Sources Say Bartolo Colon Signs with Red Sox
Posted by redsoxstats on February 24, 2008
Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com is reporting that the Red Sox and Bartolo Colon have agreed to a minor league deal. No word yet on the money, or if he has an opt-out clause (he probably will).
All winter long there was not that much positive news coming out of the Dominican Winter League about Colon, he was getting lit up and only throwing 88-91. However, coming off his rotator cuff injury, among other ailments, I suppose just the fact he was throwing was a positive. Velocity is not my major concern here, I am more interested in seeing if he still command, if he does he can still get outs.
This move does two things; it allows the Red Sox to start Clay Buchholz in Pawtucket for a month or two to limit his innings and make it so that he does not have the service time to reach free agency a year sooner than we would like. However, that is unlikly and would only happen if Colon came into camp throwing amazingly. It also guards against injury in the early part of the season since Colon will likely open up with the PawSox.
Like I said earlier, I imagine that Colon has an opt-out in his contract. Something like if he is not in the majors by May 15th he can become a free agent. All-in-all, this deal does not have any downside and provides some nice insurance (however, it would have been nice to get our hands on him a half decade ago or so).
EDIT, Feb 25: There is an opt-out clause in his contract, however Theo Epstein will not reveal the date.
