Report: Mets now shopping Colon harder, but don't want to eat money
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The New York Mets' interest in moving Bartolo Colon seems to be increasing as the trade deadline approaches. Normally, it's the buyers who get hungry as July 31 approaches, but this time it seems to be the seller (and, to be fair, probably the player, too).
The Mets are now said to be shopping Colon "hard," according to Danny Knobler, and that face has been expanded on by Newsday:
Told teams have started calling the Mets about Bartolo Colon, though nothing's close. Mets gauging market; don’t seem inclined to eat money.
— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) July 22, 2014
These reports follow a late-June note that the Mets were unlikely to move Colon, an early-July report that he had been put on the trading block, and a mid-July report that the team wasn't engaged in "serious talks" but that Colon was still available.
Joel Sherman of New York Post elaborates, suggesting that moving Colon won't be easy due to the financials at play:
The Mets want to move Bartolo Colon if, for nothing else, to redirect the $11 million he is owed next year to other needs.
But multiple executives from outside of the Mets say it is exactly that $11 million owed in 2015 that will make Sandy Alderson’s job trading the righty anywhere from difficult to impossible — unless the Mets swallow a huge sum of next year’s payday.
Basically, the Mets were the team that offered Colon two years this offseason, and the fact that they landed him instead of a contender should signal that other teams weren't - and probably aren't - interested in another year of the righty.
While his performance so far has been solid with an 8-8 record, a 4.12 ERA and 3.58 FIP, and 6-2/3 innings per start, it's still not quite in line with his 2012 and 2013 seasons. He hasn't improved his value, so why would another team now suddenly be okay with his contract, unless they're desperate (which is possible in a seller's market).
If the Mets won't eat some of his salary, he may not end up going anywhere. That wouldn't necessarily hamstring the team, however, as his $11 million contract for 2015 isn't really exorbitant, just a moderate overpay.