Cleveland Indians should consider signing Bartolo Colon

With news of Mike Clevinger being out potentially two months, the Cleveland Indians may be wise to consider signing veteran starting pitcher Bartolo Colon.

When the season started, the last thing most fans thought was that the Cleveland Indians could be hurting for a starting pitcher. However, with Mike Clevinger injuring his back and being out for two months (or maybe more), the Tribe finds itself in an awkward position trying to fill his rotation spot. Presumed sixth-man Adam Plutko is also on the disabled list and the other options in Triple-A Columbus are less than ideal. But a certain veteran starting pitcher remains on the open market, ready for signing. I’m of course talking about Bartolo Colon.

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Bartolo “Big Sexy” Colon should be no stranger to Tribe fans. The right-hander began his big league career with the Cleveland Indians, making his debut way back in 1997. He was famously traded to the Montreal Expos back in the summer of 2002 for a couple of guys named Brandon Phillips, Cliff Lee, and Grady Sizemore. Since then, he’s made his rounds. He’s pitched for 11 teams in his career now, most recently with the Texas Rangers in 2018.

Colon appeared in 28 games for the Rangers last year (24 starts) throwing 146 1/3 innings. He had an ugly 5.67 ERA though did have his usual stellar control walking just 1.5 per nine innings (4.0% walk rate). He has no velocity to speak of anymore and he strikes out less than five per nine innings; however, he still can eat innings, and he was better early in the year. Posted a respectable 1.21 WHIP in the first half and through his first hist 11 games had a 3.55 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 6.7 K/BB ratio.

Of course, that’s a small sample and he fell off a cliff in the second half resulting in the ERA approaching six, but he still has the ability to put up some good starts and save your bullpen, which is really all this 2019 Cleveland Indians rotation needs at the moment. Someone that can take the ball every 5th day until Clevinger is back sometime this summer. While guys like Jefry Rodriguez, Chih-Wei Hu, and Cody Anderson make sense and potentially do better even, it may behoove the Tribe to look for a veteran to curb the tide, especially if Plutko is on the shelf for a while longer.

Colon won’t cost much money as he is

62 years old

45 years old now, and while he missed Spring Training he’s the type of pitcher that shouldn’t take much to get ready. He’s not a power guy (obviously) and he could be ready in as little as 2-3 starts (though perhaps I’m way off there).  Plus it would be kind of cool to see his career come full-circle back to Cleveland.

So what do you think Tribe fans, should the Cleveland Indians look at signing Bartolo Colon? Should they give the kids a shot even if they aren’t ready? Or should they look at a trade or another free agent?  Let us know in the comments below.