Right-handers Bartolo Colon and Scott Feldman have cleared revocable waivers and are now eligible to be traded to any team, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link).
Feldman, 31, is in the first season of a front-loaded three-year, $30MM contract. He’s earning $12MM in 2014 before earning $10MM in 2015 and $8MM in 2016, making his contract slightly more desirable to interested parties. He’s owed roughly $2.36MM through the end of the current season, bringing the total that he is owed to about $20.36MM. Though he missed a brief period with biceps tendinitis, Feldman has been reasonably healthy and effective in his inaugural season with the Astros. The former Ranger has posted a 4.37 ERA with 5.2 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 44.9 percent ground-ball rate.
Colon, who is 10 years older than Feldman, has posted better numbers despite his age, and he is the more affordable of the two pitchers. The former AL Cy Young winner signed a two-year, $20MM contract with the Mets in the offseason that pays him $9MM in 2014 and $11MM in 2015. Colon is owed $1.77MM for the remainder of the season, bringing his total commitment to $12.77MM. His first season with the Mets has gone well, as he’s pitched to a 3.82 ERA with 7.0 K/9, 1.2 BB/9 and 38.7 percent ground-ball rate in 167 1/3 innings. Colon is currently in the Dominican Republic to attend the funeral of his mother.
The team most commonly associated with the starting pitching market at this time is the Angels, who have lost both Garrett Richards and Tyler Skaggs to season-ending surgery this month (Skaggs’ Tommy John surgery will sideline him for 2015 as well). However, the Dodgers also have a need in the rotation due to injuries, and some have speculated that the Pirates could benefit from a rotation upgrade as well.
wow, was not expecting bartolo to clear. very fortunate for the mets as there appears to be a big market for him now.
Sandy is going to get greedy,but that is both good and bad.
thats odd i guess no one wants to take on that contract
I am surprised the Angels didn’t put in a claim on Colon, I didn’t even think he would make it past the Dodgers and A’s.
I’m surprised anyone in their right mind thinks teams are just going to claim a 41 year Bartolo Colon and run the risk of paying him to finally hit that age wall next season. Angels probably want to evaluate options that might be better for them, such as Feldman or even Cahill.
You’ve got to replace Richards (or settle on LeBlanc). While it’s a gamble to hold onto Bartolo Colon through next season, you could very likely trade him away for pieces in the offseason. Think of how much Colon would be worth after helping to push a contender into and possibly through the playoffs.
Or how much a drain he would be if he pitched poorly down the stretch.
There are no guarantees with Colon. He is a high risk pick-up that is only made higher with the reports that the Mets are looking for more than a salary dump.
Very true, and I’ll give you that. But I’d have to believe that a team like the Angels, A’s, Dodgers, Tigers, or O’s would be willing to gamble a bit when this could potentially be their year. Obviously, the price has to be right with how much Colon will cost any of these contenders, but high risk pickups are part of the game at this point of the year.
As they should be, he’s pitched pretty well this season….
Because he’s shown sooo many signs of wearing down. Bartolo back in the AL with only 12 mil left on his contract for the remainder of this year and all of next is a pretty good deal. Teams didn’t want to claim him and actually run the risk of taking on the whole contract with SA saying “here ya go”.
Maybe now the Mets will deal him with getting a major league piece that has a modicum of salary to offset the Colon money.
Check his last 3 starts… 21 innings, 4 runs, 19:2 K:BB. Don’t see a lot of signs he’s wearing down.
My point exactly.
Frankly as a Mets fan i’d rather they hold onto him and use Niese as a trade chip. Though i see them attempting to move Jon in the offseason.
What’s the logic behind the Angels not claiming him? They now have to compete with every team to trade for him. Do they really not want him? At least claim him and see how much the mets want. Idk guess that’s y I’m not a gm.
I would assume it is because instead of having 48 hours to make a deal they can take a little bit longer to get something done. Since they were last in the order anyways it allowed them the opportunity to have as long as they wanted to make a deal knowing another team couldnt claim him and block a deal. I would think that had they had the second to last spot they may have put a claim in.
It’s not just the time to make a trade, it’s that the Mets likely wouldn’t have traded him if there had been a wavier claim because they know they have a better chance to get more for him when there are multiple bidders.
Not surprise that colon clear! Colon is 41 years old and on a 11 million contract next year! Also sandy rip the pirates last year for Byrd! They got two very valuable piece for a 6 week rental. Vic Black has been awesome in the bullpen. Folsom Herrera is batting 3.40+ in the minors.
*Dilson* Herrera.
3.4 hits per AB??!! Best player ever!!!
Wow, I was so wrong. I thought several teams would claim Colon.
Too bad for the Angels they sent their best remaining prospects to the Padres for Street. But they have to find a way to make that deal, right? Players to be named later, perhaps?
Only one team can technically claim a player
No. Every team (except his current team) can claim a player. Only one team’s claim can be granted.
Like everyone else, I’m completely shocked that no one claimed either of these guys considering all of the contending teams that could use some upgrades or replacements. I’m even more shocked that teams didn’t just go out on a limb and block other contending teams. Seemed like there’d be all kinds of people that could potentially take on either of those contracts (Giants, Dodgers, Angels, Yankees, Orioles, Tigers). On top of that, I figured that teams that may not be big on taking on a contract like that could easily flip Bartolo or Feldman in the offseason.
The only reason I could the Angels wouldn’t want to put a claim in on Bartolo was the fear that exclusive trading would mean that the Mets could put up any crazy price, then pull out if the Angels didn’t meet those demands. There’s a small potential where the Mets could open up trading with everybody/anybody, see that no one is interested at all, and thus, lower the cost of Colon in fear that they’d get back even less in the offseason. Hard to tell either way, though. And this is only my best bet.
I’m not completely shocked. Neither one of these guys are tremendous upgrades and aren’t worth very much.
Despite what the Mets supposedly* said about not letting him go as simply a claim, some teams who may have otherwise considered claiming him as a block were probably leery of the “ok, here you go, enjoy the rest of the contract”.
A fair point, but I still don’t see how ALL thirty wouldn’t take that chance. We’re talking about a $12-18 million gamble. For teams like the A’s, sure, that’s a huge amount. But for a team like the Dodgers, that’s chump change. I can’t see why New York would be THAT inclined to want to dump a contract that isn’t extremely bad. It’s not like Bartolo Colon has been garbage this season.
I think it’s all realative. If Dodgers didn’t get blocked, yet still had an interest, they could also hope for the clearance to negotiate a deal where they wouldn’t have to assume the entire dollar responsibility of the pact. A risk to be sure if they really wanted him, but they had to assess whether other teams, most of which without the monetary resources of the Dodgers, were in the same boat of thinking fiscally wise.
There seem to be exceptions. I think that 90+% of baseball fans would have guessed that claim would have been made to either block or attempt to get either Colon or Feldman. And after tonight’s LeBlanc performance, I think it’s safe to say that Colon or Feldman would be a sizable upgrade. Sure, we’re talking about only 5 or 6 more starts, but in a playoff race that’s currently tied, 5 or 6 games can be absolutely pivotal.
Why would any team claim Bartolo Colon with another week before the waiver deadline?
Because of Wade LeBlanc
The Mets were the only team to offer him a two year deal. It’s not too surprising that no one wants an 11 million Colon for 2015 on top of what the Mets might have wanted. Is he really a difference maker at this point?
Well is an 12.77 million dollar Bartolo for next year plus the rest of the season really a bad thing? He has been pretty solid this year and you could do much worst for that price. The sticking point is probably that most teams are tapped out of funds for this season.
Probably. We look at 11 million for Colon in 2015 as reasonable, which is sort of is. But the teams that can stomach that in their budget aren’t the same ones that need him right now. I guess we have six more days to see if that will change.
If he’s replacing Wade LeBlanc or Kevin Correia, I’d say so. People are fixated an awful lot on his age rather than his production. I get the risk behind paying a 42-year-old $11MM, of course, but he’s justified a salary that high in four straight seasons now.
I get that and the Dodgers wouldn’t have been very affected by the 11 million. But the Angels have been pretty adamant against going over the luxury tax and this would zap out most of their available spending money for the offseason. I don’t think Colon has enough upside to get the Pirates to take a bite.
The question that needs to be answered is how valuable Colon is to the Angels (vs whatever in house options they have) over the next 5 starts. The answer is that he doesn’t represent much of an upgrade. While he’s a fine pitcher, he’s also closer to the equivalent of a guy with a 4.25 to 4.5 ERA in the AL West. That isn’t a huge improvement over internal options. Once you make it to the playoffs you move to a 4 man rotation that I doubt he would be a member of.
All in all, Colon could definitely help. All depth is helpful. But if the price is really prospects + paying his salary this year + his full salary next year, I would have passed as well.
Colon posted a 2.99/3.49/4.04 ERA/FIP/xFIP in 342 2/3 innings in the AL West from 2012-13. I don’t think it’s fair to simplify to the point where you just shrug and assume he won’t succeed in the AL West. He’d be replacing Wade LeBlanc and his lifetime 4.67 xFIP. A team could do a lot worse than Colon at the back of a rotation.
When you’re talking seven starts in a one-game race, the difference between Colon over LeBlanc is pretty significant. It’s not like they have a bounty of internal options for the 2015 season either. Skaggs is out for the year, so they’re looking at Weaver+Wilson+Richards (who could miss a month) and then maybe Santiago or a free agent or two.
Plus, anything that can be done to avoid a one-game playoff against Felix/Iwakuma, Lester or Price/Scherzer is a significant factor.
If only there was some recent body of work by Bartolo Colon in the AL West to gague how well he would do there, oh wait, there is.
2012-2013 Oakland – 28-15, 2.99 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 1.4 BB9, 5.5 K9
The “Economic Era” has entered the Baseball World…..
Even if Colon completely falls apart, $11M is not what it used to be. That type of money is going to #4-5 pitchers. Even at his worst, Colon will be able to eat innings and be a formidable #5
Seattle need ps to make a bid for Colon seeing as he is awesome at safeco and they’re in the hunt.
Something does tell me some team may panic,and the Mets may get more then market value for Colon.