Jaffe: Bartolo Colon is the gift that keeps on giving
From SABR member Jay Jaffe at Sports Illustrated on May 4, 2016:
Bartolo Colon made some history on Monday night, spinning eight shutout innings against the hapless Braves to secure the 220th win of his major league career. In addition to doing some of the usual Bartolo Things that have so endeared him to fans in recent years — namely, pound the strike zone relentlessly and swing the bat awkwardly—he moved past Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez and into second place on the all-time wins list among pitchers born in the Dominican Republic.
Colon scattered seven hits without a walk over his eight innings against an admittedly abysmal Atlanta team that fell to an MLB-worst 6-19 with the 4-1 loss. Colon lowered his ERA to 2.56 and raised his strikeout-to-walk ratio to 9.3 (28 strikeouts vs. three walks) in 31 2/3 innings.
Barring a Jamie Moyer-like continuation of his staying power, the majors’ oldest player, who turns 43 on May 24th, isn’t likely to catch Juan Marichal (243 wins) atop the Dominican wins list, and unless he suddenly recaptures his Cy Young form of 2005, he won’t be joining Marichal or Martinez in Cooperstown. Colon (110 ERA+, 47.4 career WAR, 144th in JAWS among starting pitchers) doesn’t have Hall of Fame-caliber numbers, but even if he did, his 2012 suspension for performance-enhancing drug use would be a significant impediment, since the BBWAA has yet to elect a single player with a positive test on his resumé.
Read the full article here: http://www.si.com/mlb/2016/05/03/bartolo-colon-mets-wins-pedro-martinez
Originally published: May 5, 2016. Last Updated: May 5, 2016.