WHY DIDN'T THE YANKEES RE-SIGN COLON AGAIN?

In case you missed it, Bartolo Colon pitched a gem Thursday for the Oakland Athletics. It was in the 2nd game of this young baseball season. This is his line: 8 IP 6 K's 3 H 1 BB. Colon was credited with the win.

If the Yankees had re-signed Colon at a very cheap price, similar to before last season, that could have caused the Yankees to potentially have 8 capable starting pitchers on their roster, which would have been way more then they would ever need... Yes, don’t be confused by the title. I am happy that they did not re-sign Colon for this year, but you have to ask why not? Colon would have been cheap and perhaps could have had a better season than last. Sure, we'll never know for sure, but that last start was impressive. OK, enough of playing devil’s advocate…

First of all, I doubt that Colon can keep up this level of play for most of the year, and secondly there wouldn't be anywhere for him to play if the Yankees re-signed him. Colon most likely would have been slotted as the 7th or 8th starter, and would end up not pitching very much, or perhaps come out of the pen on occasion or cut or who knows. Look at the drama Freddy Garcia was dealing with when Andy Pettitte came back, right? Same type of thing in my opinion.

I am happy for the small market A's who have to play "Moneyball" in order to succeed in picking up a quality pitcher like Colon at a cheap price, he fits their needs. So far it is paying off for them and I wish Bartolo nothing but the best this season. I think it’s safe to say many Yankee fans wish him well also.

The Yankees clearly have a starting pitching problem without Colon and it may be a good problem to have, as they have too many starting pitchers for 5 slots; but in the next few days we’ll know exactly what the Yankees want to do with their 5 slots. With the Yankee “good problem”, I’d say it was a smart move not to re-sign Colon early in free agency... it was good to part company when they did. Plus, we can all root for Bartolo as he embarks on a new journey in Oakland. Good Luck to you Bartolo.

--Will Cohen, BYB Staff Writer

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