The Twins have signed veteran righty Bartolo Colon to a minors deal, per a club announcement. He’ll head to the organization’s top affiliate.
It’s not tough to see the fit. Minnesota has struggled to find reliable innings from its rotation, outside of top starters Ervin Santana and Jose Berrios, and also has depth issues in the bullpen. With the club still holding onto hopes of competing for the postseason, but not interested in punting too much future value for immediate improvements, it’ll take a shot on the veteran castaway just three weeks before the trade deadline.
Minnesota will only be responsible to pay Colon at the league-minimum rate during any time he spends in the majors, with the Braves covering the remainder of his $12.5MM annual salary. Evidently, the Twins offered a more appealing situation — whether in terms of opportunity, competitiveness, or otherwise — than did the Mets, who were among the other teams pursuing Colon.
Colon, 44, had thrived for the Mets over the past three seasons, capping off his time there with 191 2/3 innings of 2.43 ERA ball in 2016. But he has been rocked through 13 starts in the current season, allowing 57 earned runs on 92 hits through 63 innings. The Twins will hope that Colon can regain his pinpoint control while also returning to the good graces of the BABIP gods, who cursed him with a .360 batting average on balls in play and 48.2% strand rate during his time in Atlanta.
jabmets
Noooooooo big sexy say it ain’t so!!
kaido24
This literally made me LOL.
GoRockies
Why Colon is 44 and should of retired 7 years ago
casualatlfan
Well, for someone who should have retired seven years ago, he’s done fairly well during those years…
Hiro
Just a bad year, but hoping he’s gonna rebound.
Ted
In 2010? Why? From 2011-2016 he averaged 29 starts and 183 IP of 3.63 ERA ball. Got paid almost $50MM extra to play a game, too.
The only pitchers with more wins (a terrible stat, I know) over that span? Scherzer, Kershaw, Greinke, Bumgarner, Price, Verlander, Weaver, Lester, King Felix, Porcello, and Cueto. That’s good company.
AndThisGameBelongsToMySanDiegoPadres
Should have posted the only pitchers with more innings pitched over that span with ERA’s south of 4
cxcx
But what would the innings pitched minimum have been?
A'sfaninUK
He basically didn’t play for 5 years so he’s technically got the arm of a 39 year old!
yoyo137
Plus he had that stem cell treatment on his arm and shoulder which seems to have worked amazingly. I do wonder if he did any PEDs while receiving the stem cell because the treatment took really well. The doctor that did it for him says he didn’t give him any HGH but i’m not too sure about that lol
Polish Hammer
HGH? High Glucose Hohos? Maybe some Twinkees too?
bitteroldman
Twinkees? technically, wouldn’t that be cannibalism?
davidcoonce74
MLB investigated this thoroughly and found no wrongdoing. It wasn’t allowed in the states when he did it, but it is now.
Sid Bream
*have
thebare
Two years sago was the Mets second best
RiverCatsFilms
Holy crap
sidewinder11
Well that’s somewhat unexpected. I guess the appeal of playing for a contender and the Twins relative lack of quality pitching depth makes it a good choice for Bartolo.
partyatnapolis
dear twins,
call him up to the bigs
sincerely,
an indians fan
phillyoakman
rotflmao!!
stug14
For the win.
Twins_guyTJZ
What. The. F***?!?!?!?! Is this some sort of joke?!?!?!
Ironman_4life
I have a good idea he will help the Twins this season more than you will. Just saying
wartdog
Dont be so sure about that
Signed
A Braves Fan
halos101
hahaha
EndinStealth
None of the Braves pitching has really shined in the new stadium. It’s not really a pitcher park.
citizen
Really? Check your stats. Folty has a record of 4-3 and an era south of. 4 at home..
Colon is too busy at the buffet line.
EndinStealth
If you call that shinning? Yikes
IBFarr
That’s shinning for a Braves fan
EndinStealth
Lol
jbaker3170
Wow. That’s really your response?? The typical “You can’t do any better” argument?? Grow up troll and leave the baseball talk to the adults
JT19
I always love people’s absurd reactions to depth/minor league signings. It’s like they expect the team to be 100% completely healthy and not need to adjust their 25-man roster until September call-ups…
jd396
What, you mean you think the Twins who have had a revolving door of failure in the back half of their rotation all year to the point that they depleted their AAA depth and had to go to Jorge in AA for a couple of starts **might** have a use at some point for a seasoned veteran with a good amount of success in recent years?? Hogwash!
TwinsHomer
I really thought this was a good possibility. It makes perfect sense! He will get some starts in no time.
TheChanceyColborn
Everyone needs to chill. It’s a minors deal. It’s not like either of them have anything to lose.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
Dumb move by Colon and his agent.
He could have gone back to NY and ended his career as a rock star. Instead, he’ll be used like a piece of Kleenex before being DFA’ed again.
I guess he can always go back to NY after that.
hzt502
UH well considering the Twins have had one or more gaping revolving door of a hole in their rotation for basically the entire season, if he can pull it together and just be average he’d do fine w them. A really good fit if he can reign in his control.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
Right. That’s what people said about him when he signed with the Braves.
Why would this go better?
Mets fans would have treated him as royalty no matter what and he could have gone out with some dignity.
JT19
And if he plays just as badly as some expect, going back to the Mets still remain a possibility. And if anything, the story will be better if he gets DFA’d twice and pitches well in NY. But my thinking here is that either he saw Minnesota as a better chance to make the rotation, maybe there’s some bad feelings on Colon’s side after he left for Atlanta (not that there are any reasons to believe they split on bad terms), or he just wants to add another jersey to his collection.
Charkip
Usually, a good way to predict where someone heads to in free agency or in the trade market is to imagine how they would look in that teams hat/uniform. I can comfortably say that I cannot even picture Colon in a Twins uniform
wartdog
Well I mean he has already played for a third of the MLB teams so you should be able to just google image any of them soon
pt57
The manager at the all-you-can-eat buffet at the Radisson just wept a little.
differentbears
Ya know, it’s the Radisson, so it’s pretty good.
casualatlfan
Already people are freaking out about this. It’s a minors deal, that’s all. If he somehow gets his control back in order, then it works out well, especially for a team that could definitely use some rotation help. And if he continues his poor performance, they can just release him. Basically no risk at all. C’mon, guys, get ahold of yourselves…
julyn82001
He was great in Oakland! Post season experience! Good luck, Bartolo!
thegreatcerealfamine
*can’t go back to the scene of the crime
jdgoat
Might as well try him out, evens if it’s out of the bullpen. He can’t be any worse than Belisle
Nicholas Koch
Hold my beer.
basilisk4
Given that he was literally the worst starting pitcher in the majors this year, I would say that yes, Colon can be worse than whatever garbage the Twins have been throwing out there.
jd396
Yeah, you can have Nik Turley then
ReverieDays
With how bad he has been, the guy should be glad to be pitching at all.
jwr0223
Shows how badly the Mets suck. He would rather sign a minors deal with the Twins then play for the Mets again.
kaido24
So Fatman lives to fight (or throw?) another day. Good for him.
padresfan
Lol
Well the twins are rebuilding
Once the Indians catch fire the twins will fade and I’m guessing they are planning to trade some pieces
joe 44
The real question is who weighs more colon vargas or sano? twins could have 3 guys in the infield pushing 300 pounds each.
Polish Hammer
Colon ‘pushing 300 pounds’? Really? He’s pushed that aside long ago and I wouldn’t compare him to a guy that’s half a foot taller.
wartdog
So help me out here with the financials. If the Twins call him up does his base MLB salary ATL still owed become Minnesotas responsibility, or is anything he earns now on top of the Braves dead money?
terry g
Neither, if the Twins call him up they pay pro rated league minimum. Atlanta’s on the hook for the rest.
wartdog
Is that pro rated minimun built into lets say Barts initial 12.5mil contract? Or is that a separate contract and potentially his new pro rated Twins contract seperate as well and he would then earn on top of the initial 12.5mil?
terry g
built in. He gets 12.5 of which the Twins pay league minimum, not added on to his 12.5
wartdog
Thanks, so the Twins could end up saving the Braves up to 555,000?
terry g
Whatever, the pro rated minimum is something like below 200,000 for from now until the end of the season.
wartdog
* If the Twins bring Colon up
Can I just think of it like this?
One day in school the Braves were given 12 & 1/2 hours of detention for signing Bartolo Colon. The Twins were walking by study hall and saw the Braves crying in a pool of tears so they started laughing at them. The teacher saw this and then decided to let the Braves leave early and the Twins had to serve the last 15 minutes in their place.
This caused the Braves and Twins to end up dropping out of school and were never the same again.
tharrie0820
I…… What?
everlastingdave
Upvoted until I figure out what you’re talking about.
bitteroldman
You’re overthinking this :). Colon has a contract for $12.5M? He’s going to be paid $12.5M, all that changes is who pays how much of that. The twins will contribute whatever the minimum salary is, which is set in the basic agreement between the league owners and the player’s union and the braves will pay the rest.
wartdog
Lol
I tried to make a funny regarding the Colon disaster
davidcoonce74
No, he’s going to make his 12.5 million dollars from Atlanta no matter what. Whatever the Twins end up paying him, which will be the pro-rated league minimum, will be deducted from the money Atlanta is paying him.
wartdog
Or would the Twins be covering a small amount of that 12.5mil whatever the pro rated vet minimum is
EndinStealth
The Twins pay none of his Braves salary. They pay prorated league min. That amount is subtracted from what the Braves owe him.
acarneglia
“I Love It When You Call Me Big Sexy”
cplovespie
I’m preeetty sure he posted a 3.43 ERA in 2016. Don’t know maybe he seduced the stats to lower a run
strostro
3.43 ERA in 2016 not 2.43 ERA
qbass187
This guy is a piece of crap
roywhite
Wow. That’s just rude.
EndinStealth
Most trolls are.
OCTraveler
Signed just in time to start the Twins’ “old timers game”.
Too bad about the impact his signing will have on the Twins’ post game meal budget.
WubbaLubbaDubDub
Well, we can say one thing for sure: *certainly* his “resurgence” in the early part of this decade was *completely* on the up-and-up and that what’s what’s happening now has *nothing* to do with his body breaking down well past its expiration date.
Smoltzy16
I don’t feel as bad about Colon as I did Derek Lowe, Dan Uggla, or BJ Upton.
So…… we’re improving????
wartdog
Kenshin Kawakami, Hector Olivera, Chris JohnsonMichael Borne. Im gonna stop so I dont ruin my day.
Aaron Sapoznik
Perhaps the Twins can also persuade special assistant LaTroy Hawkins out of retirement to join Colon on their pitching staff. lol
MakeATLGreatAgain
Do you guys want Jim Johnson and Ian Krol too? I’ll even throw in Brandon Phillips and Brian Snitker for you too.
angelsfan4life
The Angels will send you Pennington and from for Phillips.
Sid Bream
How can you say that about Phillips. Have you been watching what he’s been doing? Your comment is very unfair. He’s fielding at the league average and batting .281 with 30 rbi’s which is good enough.
jd396
He’s more interesting than Adam Wilk or Nik Turley as emergency SP depth.
brewcrewenthusiast
Score!! Don’t like the twins live in mn and love bartolo. I will show up to every start the rest of the year. Call him up pleassseee
SixFlagsMagicPadres
This guy is like MLB’s court jester.
ErnestoRumors
Can you PLEASE stop with the damn errors?
I may have to uninstall the app.
Get better writers!
jd396
You tell em
pd14athletics
Of course he went to the Twinkies!
HarveyD82
wow. I didn’t expect twins, but when you see him I guess it makes sense….
in all seriousness…didn’t expect the twins. I understand their rotation, but I still believe he will end up in the bullpen
and….he could get traded again. I mean if he makes a good start or two, would the twins trade him?
Polish Hammer
Sure, somebody could offer up trade value for a guy they just could’ve had without offering up anything for outside the pro-rated league minimum. SMH
jd396
He’s not going to end up in the bullpen. The Twins have Santana and Berrios that have been reliable in the rotation and, other than that, Santiago fell off of a cliff and everyone else has been going back and forth to Rochester. Mejia and Gibson have been alright lately but odd as it is to say this, the Twins have a desperate need for barely-serviceable fifth starter depth.
nailz#4life
The Expos were in it till the last minute. Dam u Win Twins!!
basilisk4
As long as I never have to see him pitch for the Braves again, I’m good with it. Best of luck, Bartolo, and please never come back!
KCMOWHOA
I guess the New York metro didn’t have room for another beached whale.
Polish Hammer
Guess they can cancel that hot dog eating contest between him and Chris Christie…
doug148
Well there no pitching out so this reminds me of the Fernando days