January 24 should really be a national holiday. Well, maybe just for A's fans.
On this date in 2012, Oakland got a little bigger and a lot sexier after signing free agent right-hander Bartolo Colón (a.k.a. Big Sexy) to a one-year, $2 million contract.
Colón was a spry 38 years old at the time and was coming off an 8-10, 4.00 ERA season with the Yankees. The A's marked his eighth major league franchise, and 2012 would be his 15th big-league season in a career that already included a pair of All-Star Games and a Cy Young Award.
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Performance
Colón got off to an excellent start in 2012, winning three of his first four starts with a 2.63 ERA. He ended up going 10-9 with a 3.43 ERA in 24 starts before testing positive for synthetic testosterone and receiving a 50-game suspension.
The A's still re-signed Colón to a one-year, $3 million deal in 2013 and it paid off in a big way. The 39-year-old went 18-6 with a 2.65 ERA, making his third career All-Star Game.
Colón ended up spending two seasons with the A's, both resulting in division titles, for a grand total of $5 million.
Athletics
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Lesson
The Colón signing was a tremendous success for the A's. It showed that age is truly just a number for some players. Of course Colón is not just any old pitcher. He is still going strong at the age of 45, throwing 146 1/3 innings last season for the Rangers.
Colón also proved that it's possible to bounce back from a drug suspension. He put together one of the best seasons of his career in 2013 at 39 years old.
2019 free agent comparison
Normally in this section, we find a modern day free agent comparable to whoever we are revisiting. In this case, the comparable is simple: Bartolo Colón.
Okay, Big Sexy is clearly not what he used to be and probably isn't worth signing at this point, but it's truly incredible that he's still pitching. Last year, he was just 7-12 with a 5.78 ERA. The season before, he was 7-14 with a 6.48 ERA.
Still, Colón ate innings, pitching 289 1/3 of them over the past two years. We'll see if any team gives him one more chance in year 22 of his career.