Milwaukee Brewers: Could Bartolo Colon Fit With The Crew?

With free agency underway, we continue to look at free agents that could fit with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Bartolo Colon began 2017 with the Atlanta Braves and posted an ERA north of 8.00 before getting released. He found a spot with Minnesota and improved in 15 starts, pitching to a 5.18 ERA in the Twin Cities. Overall his 6.48 ERA on the season would suggest that the 44 year old wonder should hang up his cleats.

But not yet, Colon has stated he intends to pitch in 2018 and is in need of a place to play. The man they call ‘Big Sexy’ is looking to pitch in his 21st season in the major leagues. Could that be with the Milwaukee Brewers?

The Brewers do need to add a starting pitcher to the rotation and Colon has plenty of experience to bring to a relatively inexperienced roster. Colon has shown he can still be an effective pitcher even in his advanced age. He even pitched a complete game for the Minnesota Twins last season and added to his legacy.

Colon has put together a legendary career and is just adored by baseball fans everywhere. Just looking at him, he doesn’t look like a professional athlete but he’s pretty agile and athletic and that’s what makes him even more amazing.

Is He A Fit in Milwaukee?

Probably not. Although it would be fun to watch him play, adding a starter that will likely put up an ERA north of 5.00 to this rotation would not improve the club. After watching Matt Garza and Wily Peralta do that, Brewers fans could do without that.

It wold be a great story for Colon to play in 21 major league seasons but he belongs somewhere else. Perhaps a team that’s not expected to contend in 2018 would be good for him. If he could get his first World Series ring in his illustrious career that would be great, but to go to a contending team means he won’t be pitching many meaningful innings throughout the season.

Colon is a great clubhouse presence and would be a good influence on the young pitchers for the Milwaukee Brewers. But he would be getting paid to pitch and he can’t do that at a high enough level anymore for the Brewers to sign him.

Bartolo Colon is a legend in every sense of the word and only he will decide when he’s done pitching. With the poor performance in 2017, Colon will be hard-pressed to find a major league contract for next year. He could sign a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite but Colon will not go back to the minor leagues. He either makes a team coming out of Spring or he retires.

He’s played for 11 teams in his long career but the Milwaukee Brewers will not be the 12th. There is a need to add a starting pitcher but it’s just not right fit for Colon. There are plenty of teams looking to add a starting pitcher and he could still receive some interest. Wherever he goes, hopefully it’s a National League team so we get to see him up to bat as much as possible.

Next: Could John Lackey fir with the Crew?

After 20 seasons in the big leagues, Colon is just about at the end of his career. It may even end up being a Hall of Fame career. He has 240 wins on his record and a Cy Young Award on his resume.