Braves sign Bartolo Colon

Bartolo Colon has signed a one-year, $12.5 million deal with the Atlanta Braves, ending his tenure with the Mets. The 43-year-old joins former Mets fan favorite R.A. Dickey, who just signed with Atlanta yesterday.

Colon spent the past three seasons with the Mets and was the most durable starting pitcher the team had. In the regular season, he made 98 appearances, all but three of which were starts, and had a 3.90 ERA in his time with the team. He turned in his best season this year with a 3.43 ERA in 33 starts and one relief appearance, and without his reliability and performance, the Mets very well might not have earned a spot in the postseason.

Looking ahead to next year, the Mets figure they’re going to have the rest of their rotation intact in Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Steven Matz, and Zack Wheeler. But four of the five are returning from surgeries, which makes it a little less than certain that everyone will be ready to go on Opening Day and handle a full-season workload. The Mets undoubtedly liked what they saw from Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo when they joined the rotation this year, and right now, they’re clearly the team’s top contingency plans if there’s a need in the major league rotation.