The Mets Won’t Trade Bartolo Colon, But Should They?

While Grandpa Bart sits less than a month away from his 42nd birthday, the Mets continue to pay the senior pitcher portions of his 11 million dollar salary. Simultaneously, multiple top pitching prospects continue to hurl for Las Vegas, wasting years of their career pitching in the minors. It seems like a simple fix, right? Trade your ancient pitcher with the huge contract to make room for the young studs on their way up, right? Wrong, says the Mets. It’s easy to see the logic from their side too. Bartolo Colon is the leader of this pitching staff. The Opening Day starter is off to a 4-1 start, and let’s not mention his whopping TWO RBIs! (The rumblings of batting Bartolo cleanup during his starts have been oddly nonexistent). But there is more to Colon’s presence than just his pitching. As the oldest player not only on the team but in the entire league, Bartolo provides veteran leadership to a young pitching staff that may require it. He keeps the mood light, and is unfazed by anything that may happen during his time on the mound. This leadership may very well be the reason the Mets staff has done so well in the early going. At the same time, the Mets have some guys deserving of a rotation spot, yet have no real opportunity of earning one in the pros. Rafael Montero has pitched well out of the bullpen and in his lone start, but a shoulder issue has sent him to the shelf. Steven Matz is one deserving candidate, and a prime example of a forgotten man in the Mets organization. Or how about Noah Syndegaard? Remember him? Oh, you don’t. Okay, well his nickname is Thor. Still nothing? A five star prospect deemed the next Harvey? That isn’t helping either? How about that time when Bobby Parnell and David Wright threw his entire lunch away at Spring Training for disrespecting the team? Yeah, that guy. Talk about a forgotten man. The once hot commodity is far past ripe, and should be put to use before the fruits of his labor rot. Those fruits of his labor should be enjoyed in the Big Apple, where— what’s that? One too many fruit jokes? Okay gotcha. Sorry about that. Anyways, Syndegaard’s call up is long overdue. While it would be nice to see him or Steven Matz pitching off the Citi Field mound, there still isn’t an opportunity for them to do so. Trading Colon may seem like the right decision due to his age and salary, but the guy still has a lot left in the tank, and his leadership is definitely undervalued. The better decision would be ridding the Amazin’s of someone like Dillon Gee, a rotation filler on a team that doesn’t exactly need one. Matz and Syndegaard need to be patient; their times will come before they know it. The Mets are smart for deciding to keep Colon around, as his veteran presence may be just what the doctor ordered for a Mets team with playoff aspirations.