Tag Archives: Nolan Ryan

Colon Agrees to One-Year, $12.5 Million Deal with the Atlanta Braves

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It’s a Brave(s) new world for Bartolo Colon…

The 43-year-old Dominican MLB pitcher has agreed to a one-year, $12.5 million deal with the Atlanta Braves, pending a physical.

Bartolo Colon

Colon will be joined in Atlanta’s rotation by R.A. Dickey, who agreed to a one-year, $8 million deal on Thursday.

The Braves haven’t confirmed the agreement with Colon, who produced a 3.45 ERA over 33 starts for the New York Mets this past season.

When the Braves entered this offseason, they aimed to target free-agent pitchers who were willing to take short-term deals, because they did not want to block the path of their young starting-pitching prospects who may soon be deemed Major League Baseball ready. Dickey and Colon were immediately projected as top targets, primarily because they have recently been effective and were likely to take a short-term deal at this stage of their careers.

If all goes according to plan, Atlanta will become just the eighth team in Major League history to have two pitchers at least 42 years old to make at least one start in the same season.

The 1990 Texas Rangers (Charlie Hough and Nolan Ryan), the ’87 Cleveland Indians (Steve Carlton and Phil Niekro) and the ’81 Braves (Niekro and Gaylord Perry) are the only teams to have had two of these 42-plus pitchers make at least 10 starts in the same season.

Initially, it was thought Colon would have preferred to remain with the Mets, but the Braves were helped by their lucrative offer (Colon made $7.25 million this past season) and the longstanding relationship the entertaining pitcher shares with president of baseball operations John Hart dating back to their days with the Indians in the 1990s.

Colon also was not guaranteed a spot within the Mets’ rotation, and he is just 11 wins away from matching Juan Marichal‘s record for the most wins (243) by a Dominican-born pitcher.

With Colon and Dickey, the Braves have added a pair of former Cy Young Award winners with a combined 769 career starts and 85 years of age to their starting rotation.

Colon has produced a 3.94 ERA over 500 starts during a career that dates back to April 4, 1997, when he was backed by an Indians lineup that included Atlanta’s current hitting coach Kevin Seitzer and Julio Franco, who at that time (at the age of 37) was still capable of playing second base.

After winning the 2005 American League Cy Young Award with the Angels, Colon battled the lingering effects of a partially torn rotator cuff and produced a 5.18 ERA while totaling just 47 starts over the next five seasons (2006-10). He missed the ’10 campaign while undergoing a stem cell shoulder surgery that drew MLB‘s attention, and he received a 50-game suspension in ’12 after testing positive for a testosterone that was in violation of MLB’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

Colon experienced a resurgence in 2013, when he posted a 2.65 ERA over 30 starts for the A’s at age 40. He signed with the Mets the following offseason and proceeded to produce a 3.90 ERA over the past three seasons.

Arrieta Undresses for ESPN The Magazine’s “The Body Issue”

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Jake Arrieta is baring it all…

The 30-year-old part-Puerto Rican baseball star appears in only his birthday suit in ESPN The Magazine‘s eighth annual The Body Issue.

Jake Arrieta in ESPN The Magazine's The Body Issue

The Chicago Cubs ace dropped trou for photographer Marcus Eriksson for the special issue, in which the world’s top athletes take off all their clothes and pose for photographs that help celebrate the athletic form.

Arrieta, a Cy Young Award winner who has pitched two no-hitters, is considered one of the best pitchers in baseball, appears on the cover of this year’s Body Issue.

Jake Arrieta in ESPN The Magazine's The Body Issue

“The offseason is where I really put my body to the test. I try and push the boundary as far as I can while still getting a decent amount of recovery time,” says Arrieta of his workout regime. “The days where I really want to tax myself and replicate late-inning situations where your legs are heavy, I’ll do about an hour of cardio beforehand, usually on a StairMaster. So I can replicate situations late in games, late in the season, where that nervous energy is at a heightened point and you have to control your emotions knowing your body is not completely where you need it. That’s where the mental mindset comes in most.

Arrieta, who trains with Pilates in the offseason and in-season on a daily basis, believes his flexibility is his No. 1 asset.

Jake Arrieta in ESPN The Magazine's The Body Issue

“Three years ago, the splits was something I told myself I was going to be able to do by the end of that offseason; it took me two years to actually do it,” says Arrieta. “Hamstring flexibility and hip mobility for me are the two most important factors on the field. Obviously we need to have a strong shoulder, strong scap, strong lats and a durable elbow to have longevity as a pitcher, but being durable and being mobile in the hips and flexible in the hamstrings take so much pressure and stress off of my arm. My flexibility is a huge asset.”

But Arrieta is also fit mentally, especially when he’s on the field.

“The way that you present yourself on the mound is so tremendously important. That was one of the biggest takeaways for me as a young kid from Nolan Ryan, from Roger Clemens, from Randy Johnson,” says Arrieta. “The look in their eyes that they had, whether they were a nice guy or not, they looked like they wanted to tear your head off when they took the mound. That’s the way I like to be. I expect to win, I expect to beat everybody I play. It’s kind of that quiet confidence that I have inside that I try to present to the opponent without getting too overboard. Because there are times when I seem composed but inside I’m losing my mind.”

Santana Pitches the First No-Hitter in New York Mets’ History

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It’s hard to believe that in more than 8,000 games, the New York Mets had never pitched a no-hitter… But that all changed in game 8,020, thanks to Johan Santana.

The 33-year-old Venezuelan pitched the first no-hitter in New York Mets’ history on Friday in the Mets’ 8-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Johan Santana

Aided by an umpire’s missed call and an incredible catch by a left fielder who grew up in Queens as a Mets fan, Santana’s start is also the first no-hitter of his career.

In the victory over the reigning World Series champions, Santana, who missed last season because of shoulder surgery, walked five and struck out eight, while testing the limits of his comeback.

Mets manager Terry Collins said before the game that he wanted to limit Santana to a maximum of 110-115 pitches. Santana finished with a career-high 134.

Johan Santana

Afterward, an emotional Collins expressed his trepidation about going after history instead of preserving Santana’s long-term health.

“I just couldn’t take him out,” Collins said.

In the ninth inning with 27,609 fans all standing, Santana’s final pitch, a 3-2 change-up, resulted in David Freese swinging and missing. Santana’s teammates all stormed the mound to celebrate.

Johan Santana

“I don’t think I’ve ever even thrown a no-hitter in video games,” Santana said of his feat.

But that’s not all… Santana became just the eighth player in MLB history to throw a no-hitter against the defending World Series champions and the first since former Texas Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan completed the feat against the Oakland Athletics in 1990.

After the final out, Santana did interviews with the Mets’ TV and radio station before he walked into the clubhouse.

“We did this together,” Santana said. “It is not just about me. We had a great, great game tonight. Everyone participated. We did the little things the way we were supposed to do it. And it worked out good. I thanked them because we as a team made history tonight.”