Going into last spring training, Bartolo Colonhadn’t pitched in a year and wasn’t even guaranteed a job with the New York Yankees. But Colon earned himself a job out of spring training had himself a pretty decent year in the Bronx. That year earned him a contract for 2012.

Colon shouldn't buy a place in Oakland

Colon signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the Oakland A’s Sunday according to Jayson Stark. With Oakland gutting their starting rotation this winter, Colon could find himself as the A’s’ No. 2 starter out of spring training.

Colon finished the 2011 season with the Yankees with a 4.00 ERA, 7.4 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, and a 2.9 WAR in 164.1 innings. Colon really fell off in the second half (4.96 ERA) as the amount of innings he was logging caught up with him.  Remember, his 164 innings were the most Colon was the most Colon had thrown since 2005. That’s a big gap.

As someone who lives in New York and had Colon on his fantasy team for the majority of the season, I had the opportunity to watch Colon a lot. I thought he was very good last year.

Colon featured a very, very good Greg Maddux-like two-seam fastball that had a ton of movement. That pitch led to him having the highest k/9 of his career since 2001 with the Cleveland Indians (8.1).

Being a flyball pitcher, Colon should fair well in Oakland. That is until he gets flipped for some prospects. That’s the main reason he is in Oakland; To pitch well enough so that Billy Beane can get something for him.

The A’s figure to be one of the worst teams in baseball in 2012, so if I was Colon and why waist size was six inches bigger, I wouldn’t look into buying something in Oakland. He’ll be on the move come June or July.

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By The Baseball Index