New York Mets Letting Bartolo Colon Walk Away Was A Smart Decision

Bartolo Colon signed with the Atlanta Braves on Friday. The New York Mets clearly did not have much interest in bringing him back for another season.

There is no question that Bartolo Colon will be missed by the New York Mets players and fans. However, letting him sign with another team in free agency was a good decision.

Colon is 43 years old and still going strong. On Friday, he signed a one-year, $12.5 million contract with the Braves. Despite his age and physical shape, Colon is still a valuable asset to have. He’s a solid starting pitcher who almost never misses a start. This past season with the Mets, he made 33 starts and went 15-8 with a 3.43 ERA. This quality season earned him a new deal with another team.

If the Mets really wanted to, they could have made a real effort to re-sign Colon. After all, he’s been in New York for the past three years. He might have given the Mets a slight hometown discount if they had decided to really engage him in contract talks. When Colon re-signed with the Mets for one-year and $7.5 million last offseason, he said that he had more lucrative offers but wanted to come back and play for the Mets.

Clearly, Colon got more expensive during free agency this time around. The Mets did not want to pay what the Braves offered him. The main reason for this is that they no longer need him.

Really cannot begrudge the Mets for not going to that salary to retain Bartolo Colon. He had a bullpen role in NY if everyone was healthy.
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinMedia) November 11, 2016

More from New York Mets

If everything goes well in the offseason and all the Mets starting pitchers get healthy, then the team is going to be set when it comes to the pitching staff. The best-case scenario is that the Opening Day starting rotation will include Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler. Should this be the case,

Should this be the case, Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo would both be used primarily in the bullpen. Gsellman and Lugo were inserted into the starting rotation during the 2016 season due to injuries to other pitchers. In this situation, the Mets would not have room for Colon anyway.

Additionally, the Mets will now have more money on the payroll to sign other players. This is going to be very important in the coming weeks, as the futures of Yoenis Cespedes and Neil Walker are still in question.

The Mets extended a one-year, $17.2 million qualifying offer to both players a week ago. They have until later today to accept the offer. The Mets would really like to have Cespedes and Walker back next year.

As far as Cespedes goes, he is probably looking for a multi-year contract worth at least $100 million. It is very likely that he declines the qualifying offer. Walker will probably not ask for as much, but it’s doubtful that he will accept the qualifying offer either. Now that Colon is gone, however, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson has more money to spend in free agency. He has a better chance to make sure that Cespedes and Walker are back next season.

Next: New York Mets 10 Most Impactful Trades In Last 20 Years

Alderson made a smart decision to not aggressively try and bring back Colon. Although he’s a nice piece to have, the Mets no longer have a need for me. Their money will be better spent elsewhere.

Home/New York Mets