the old Bob Stanley with the Red Sox role, the super middle reliever role. Stanley pitched over 400 innings in a space of three seasons, propping up an alright staff across the board. Stanley got some serious Cy Young support one of those years.
Nobody wanted to hear of it, of course, not for a guy collecting $10 million. I still think it would have been an effective use for Colon’s abilities.
DED, as a lifelong Mets fan, I hold Bob Stanley in the highest regard.
I also have enjoyed Colon and his entertainment factor in a Mets uniform. He was originally brought in to eat the innings lost due to the Harvey injury and was coming off a stellar year at Oakland. It was year two of the deal that has always perplexed me. Colon presence may have impeded Montero’s development, Montero did not take to the bullpen role and had an injury plagued year. Colon’s presence also cost Gee his Met career. Gee had similar numbers to Colon and was team controlled at a lower salary in 2015 and 2016 than Colon. The Mets lost an asset in Gee for nothing. Last August, Colon looked pretty bad in the rotation.
In the end, even though I may never have liked year two, Colon earned his salary, was a positive influence on the field and in the clubhouse, a fan favorite and has been a reliable reliever in the post season. The deal actually worked out .