I don’t know if the Yankees brought in Pedro Cerrano to perform some voodoo this spring or what, because they’ve had a lot of success waking players from the dead this month. First it was Eric Chavez who hadn’t done anything in the Majors since 2006 who had a great start to the spring. Now it’s Bartolo Colon who’s coming out of nowhere to impress.
Barcholo already made headlines here at LBS for how overweight he looked in pinstripes (check the pictures), but he actually supposedly has dropped about 40 pounds. He pitched in the Dominican Winter League and posted a 1.47 ERA in seven starts. The Yankees signed him to a minor-league deal in January and the success he had in the winter has spilled over to the spring.
Colon pitched six innings of one-run ball Monday against the Rays striking out five. In 15 innings he’s struck out 17 batters while only walking one. Can you believe it? This is the same 37-year-old Barcholo who hasn’t pitched in the bigs since 2009 when he made 12 starts for the White Sox and seven the year before with the Red Sox. That was after he was a total bum the last two years of his fat contract with the Angels.
Even if Colon makes the Yankees’ rotation as the fifth starter by beating out Freddy Garcia, the injury concern looms. He’s had back, elbow, and shoulder injuries late in his 30s, and his health shouldn’t be counted on now that he’s even older. Regardless, it’s amazing to see that Colon is rising from the dead and that he may be pitching games for the Yankees before long.
