NOV. 17: The Braves have now announced the signing of Colon to a one-year deal. “We are thrilled to add a veteran of Bartolo’s caliber to our club,” said GM John Coppolella in a press release announcing the move. “He will be valuable to us both on the field and in the clubhouse and it will be exciting to watch him chase baseball records during a historic season for the Braves franchise.”
NOV. 11: The Braves set out to acquire at least two starting pitchers this offseason, and in a span of 24 hours they’ve added two of the most durable innings eaters on the market. After signing R.A. Dickey to a one-year deal on Thursday, they’ve now reportedly agreed to a one-year, $12.5MM deal that will pry free agent right-hander Bartolo Colon away from the Mets. Colon is represented by Wasserman.
Colon, 44 next May, has spent the past three seasons with the division-rival Mets and will undoubtedly leave many New York fans feeling jilted with this new deal. For the Braves, he’ll join Dickey in adding another veteran source of innings to what was previously a young and highly inexperienced rotation. While some Atlanta fans may question the decision to ink a pair of pitchers that are a combined 85 years in age, both have been highly durable workhorses in recent years.
Colon has averaged 195 innings per season over the past four seasons, logging a collective 3.59 ERA with 6.1 K/9 against a pristine 1.3 BB/9. In that same span, Dickey has averaged 206 innings per year with a 4.05 ERA while pitching in the AL East. Both hurlers will fill in the rotation behind Atlanta’s top starter Julio Teheran and young right-hander Mike Foltynewicz, leaving the final spot up for grabs among a number of young arms highlighted by Matt Wisler and Aaron Blair.
The Mets are “disappointed” to see Colon go, tweets FanRag’s Jon Heyman, but they were cognizant of the fact that he could receive superior offers and a chance at greater innings by signing elsewhere. Despite having a seemingly full rotation heading into the 2016 campaign, the Mets re-signed Colon on a one-year $7.25MM contract to pitch in the back of the rotation while Zack Wheeler finished his Tommy John rehab. Most believed that Colon would eventually slide into the bullpen, but instead he remained in the rotation all season as the Mets were ravaged by injury. Wheeler never pitched in 2016, while Matt Harvey underwent thoracic outlet surgery, Jacob deGrom had his ulnar nerve repaired and Steven Matz went down with an elbow spur and a shoulder impingement.
However, New York expects each of those arms to be healthy in 2017, and they’ll be joined by ace Noah Syndergaard with emergent right-handers Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman serving as valuable depth options should a need arise. That grouping makes it difficult to see how Colon could’ve reasonably expected to pick up many innings in 2017, but he’ll have a clear path to doing so in Atlanta. With 233 wins in his career, Colon is just 10 shy of Hall of Famer Juan Marichal’s 243 victories — a Major League record for a Dominican-born pitcher. Colon has openly spoken in the past about how much it would mean to him to surpass that mark, and a regular role in Atlanta’s rotation will certainly afford him the opportunity to do so.
Adding Colon and Dickey on one-year commitments also lessens the need to rush prospects such as Sean Newcomb and Chris Ellis to the Majors, and it can also give Blair and/or Wisler further opportunity to hone their skills in the minors after struggling through their brief big league tenures thus far.
Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports first reported that Colon had agreed to sign with an unnamed team that was not the Mets (Twitter link). MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reported that the Braves were the team with which Colon had agreed to terms (via Twitter). Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that it was a one-year deal that did not contain an option (Twitter links). FOX’s Ken Rosenthal reported Colon’s 2017 salary (Twitter link).
Well, they said they would be aggressive. I guess I’ll check back tomorrow to see if they sign a catcher.
Mike Foltynewicz for Brian McCann(and about 6-7M a year to be payed by Braves) and an aball prospect along with ptbnl or cash
Lol
You’re insane to the highest degree
Yes, let’s take the one young arm that has started to ascend and obtain a sub-AVG power hitter that would struggle to catch half the games. If we were 1-2 players away, that might make sense (not really).
And while on the topic of crazy trades, should the Braves trade Kemp to the Yankees for Judge?
Don’t see any reason the Yankees do this and the Braves are enamored with Kemp
Joke
Your head
How about Judge for Newcomb
While Judge may be tempting, we have young corner OFs coming up we believe in in Austin Riley, Dustin Peterson, while we have control of Kemp that enjoys being in ATL and provides the kind of protection for Freeman that Judge couldn’t provide (right now). Look at how the offense turned when Kemp arrived. We also need him to sell tickets, create fan interest.
Haha
Austin Riley is a third baseman.
The Braves are not trading Folty for McCann. Period.
Sorry Andy M, you must be a Yankees fan for that to make even remote sense to you. No team trades a cheap controllable young ascending starter for a declining aging ultra expensive catcher. It just isn’t good business.
Yes they do lol you must not know about baseball
Name one time that after their third season a 25 year old starter coming off a season in which he made significant leaps in innings pitched, hits/;9, k/9, bb/9 and FIP is traded for a 33 year old (his age next season) catcher who has declined at the plate from his career norms in 4 of the last 5 seasons from his career norms when the catcher also has a no trade clause, and at least $34 million dollars left on their contract over the next two seasons (probably about double that someone like Jason Castro will cost over the next two seasons) AND they have an option that vests with significant play time over the next two seasons that would cost another $15 million. I’m sorry that doesn’t happen (especially for a team that isn’t just one piece away) and I think you will be hard pressed to find even a similar trade in recent baseball history.
No
Now send J Teheran and M Smith to the Sox for Sale.
Makes little sense for either side. Not enough for Sox, no reason for Atlanta to deal Teheran for another starter.
I can’t live on a Earth where Big Sexy isn’t on the Mets. Nothing is right anymore.
I feel like crying
Don’t worry we’ll trade him and Kelly Johnson to the Mets mid season for a top 20 prospect.
Ha! Good one.
There goes the Mets offense!
You guys should be writing for Seinfeld. I am cracking up!
Damn Dickey now Colon, wow braves will be an interesting team to watch.
What a weird strategy for a bad team whose one strength is pitching prospects. Why sign two 40 something starting pitchers? Will maybe add a couple wins to 2017 then do nothing for their future. And maybe not even that: Dickey’s pretty well finished. He’s awful.
Dickey’s deal is a one-year deal. Wouldn’t be surprised if Colon’s was the same. It’s a fine strategy when like you said, their strength is pitching PROSPECTS.
I really give some readers too much credit — Braves FO is doing EXACTLY what they said they would do. Pay for short-term arms with some upside to get us some stability while the farm matures, possibly opening up spots down the road. We’re just biding time, people, until Newcombe, Fried and the like are ready.
Can you not see the silver lining? These are relatively cheap, short-term guys who can fill out a rotation to get them to 2018 as their youth movement progresses. They may even get lucky and overperform.
Maybe I read it wrong… 12.5 mil for Bart… Relatively cheap?
Can I get a ballpark on number of players that have been called finished and awful because they had a subpar year or two or three. Verlander and Porcello come to mind as recent examples of pitchers widely called awful.
Dickey’s 42. Verlander and Porcello aren’t.
Knuckleballers are a different game. Yes they need to be able to throw a fast ball, but the wear on their arm is different
I think it’s about 200,000. Seems about right.
The two forty somethings do not block their young pitching. They were able to get them on short deals while their future starters get more seasoning in the minors because they are not ready. These are not “sexy” signings but they provide innings and experience to a staff that need both for the short term.
Oh but Colon is a “big sexy” signing!
Zing!
These are both low risk high reward. If the Braves contend (which I think they will given that they were nearly a .500 team from May onward), these are great arms to eat innings. If they don’t contend, these guys are reasonable trade chips as there will always be a market for guys like these. Great moves by the Braves.
lol contend. 2018 they can think about .500. 2019 can be actual contention.
Colon outperformed every pitcher on the Mets last year except Thor.
Thor, deGrom and Matz all had a better WHIP, ERA, FIP, K/BB, ERA+, and K/9.
Besides that, he outperformed them all lol.
Sorry, Seamaholic the Braves are doing exactly what they should do. They are signing veterans whom performed decently last season to one year contracts to help bridge the gap until their own young controllable starters are more ready. Wonderful move by Coppy and the Braves!
It’s all about veteran presence. Dickey and Colon can teach the young pitchers a few things. This is what you want for a young team. Nice pick up!
Do they now sign Thole to catch Dickey?
It’s actually a great strategy, do you watch baseball? One year deals, inning eaters to keep the pen fresh and potential trade chips at the deadline.
our prospects aren’t really ready yet, and the few that may be will fight it out for the 5th spot. This allows the team to allow the younguns to develop without the pressure of MLB for another year. If one or two make good strides by the deadline,we can trade Colon or Dickey, or both, and add a few pieces and bump the prospects up to the big club. There’s no downside here.
Jamie Moyer might still be available
That comment made me laugh out loud.
Don’t forget – Clemens, Koufax, Smoltz, Maddux, and Glavine are still kicking around.
Maybe Tim Wakefield.
This team’s a bit young for my taste. I don’t really associate with fireballers like the ones they’ve been signing.
Where is Julio Franco?
No joke — he’s a hitting coach with the Lotte Giants in the Korea Baseball Organization.
I miss Julio.
I miss harambe
we all do…
My day just got ruined. Freaking Harambe…….rip brah
They are looking better every minute. They now have a rotation of Teheran, Colon, Foltynewicz, Dickey, and Winner of the 5th spot (Probably either Blair, Newcomb, Jenkins, or Sims). It’ll be interesting to see if they try to acquire a stud IF now with some surplus prospects (i.e. Dozier or Longoria) or try to swap a young pitching prospect for a hitting prospect. I could see them getting someone like Ramiel Tapia, then flipping Markakis for an overpaid 2B
Maybe just sign Turner, though these two deals perhaps signal an aversion toward giving out dubious long term contracts. Though they don’t have many (or many years of them) on their books so they could afford one or two.
They’ve come out and said they won’t trade their good prospects, so if a trade happens you bet it’s a steal. More than likely we will get someone to platoon with Garcia and roll with that. Too many good youngsters that will be ready in 2018-2029
I know you meant 2018-2019, but reading 2029 gave me a good chuckle. My first thought was an 11 year window for the prospects to develop before I realized you meant 2019.
If they trade their pitching prospects for an OF, after signing two 40 somethings for the rotation, they will deservedly get roasted. What they’ve done is push their respectability level up a half-rung for 2017 only, while they wait on those prospects to deliver. Still have the 2nd worst group of position players in baseball, with only the A’s worse. And all they have coming in prospects is a SS (which is one of the three positions where they’re already set.)
The same group of position players that finished the 2nd half of the season top-5 in runs? Freeman was a MVP with Kemp providing protection. And they could be even better with a healthy Mallex Smith as a 4th OF, a platoon partner for Adonis Garcia and a better hitting catcher to go with Flowers/Recker.
All they have is SS prospects? Really? Albies has transitioned to 2B, while Dustin Peterson (corner OF) was their position player of the year, and Austin Riley (corner OF) also did well in the 2nd half. Throw in exciting guys like Ronald Acuna (CF), not to mention Mallex Smith (CF/LF), Rio Ruiz (3B/OF), I’m trying to understand where you’re coming from. Maitan could play anything when his body has fully matured, though he’d be most valuable as a SS/3B for us. Don’t forget about Travis Demeritte (2B).
the second half is 70 games. small sample size. expect regression from every player offensively. ender should be the same but literally everyone else will be worse.
Riley is a third basemen
They can be worse and still be a solid offense. Dansby was hitting in the bottom of the order, no Mallex Smith. Kemp will regress some, but you can still expect similar SLG numbers. Markakis won’t be regressing based on last season’s numbers. Most catchers we bring in should put up better numbers than Pierzynski. Honestly, Smitker will get more out of this line-up than Fredi ever did because he never had a consistent line-up.
Yes, it is a small sample size, but that’s a better indication of the team than the terrrrrrrible 1st half they had.
Austin Riley is not a corner OF, he is a third baseman.
A shortstop can move to any position on the field, you can never have too many SS prospects. After a brief trial period they turn into elite defenders anywhere in the infield… or even in the outfield.
Colon, much moreso than Dickey, will be a great influence on their young pitchers. They are about to see first hand how you can succeed in this league throwing 90-92 mph heaters 85% of the time. You change speeds, you change eye levels, you cut it, you run it, you command it and you attack weak contact.
Just watching him operate every fifth day is like having a second pitching coach for guys like Folty who will see that velocity is great for winning prizes at the carnival, but you don’t need to throw through a brick wall to get hitters out.
Colon’s fastball actually averaged 88 last year. His real skill is that sinker that he can throw right at a batter’s feet. Plus he never walks anybody.
Somehow I doubt the D-Backs deal is another one of their young OF’s, and why do we need him?
The 5th spot probably goes to Collmenter, Wisler, Blair or Whalen in my opinion.
No way they trade for a 2B with Ozzie Albies waiting in the wings. If they do make a 2B move it would be a similar deal as this.
So the Braves number 4 and 5 starters are going to be a combined age of about 85 or 86???
AARP anyone?
I hear they will have ensure on ice every game.
6 more years……
Love the move!! Two solid vets to go with all our young guns!!
NO GOD PLEASE NO
I fully expect a Bartolo home run with the Braves
If it was an inside the park job, I’m pretty sure it would unite the country.
Two good clubhouse guys who can eat innings while the deep farm system develops the kids? I like the way they think. There’s very little risk with these one year deals. It’s funny to have guys that old, sure, but hardly a mistake.
Don’t worry fellas. Medicare is picking up 80 percent of their salary!!
Ha! Now that’s funny.
Your #4 trade candidate at the July 2017 deadline. #1 of course being Tanaka.
Gotta question the wisdom of putting the two oldest pitchers in baseball into the same rotation, but I suppose the Braves have little to lose here.
Avoid signing longer term deals if you have the cash in the short-term. If either pitcher does well and ATL needs to open a spot for a young future arm (and they’re not contending), most teams would take on their deals and possibly even give up prospects. Not that much of a head scratcher.
2 Cy Young winners in 2 days.
Yes, but then picking up Jimmy Rollins and Ichiro Suzuki would give a team two former MVPs.
How Colon ever won that award is still way beyond me.
Voters back then mostly gave it to pitchers with lots of Wins
As a Yankee fan, it was amazing that Chien-Ming Wang was second for the CYA back in 2006. He was not that strikeout pitcher, but his sinkers just kept getting people to hit grounders. His injury was so unfortunate.
How he got more votes than Roy Halladay is mind bottling.
Makes you wonder who in hell is running the circus in Atlanta… and what kinda of Koolaid he is drinking … all the salary dumping and all the arrangements made or discussed about the new stadium… what a joke
Interesting note that I read on twitter: Bartolo Colon made his MLB debut the day that Turner Field opened. Now he will be on the Braves roster when the new SunTrust Park opens. How mind boggling is that. But Turner Field isn’t going to be demolished but renovated to become a football stadium. Awesome.
The problem with signing 40+ pitchers is that you don’t know what you are going to get. They are notorious for suddenly losing it once they run out of gas. Maybe it was a “good investment” for $8 -$10 million for one year but you could lose this money too. Oh well, it’s done. Let’s see what happens… Keep your fingers cross that these two guys eat enough Wheaties, take their Centrum Silver, and they don’t get too bug eyed every time the team visits the Marlins.
You could also say there’s more risk in investing a lot more to a sub-40 guy like Rich Hill that has a laundry list of injuries who could easily flame out and force a team to collect the insurance money that will be inevitably attached to his contract. There’s a higher liklihood that Dickey and Colon just coast through getting 200 IP with a 3.50-4.00 ERA with good defense.
Agreed. And working in all three of those guys favors (Hill, Dickey, Colon) is that they all have relied on control the past few years. “Running out of gas” only really applies if your talking about guys who rely on velocity.
I thought Bart was finished when he signed with the Yanks, but he keep on ticking!
It seems obvious to me that the Braves are signing relatively cheap guys (past their prime) with name recognition to help sell tickets for their new ballpark. Kemp, Dickey, Colon……who else will they get? McCann? Utley? Rodney? Yunel? Frenchy?
No one is buying tickets because a team signs Dickey and Colon.. I hope that was sarcasm!
I will 100% watch every Colon at bat, or mid-inning snack.
I love the signing, Colon himself is worth the price of admission. I cant wait to see big sexy in Braves color, i say the braves uniform will have a slimming effect on him
He still has a better swing than Jason Heyward….!
Perfect !
Someone better warn The Varsity.
Big Sexy to Atlanta.
Great move Braves, I thought that he was going to return to the Mets but you signed a great pitcher.
That didn’t take long
Josh Thole on his way to Atlanta
Colon is a solid pitcher but that’s a bit of an overpay IMO
It has been said many times, there is no bad 1 year contract.
Also been said many times, but if you throw in a few million extra to get them on a shorter term 1 year deal to avoid taking away money from future teams with better free agents, what’s the harm in that?
Yes, ATL has a good bit of money to spend this season, but no one knows what we have maturing on the farm, and we’re not going to backload future teams for the sorry free agent class that represents this class.
I’d rather have Colon for $12 million than Volquez on a multi-year deal.
Hey, now it’s a party!! Great moves for the Braves getting Dickey and Colon! Veteran presence, more development for prospects and a fun team!
Great Move by The Braves. Sure, it’s an overpay by $4-$5 million dollars. However if Colon can come close to repeating his numbers from last year….he’ll be worth every dime.
If not…then it’s only for one year. We spent $20 mil signing two pitchers to fill the rotation for ONE YEAR only! Not bad! It gives our fans a reason to come to the park (hope..even if it is slim….motivates people, lol) in 2017.
The most important thing…..is that our Triple A rotation (barring any trades involving pitching prospects) should be LOADED….and given plenty of time this year to develop/show us when they are truly ready to make the next step to The Majors!
I can only imagine what Coppy has up next. However if he is going to stick to the $50 mil to play with this offseason….then he still has $30 mil left to play with on improving the Major League Roster (while still leaving payroll flexibility for 2018 and beyond…while not having to give up ONE SINGLE PROSPECT so far).
The future is looking bright. The next month should be hella interesting for Braves fans!
Braves are collecting dinosaurs
More like a rhinosaurus
This signing is still pending a physical,. That poor, poor doctor.
Can squeeze and cough if it’s hidden under that gut, Sloppy B hasn’t seen it in years.
Has anyone recognized how OVERRATED and STUPID Sandy Alderson’s Moves are? He is condescending and demeaning to his Employees (Mets Players) and forced Barto to go elsewhere. Good luck Mets fans enjoy 4th place next year while the genius Sandy scrambles to trade away his pitching to acquire bats after Cespedes leaves too.
Dump the Wilpons and Alderson, Yech to both of them.
there was no way mets could pay bartolo 12 mill. he didn’t “force him to go away”, braves just made an offer they couldn’t match
Mets can afford every contract. They are liars. They have made close to a half-billion in revenue the last two seasons. Scuzzy Sandy and the Wilpons insist on playing MoneyBall again and again. It doesnt work. Let me know when Oakland returns to the Playoffs.
People may take you more seriously if you don’t randomly capitalize words, use condescending nicknames, or generally lower the level of discourse by using hyperbole and exaggeration as the sole platform of your argument.
But this all comes from a guy with a poop emoji as his avatar, so take it for what its worth.
Sure Doodie. Whatever you say.
lol, at a dude whose name is “overratedsandy”.
He took a dumpster fire with terrible owners and a mid level payroll and turned it into a World Series team with a very bright future. If you don’t acknowledge what he did you are totally out to lunch. Of course the owners are awful, it says even more about the job this front office has done.
They’re going to be a real good team for a few years, if you think this is a fourth place team you are nothing short of insane and should probably stop making any baseball observations.
Sandy is such a genius he let a GREAT Daniel Murphy go for a draft pick (who went down on TJ Surgery)…yeah, he’s a genius.
Of-course you are the Baseball expert (and are a true connoisseur of smelly doody
Remember when the team Alderson built went to the World Series and Sandy was named MLB Executive of the Year?
That was a tough day for you, huh?
You mean after being under 500 for 5 years running? You should know that even the LOSERS get lucky sometimes.
Yeah, they got “lucky” lol.
You might not wanna watch them for the next few years because they’re about to get “lucky” quite a bit. 5 years to build what built is fine, they were a dumpster fire when he took over. For him to deal with these idiot owners and build a contender is very impressive. They’re going to be good for a while with all of the pitching they have. Their farm system is still very solid as well. (Not sure if you know what a farm system even is, but rest assured they’ve built a good one)
Trust me a know a lot more baseball than you ever will. Sandy will constantly trade anyone who gets over 10MM in Salary. In the next two years expect to see Degrom and Wilmer get traded. His moves with Turner and Murphy were simply brilliant. And signing D’aza and getting Jay Bruce to replace Cespedes was even more brilliant. Remember you read it here first.. Now go pick up some dog doody.
So I’m guessing you are either 12 years old or like 88 years old lol.
Bottom line, he built a World Series team that is moving forward with an elite young rotation and why am I arguing with a mentally ill person who uses the word “doody” on the internet in 2017?
Yes I am mentally ill. Yes you are a Doody expert. When you find the time, post a paper on the different nuances of Doody on the Web. Sounds like this is where your expertise lies.
Sorry for feeding the troll guys, go about your day.
Rumor has it that Colon was only interested because the Braves have the Burgerizza.
Big sexy
Got to send Thole to Atlanta now. Sad to see Colon leave the NYC area.
Colon is so underrated, totally deserved 12 mil
Signed there because there’s a great chicken and rib joint down there that he likes…
Fox Bros BBQ is gonna be in the new stadium, I’m sure that’s what sealed the deal. If you’ve ever been to ATL, it’s the holy grail of BBQ. I used to live 2 houses down from the original location in Candler Park.
There you go. He and Dickey can sit together beside the Geritol cooler.
The average age of the Braves just shot up about 20 years after these last two signings.
Bartolo was a great Met. He and Dickey will provide a very solid veteran foundation for what will be a fairly young pitching staff.
Thanks for being classy while a Met, Bart.
Classy? He’s leaving how many families behind in NY when he heads to Georgia?
My complaint about the Braves is they fed us a line about being competitive in ’17 for the new ballpark, which btw, is in one of the worst locations in regards to traffic conditions in all of ATL with no type of mass transit to the location. Even no bus availability. I would prefer they go after a real pitcher like Archer or (dreaming) Sale and give up a couple of those prospects. We don’t have any kind of ace….no, Tehran is not an ace. He’s a #2 on any other staff.
We could still get Archer/Verlander. Only 4 spots are taken, and that 5th rotation spot doesn’t belong to any of the possibilities I’ve heard mentioned.
Love the moves 3 innings eaters on our staff now julio colon n dickey all solid arms i think we will compete this year
Mets should have resigned Colon for insurance purposes. Hopefully they throw in a veteran down in AAA this time around.
Ironically they didn’t resign him due to insurance purposes, their health care provider threatened to drop the whole organization if they brought this slob back.
“A slob” who, next to Synderguard, anchored The Mets staff? “A slob” whose 44 wins led The Mets staff since he arrived there? Whatever Sling Blade!
Well putz72 he is a slob, a poor excuse for an “athlete”…also cheated his way through his career from lying about his age to PEDs and experimental surgeries.
Not a bad signing. Colón can soak up innings for the Braves and take some pressure off the younger starters. Then if the Braves are out of the race at the deadline and Colón has been effective, he becomes a nice trade chip for the Braves.
Will work for food….
Poor Bartolo. I was hoping he’d finish his career on a winner.
I’m honestly surprised. First Dickey, now Colòn, this is surprising. I’m not sure what they’re doing. The move to sign two potential retirement candidates is unlike them, considering their rebuild, and I’m wondering if this indicates a potential attempt for contention. This is almost like wasted money. Unless they trade for a big time starter and get a top tier hitter, this is gonna be 12.5 million dollars down the drain, and the big starter thing might not work anyway. We saw the Diamondbacks and Greinke.