White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams has finally been able to re-sign veteran right-hander Bartolo Colon. So what if it’s about five years after he really wanted to do it?

 Reports say Colon and the Sox have agreed to a one-year contract bringing the starting pitcher back to Chicago. He spent the 2003 campaign in a White Sox uniform and performed quite well. I haven’t seen any terms, but reports say it is laden with incentives.

 I guess this move fills a hole in the rotation, albeit with an aging veteran whose stuff has probably lost a little luster and a three-year history of injuries. Since winning the 2005 Cy Young Award, Colon has pitched a total of 194.2 innings, posting a record of 11-15 and an ERA north of five and a half.

 I don’t like being pessimistic, but the climate of Major League Baseball makes me ask, “Is steroids an issue here?” Like I said, I hate to be cynical about such matters, but that is the baseball world in which we live. I think it’s a legitimate question given the environs Major League Baseball and the players union have both created. So yeah, I’m going to go there.

 I’m not accusing the man of using illicit substances. I’m just asking the question. What makes a body break down so quickly and repeatedly? Maybe he’s been overworked. He managed to pitch more than 200 innings each season between 1998 and 2005 with the exception of the 2000 campaign, in which he pitched 188. But you never know.

 More concerning is his motivation to take the bump for another grueling season. I’m not going to  pretend to know what’s going on inside a man’s head whom I’ve never met, but his recent actions have me puzzled.

 Is Bartolo is really all that interested in pitching again? It has been reported Sox Skipper Ozzie Guillen went to the Dominican Republic in 2008 to watch Colon pitch in winter ball. The Sox were ready to make him an offer then, but nobody could find the guy. Guillen has been quoted as saying even Colon’s agent couldn’t find his client.

 He finally resurfaced to take a deal from Boston last season. A June injury put him on the shelf until September. After making a single start in September, he went into hiding again, without permission from the team. I haven’t heard an explanation from him about the absence. Perhaps Williams has.

 What does all this spell for the White Sox? I fear it’s T-R-O-U-B-L-E. If Colon is able to break with the team from Spring Training, I think the Sox will be lucky to get 100 innings out of him in 2009. Very lucky. If the Sox are extremely very lucky, they’ll get another 100 innings out of Jose Contreras after the All-Star break, and the Sox will have found their fourth starter via platoon.

 I don’t expect to see another season from Colon like he put together in 2003 when he last was in our fair city.

 The Sox need another starter after trading Javier Vazquez, who was a drag on the hill and the payroll. So you sign Colon for nearly nothing, and hope for the best. I won’t call this move a gamble, since little is being invested here. At least Clayton Richard, Lance Broadway and Jeff Marquez are battling for just a single spot in the rotation instead of two.

 However, if we’re looking at a stop-gap situation, why not sign a guy who at least shows the desire to be a ballplayer. That’s the most disturbing aspect to this signing. If he can throw well and give the Sox a dozen good starts, I think it’s a win. The question is will he dust off the old passport and decide to show up for work on the South Side?

 Now let’s get another middle infielder. Hey! I see Ray Durham is a free agent.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 16th, 2009 at 2:30 pm and is filed under AL, AL-Central, Baseball, Chicago White Sox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.