Yankees Sign Bartolo Colon to Minor League Deal

So the Yankees decided they needed a new starting pitcher for their rotation. They have signed 38 year-old starting pitcher Bartolo Colon to a minor league deal. 

Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that Colon will earn $900K in the majors and has the right to be released if he isn't on the team after Spring Training.

Colon, 38 in May, last pitched in the majors for the 2009 White Sox. He started 12 games for Chicago and posted a 4.19 ERA with 5.5 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and a 44.4% ground ball rate in 62 1/3 innings. Before that he pitched for the Red Sox, where he was effective for a seven-start stint in 2008. Colon's last standout season came in 2005, when he won the Cy Young Award for the Angels.

Colon, 37, didn't pitch in the majors last season. He last appeared in the majors in 12 games for the White Sox in 2009, going 3-6 with a 4.19 ERA.

In 13 major league seasons with the Indians, Montreal Expos, White Sox, Angels and Red Sox, Colon has a 153-103 record with a 4.10 ERA. He averages 7.0 strikeouts and 3.1 walks per game for his career.

The Yankees lost out on free-agent left-hander Cliff Lee, leaving the rotation thin behind CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes and A.J. Burnett.

General manager Brian Cashman has said the team is searching for another starter, but he also has called the free-agent market, after Lee, a weak one.

I don't see Colon making the team out of Spring Training and I see the team signing other pitchers to fill the spot they are hoping Colon is able to fill himself. He is vastly overweight, very old and hasn't pitched a full season in the majors since 2005.

He also has numerous injuries that usually are the kiss of death for pitchers, and that's been proven right so far, such as shoulder and elbow injuries.

This signing is a security blanket for if they aren't able to sign anyone else and it's a great signing with no risks because if he doesn't make the team, he gets cut and not paid but if he makes the team and pitches well the Yankees get a fifth starter for $900,000.

My money is on him getting cut, though, as I said. We'll see once Spring Training finishes up at the end of March.