It appears Bartolo Colon’s stay in Boston has come to an unceremonious end. The hefty starter, who has started just one game (September 13) since getting injured swinging a bat on June 16, has left the team to head back to the Dominican Republic for “personal reasons”. Apparently these “reasons” developed only after being told that the Sox were going to move him to the bullpen. What? Is Colon delusional enough to believe that despite pitching only 6 innings (and allowing 5 runs) in the past 3 months he was going to be part of the Sox post-season rotation? Did he not realize he was #6 in line to make a 4-man rotation? Would he rather not pitch at all then pitch out of the bullpen? Clearly the Sox didn’t put much stock into these personal reasons as they have suspended Colon, almost guaranteed to end his tenure in Boston. When healthy he was shockingly effective this year (4-2, 3.92 ERA), but he hasn’t been healthy in months. And when the Sox acquired Paul Byrd the need for Colon in the rotation, other than as insurance, became nil. So if it was so obvious to me that Colon’s only hope at making the playoff roster was out of the ‘pen, why wasn’t it more obvious to Colon? Have the Red Sox not discussed this with him prior to their being 9 games remaining in the year? It’s been a week since his one and only post-June start, so why is this an issue now? There was either horrible communication from the Sox, delusional expectations from Colon, or both. Either way the Sox playoff possibilities have been reduced by one. Nice knowing you Bartolo…sort of.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Sox Suspend Bartolo Colon
It appears Bartolo Colon’s stay in Boston has come to an unceremonious end. The hefty starter, who has started just one game (September 13) since getting injured swinging a bat on June 16, has left the team to head back to the Dominican Republic for “personal reasons”. Apparently these “reasons” developed only after being told that the Sox were going to move him to the bullpen. What? Is Colon delusional enough to believe that despite pitching only 6 innings (and allowing 5 runs) in the past 3 months he was going to be part of the Sox post-season rotation? Did he not realize he was #6 in line to make a 4-man rotation? Would he rather not pitch at all then pitch out of the bullpen? Clearly the Sox didn’t put much stock into these personal reasons as they have suspended Colon, almost guaranteed to end his tenure in Boston. When healthy he was shockingly effective this year (4-2, 3.92 ERA), but he hasn’t been healthy in months. And when the Sox acquired Paul Byrd the need for Colon in the rotation, other than as insurance, became nil. So if it was so obvious to me that Colon’s only hope at making the playoff roster was out of the ‘pen, why wasn’t it more obvious to Colon? Have the Red Sox not discussed this with him prior to their being 9 games remaining in the year? It’s been a week since his one and only post-June start, so why is this an issue now? There was either horrible communication from the Sox, delusional expectations from Colon, or both. Either way the Sox playoff possibilities have been reduced by one. Nice knowing you Bartolo…sort of.
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6 comments:
I do think the delay in this going down implies that either the Sox were thinking about him starting in the playoffs or were planning to add him to the post-season roster as a reliever. Very weird situation on many levels.
Not really sure if i would've wanted Colon to be pitching in the post-season. Honestly at this point i would have prefered him over Timlin but none the less he came here faily cheap it didnt work so he wont be here next year. Not a bad chance to take as you mentioned he was pretty good a few times.
F U Colon. You quit.
I really wish I knew what was going through his head on this one. Seems like proving he's healthy and getting a shot at a title would be motivation enough to get back into the swing of things, bullpen or not.
I know I've said it already, but was he really expecting a spot in the post-season rotation?
This is one of those times I wish Theo wasn't so tight-lipped about things.
Anyone notice how cold Lowrie has been recently? He just whiffed with the bases loaded vs. Betancourt, down 1 run with 1 out..,I am so used to him at least hitting a sac fly in that situation, that it is weird to not have him come through. He and Kotsay have been automatic outs recently and one or both needs to snap out of it for the playoffs.
Anyone notice how JBS often writes about a subject in postings that have nothing to do with the postings? (sorry, couldn't resist)
I wonder if seeing the Sox celebrate made Colon regret his decision at all. And I wonder how much Varitek, Wakefield, etc (veterans who want to win) hate Colon.
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