Bartolo Colon Placed On Waivers

Dodgers. Please.

Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Okay. I will post 2 tweets about Bartolo Colon today
First, a sign that Colon is on revocable waivers

Then one regarding how likely it is he passes through them

Well that’s certainly something. I am going to be very upfront about my feelings on Bartolo Colon.

If the Dodgers do not place a claim on Colon I will be very skeptical about the team’s willingness to win a championship. Seems drastic. Unnecessary. But I believe it.

Lets face it, whether they could do anything about it, the Dodgers were screwed at the trading deadline. They are actually relying on Kevin Correia, Dan Haren, and Roberto Hernandez in a rotation. I get it, they have had decent performances, but the fact that they’re relying on them in the first place is problematic.

Lets take a look at this, the Dodgers wanted to “vault themselves into a position to contend for a championship” while also “keeping highly regarded prospects” which is an admirable position to have, and one that has worked out thus far. I was completely understanding of the decision to stand pat at the trade deadline, I was for it, I want the Dodgers to be the Cardinals, to develop Seager and Urias and Pederson. So I had no qualms about it, but it’s an unfortunate situation to be in when not only is Ryu out, not only is Beckett out, not only is Haren bad, not only are you employing Hernandez and Correia, but Greinke’s effectiveness could very well be compromised the rest of the season.

Christ, he said himself he will not be 100% the rest of the season, but attempted to reassure us that he will be fine going forward.

Colon has his drawbacks, a 11 million dollar contract next season, 41 years old, PED use in the past. But none of those matter right now. I want the Dodgers to be “all in” I want the Dodgers to maximize the chance to win a world series win while also keeping highly regarded prospects.

What am I getting at? Well the Colon situation is perfect. Guy with a contract that’s too expensive for anyone in the NL other than the Dodgers, guy with said contract is employed by the Mets (the cheapest organization in pro sports arguably), the media is talking about a reunion with Anaheim (when the Dodgers need him more). It’s perfect, Colon owns a 3.40 FIP He has a 15.6% K-BB% which is excellent, he limits dingers at a decent amount (enough to not kill you), he has been in the playoffs before. Colon is perfect for this team.

What would I be okay with parting with? I think prospect hoarding is a sin in this situation. Chris Anderson and Scott Schebler for Bartolo Colon should happen.If one’s willing to cost themselves a chance at a world series (going from Correia/Haren/Roberto to Colon could very well be the difference between an NLCS and a World Series) because one likes your #5 prospect too much (even though he’s a #5 prospect for a reason), then you need to reevaluate the value of the present.

But regardless, if Olney is to be believed, the Mets may just let him go, which would be even more ideal.

If the Giants somehow find the money to claim him, if the  Brewers decide they need another highly expensive arm, if the Cardinals said that the Justin Masterson experiment failed, then fine. Whatever.

But if Bartolo Colon is an Angel (means the Dodgers passed on him at the wavier period) then I am going to be livid and especially skeptical of the same team who claimed and/or signed a potentially questionable Zack Greinke (at the time), a (still) declining Adrian Gonzalez, a declining and now injured Josh Beckett, one of the worst contracts in baseball history in Carl Crawford, just 2 years ago.

Bartolo Colon increases the chances the Dodgers can survive Ryu not being ready for whatever reason, a Greinke ineffective spell, or god forbid, an injury, a Dan Haren start. So many things Colon protects against. Bartolo Colon is perfect for the Dodgers, I just fear he might not be here for some dumb reason.