Out Of The Pan And Into The Fire: Colon or Contreras

Just because Colon was healthy enough to take the mound this spring, it doesn’t really mean he should have. While Colon’s numbers suggested that he was managing and his ERA was decent, the truth was… Colon was kind of a guaranteed loss most of the time. The same was true today, when he was responsible for 6 of the Indian’s 8 runs. It just goes to show you that when the Sox finally put the bat on the ball and the ball over the fence (scoring 4 runs today), the pitching isn’t there to support them. Luckily (?), they have another veteran pitcher on standby! Here he comes to save the day, right?

Is it time for Colon to relinquish his job to Contreras? Hmm… Well, Grandpa Jo went 3-1 during his time with the Knights. That seems good. His overall ERA was 2.70. That seems good. On May 18th, he pitched a complete game and allowed only one hit. That is good. On May 23rd, he struck out 8 over 5.2 innings. That seems good. Of course, “seems” and “is” are two entirely different verbs. In the same game, he earned 5 runs. May 28th he earned 4 runs while striking out 6. To be completely honest, I am unimpressed with anything more than 1 earned run in the minor leagues. Maybe I just don’t get it, and maybe my standards are too high, but this guy is supposed to be earning a $10 million dollar salary, not throwing batting practice to high school graduates. And, yes, I’m not a moron, I know the minors, much like spring training, are a place where you try out different things and work on improving. But it seems like his efforts weren’t very effective.

What’s more interesting is looking at his split stats. Against righties, his ERA is 0.90. That’s good. Against lefties… 5.40. Yikes! I could scare you more and more showing how his ERA grows exponentially from having bases empty, to runners on, to runners in scoring position, but [ you can look it up yourself ].

In conclusion, as we saw today, Bartolo Colon is a mess. But am I ready to welcome back Grandpa Jo with open arms? Not even close.