(The Sports Xchange) – The Atlanta Braves and free agent righthanded starter Bartolo Colon have reportedly agreed to a one-year deal worth $12.5 million.
The 43-year-old Colon of the Dominican Republic would be the second senior arm the Braves have added to their rotation following Thursday’s deal with 42-year-old knuckleballer R.A. Dickey.
Atlanta will become the first team with two starters in their 40s since the 1990 Texas Rangers (Nolan Ryan and Charlie Hough).
Colon owns a 232-162 record over 19 major league seasons and has the third-most career wins among Latin American pitchers behind Nicaragua’s Dennis Martinez (245) and Dominican Juan Marichal (243). Colon went 15-8 with a 3.43 ERA last season for the New York Mets and was named to the National League All-Star team.
He went 44-34 with a 3.90 ERA in three seasons with the Mets.
Colon has also pitched for the Cleveland Indians, Montreal Expos, Chicago White Sox (twice), Los Angeles Angels, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics since first reaching the majors in 1997. He won the American League Cy Young Award in 2005 when he won a career-best 21 games for the Angels.
(Editing by Larry Fine)
Reuters
