Open Thread: Bartolo
ByThe Yankees do have an abundance of starting pitching at the moment, but the situation was much different a year ago. They were scrambling for pitchers after Cliff Lee went back to the youthful Phillies, and in what amounts to an act of desperation, they signed Bartolo Colon one year ago today.
Colon hadn’t had any kind of sustained success in the bigs since winning the Cy Young Award in 2005, but he was pitching well in the winter ball and the Yankees rolled the dice. It was a minor league deal, so they had nothing to lose. Bench coach Tony Pena was managing Bart in winter ball, so they had a bit more info than everyone else. Colon came to Spring Training and was throwing mid-90′s gas to everyone’s surprised, and before long he was in the rotation and serving as the team’s number two starter. It didn’t last all season, but watching this big fat guy slime out to the mound and throw 96 on the black with his two-seamer running all over the place was pretty awesome for the first few months.
Bartolo revived his career with the Yankees in 2011, and parlayed that success into a guaranteed $2M deal with the Oakland A’s this offseason. He won’t get much run support, but Colon should but up a shiny ERA in that ballpark and division. I hope he does well, he’s already made a fortune in his career and it was pretty obvious last season that he came back because of his love for the game. Hard not to appreciate that.
* * *
Here is your open thread for the night. There’s no hockey because of the All-Star break and neither the Knicks or Nets are playing, so you’re on your own for entertainment. You folks know how this works by now, so have at it.
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ugh, i remember i was furious when they took him out that game.
My standard policy is to never complain when they give the ball to Mo, unless it’s for the fourth day in the row or something insane.
normally i completely agree, but bartolo was straight nasty that night and i hated to see him come out.
Mo has been straight nasty for 15 years, and I hate to see anyone else finish out a close game.
We hate to see someone else fail to finish out a close game. That’s when the error in judgement is really egregious.
Love how cervelli starts running like he stoled something at second 46 lol
I prefer the priapic cotton candy at 1:17. The first time I thought Kay had said, “c*** candy and a baseball, that’s a good night” haha.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/articl.....8;c_id=mlb
In the “Prospect Points” table, the Yankees would have been first with Montero. The farm is doing good.
Nice link thanks. The pirates have 4 top prospects, I wonder if they would trade Andrew McCutchen for banuelos, campos and mason Williams? Would that be enough? Or too expensive? Add Gary Sanchez? Pirates could really load up Since they have a strong organization already. Their prospects are a couple years out making the younger yanks prospects perfect targets. Thoughts?
Way too expensive. Especially when you throw in Sanchez. The Yankees don’t even need McCutchen. He’s just a complimentary piece. I’m not trading Banuelos for any hitter. No reason to trade Campos, Williams, or Sanchez, either.
I agree that’s expensive. What’s a fair asking price? Seems that they would have to say yes to banuelos Sanchez campos.
I don’t think the time-frames really work out for the Pirates or the Yankees. If I’m Pittsburgh, I make every attempt to lock McCutchen up long-term (he still has 3 years of team control left as a super two). That’s probably their best course of action just because they need some sort of certainty in their future.
The time frame absolutely matches up. McCutchen will be hitting free agency when the prospects 1st 2nd years. Pittsburgh won’t be able to afford him in the open market. Even his last year if arbitration may be too expensive. Money may be better spent on other player(s).
That would be their #1 and #3 pitching prospects, as well as their #1 postion player and then Sanchez their highest-end bat. The system would be virtually stripped of high-end talent, making future deals unlikely, and as someone else noted, we’d be adding a player to an area that right now is not a weakness.
I’ll always remember that Colon vs Orioles start for two reasons:
1. I was recovering from surgery, and this game made my day, easily.
2. This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpEhjJ4qAAo
HE’S MARIANO RIVERA!!!!!!!!
Hard to argue with that.
Hahahaha
I agree with Francesa there, but still, I fucking hate that clown. I’d almost rather listen to an hour of Lou Holtz talk about bullshit college football.
Anyone up for a game of 20 questions? I’ve got a baseball player in mind, and you must ask a question that can be answered with either yes or no (everyone should know the rules). I’ll respond to the questions in the order in which they’re asked.
Anyone care to ask the first question?
Is he caucation????
1) no
Is he in the AL?
3) Yes, the player either does play, or has played in the AL (he may or may not be active… that hasn’t been asked yet, and I forgot to mention that in the rules).
is he an active player?
I answered “No” on number 4.
Is he alive?
2) Yes.
is he still playing?
4) No.
Did he play for the Yankees?
5) Yes.
Does he still work in baseball?
6) No. Not that I know of, or at least he’s not known to be working in baseball. He may be a special ST instructor or something, but I don’t know about it.
was he a pitcher?
7. No.
Was he an outfielder?
@ Brett
8. Yes.
So as of guess number 8, we have a player who is:
not Caucasian, still alive, is retired, played for the Yankees, doesn’t currently work in baseball, and was an outfielder.
Is it Bernie?
9. No.
What is his name?
Could we acquire him for Melky + IPK? Would he make good DH slop?
It’s obviously Spiderman.
IETC, although we’ve completely fucked up the game.
And for the record, I enjoyed you old handle much better, IMHO.
these three things were really good reads
http://www.bullpenbanter.com/i.....8;Itemid=5
http://baseballnewshound.com/?p=2151
and this an interview with Mason Williams
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/20.....-prospect/
Good links, thanks. Especially love that first one re: Campos.
Seeing Gerrit cole on that list bothers me. How dare he turn down yankee money for a college education filled with beautiful ucla girls
I would rather be a millionaire Yankee.You get the money and all the Tri state girls
Maybe, but he also turned down supermodels, actresses, singers…hell he could have still had a cheerleader or two if he signed with the Yankees, except they’d be professional cheerleaders.
I’ve never understood this philosophy. Why would you rather play college ball and risk getting injured and never drafted when you were already a first round pick? If I was Cole, I wouldn’t have thought twice about the offer.
me neither, you can always go back to school, getting drafted in the 1st round of any sport gives you a ton of money. I’m a college student myself and I love school, but if I was drafted as high as Cole, it would have been a done deal and I wouldn’t have given it a 2nd thought.
I’m in college as well. There is no way I’d pass up on that. But I believe he said he doesn’t need the money because he comes from a rich family. But now he’s on the Pirates, lol.
Yup, I hope he enjoys losing because he will be doing a lot of it for a while
I’m not sure there’s a price I could put on my college experience. However many millions he would have made is obviously nice, but the college experience is priceless.
With the new CBA he never would have rejected the Yankees money, then again, with the CBA the Yankees probably wouldn’t be able to offer enough money and Cole probably wouldn’t have drifted down to the Yankees.
Great stuff on Campos.
why no writeup for mlb top 100 prospects?
I’ll be up at 9pm. It was going to go up this afternoon, but I pushed it back because of the Whelan, Kuroda, and Logan stuff.
I loved Bartolo. Was so much fun to watch that two-seamer move the way it did.
He was so much fun to watch last year. Must-see TV.
Anyone have any idea what #s Pineda and Kuroda wear? Jones has 18, I’m assuming Freddy keps 36. Looks like Montero really kept to 63 for some reason.
I was hoping if he stayed he took O’Neill’s number. This whole retiring of numbers has got to stop. Derek and Mo get retired and that’s it. The other guys get plaques and a day.
Do the Yankees have a HOF, or is it all wrapped up in Momument Park? They can do a much better job here.
I agree, but I’d add in Posada. I’m on the fence about Andy (but maybe that’s me since I’m in the definite “no” category on Paulie).
Most of the younger players get the higher numbers when they first come up.
Pineda will wear 50, which from the upper deck looks like the abbreviation for “Strike Out”
K = strikeout
SO = shutout
I’ll take it.
Anyone know if the Yankees plan on doing a press conference to welcome Pineda & Kuroda?
No press conference-just a happy hour with an open bar.
PinedaKurodas.
Not bad.. Z
http://beta.local.yahoo.com/ne.....side-condo
Hip Hip! 11.5 Mil!
Can’t complain about what Bart gave us last year. I know every time he went out and pitched, I was waiting for something to blow up. I think we all knew that the wheels would fall off eventually but he gave the Yankees more than anyone expected.
I’m really going to miss Colon next year; he was great for us! One of my favorite moments (and I don’t remember all the details), was at the end of a rough inning he was having. The guy at the plate hit a grounder to the right of the mound, and Colon scooped it up. He had two options; throw it to first for the easy out, or tag the runner. Colon went with option B. I’ve never seen so much fat run so fast; the runner actually ran out if the base path, terrified, wanting nothing to do with the speed of the gargantuan man running at him. After making the tag and getting the 3rd out, as the broadcast went to commercial, both players were laughing about the play as they left the field. Not only was he great fun to watch, but he clearly loves the sport, and can’t imagine the day when he’ll finally have to hang it up. Bartolo; you will be missed. Good luck in Oakland.
funny how you said the “Young phillies” when they looked like the oldest team in the league this past year.
So with the NFL allowing players to tweet during the Pro Bowl, it won’t be long before the slower game of MLB does the same.
Teams will have a DT in every game’s lineup as well as a DH.
Designated Twitter.
/Tweeter more correct but Twitter more poetic..
Disgusting how Bart lost Comeback Player of the Year to a 27 yr old.
I’ve never been more heated over that award in my entire life. Dude hasn’t pitched in years, and haasnt been good since ’05 and they give it to a 20something coming off a down year.
Does Ryan Howard win this thing in 2013?
I’m going to miss the stopwatch game.