Atlanta Braves: Bartolo Colon Joins R.A. Dickey in 2017 Rotation
By Brad Faber
One day after signing R.A. Dickey, the Atlanta Braves have now added another veteran pitcher to their starting staff in Bartolo Colon.
After a rather rough season in which they finished in last place in the NL East, the Atlanta Braves have now begun their offseason by signing a pair of veteran hurlers. On Thursday, it was reported that the Braves had reached an agreement with knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, they have now signed Bartolo Colon as well.
Can confirm @mlbbowman #Braves have reached agreement with Colon pending physical. I hear it is a 1-yr deal
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) November 11, 2016
Dickey and Colon are 42 and 43 years of age, respectively. According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, Colon’s one-year pact with the Braves will be for $12.5 million.
Source: Bartolo Colon is one year, $12.5 million with #Braves. Pending a physical.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 11, 2016
Colon, who won the AL Cy Young award all the way back in 2005 as a member of the Los Angeles Angels, now has 19 MLB seasons under his belt. Even at his age, he continues to be a solid big league pitcher and a durable innings-eater.
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Stretching back to 2011, when he was a member of the New York Yankees, Colon has been worth at least 2.4 fWAR for six straight seasons. He did receive a 50-game PED suspension in 2012 when he was with the Oakland Athletics, but he has been chugging along quite steadily ever since.
After a terrific 2013 campaign with the Athletics, the right-hander made the move to the New York Mets, where he enjoyed a successful three-year stint. Last year, he earned an All-Star nod for the fourth time in his career, and ultimately went a very respectable 15-8 with a 3.43 ERA (120 ERA+) and a 1.21 WHIP. He had a very respectable 43.2 percent ground-ball rate and threw his sinker 62.22 percent of the time, according to Brooks Baseball. Colon has also made 30 or more starts while notching at least 190 innings in each of the past four seasons.
Although the Mets’ starting rotation still ranked third in the game with a 3.61 ERA this past season, injuries to Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz prevented it from being even better. Along with youngster Noah Syndergaard, Colon stepped up in a big way and helped lead the Mets to their second consecutive playoff berth.
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Colon and Dickey will be joining a Braves rotation that is currently led by soon-to-be 26-year-old Julio Teheran, who went 7-10 with a 3.21 ERA in 2016. Mike Foltynewicz and Matt Wisler are thought to be strong candidates to round out the remainder of the five-man rotation, while others such as Josh Collmenter and Aaron Blair remain in the mix as well.