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2007 There was no time during 2006 at which the AL`s defending Cy Young winner was healthy. He was trying to work through shoulder trouble before he ever decided to light out and pitch for the Dominican Republic in the ill-considered World Baseball Classic. The shoulder never got better, and he was on the DL before April was through. He came back to pitch in June and July, only to break down again. He`s busily rehabbing a partially torn rotator cuff through the winter, but there`s no real timetable for his return. The Angels have five other solid starters without bum wings or conditioning issues, and this is the walk year of Colon`s four-year, $51-million contract, so what`s going to happen is anyone`s guess. 2006 The David Wells Conspicuous Consumption Diet Plan probably didn`t help his back and shoulder, but Colon bounced back from a poor `04 to win a surprising Cy Young award by trimming some walks and home runs from his menu. He had a good year, not a great one; he was fifth in the AL in VORP, leagues behind Johan Santana. He`s no spring chicken at 33, and over the course of his career, you`ve never really known if you`re going to get the filet or the tripe on any given night. He`s a very good pitcher, but his deteriorating physical condition is going to eat into his durability as fast as he`s eating everything else. 2005 Sometimes a team makes a move that looks good on paper but in execution turns out to be a flop, or more accurately, a beached whale. The third-best run support in the major leagues (7.00) allowed Colon to post a winning record while allowing opponents to hit .265/.322/.472 with 38 home runs, second-most in the AL. Colon struggled with his command all year long. This may be the result of prior overwork, or a one-time event. Whatever the answer, the Angels will be living with it through 2007. 2003 You could forgive Expos fans for getting excited over Colon’s arrival last June, even if the team never got past the fringes of the playoff hunt. Adding a championship-caliber player in the middle of a pennant race was something the Expos hadn’t done since Bush the Elder’s administration. Giving up Brandon Phillips, Cliff Lee, and Grady Sizemore for at most a year and a half of Eau de Colon may come back to haunt the Expos one day, perhaps soon. Most fans who saw Colon pitch at the Big O last year would have made the deal 100 more times anyway. Armed with a devastating high-90s fastball, Colon blew away hitters with gusto. He’d often chuck the rest of his repertoire and throw 80% fastballs or more in a given game. Even more amazingly, he’d go from 95-mph heaters in the early innings to 98 by the ninth, getting nastier as the game went on. He’ll dazzle White Sox fans in ’03, now that the Expos jettisoned Colon as part of the MLB-ordered payroll purge. 2002 Colon, who has been a very good pitcher for four years, seems destined to suffer the fate of someone like Darryl Strawberry, never appreciated for what he is, perpetually scorned for not living up to expectations. Yes, he could stand to lose a few pounds; then again, so much of his power is generated by his heavy legs that perhaps his doing so would be counterproductive. Do you think we recognize the biggest moments of our lives as they're happening? It's hard not to think about how much different Colon's life might be had Charlie Manuel relieved him just a little sooner in Game Four of the AL Division Series. Maybe Ricardo Rincon gets out Ichiro, and the Mariners don't take the lead. Maybe the Indians win the game, and with it the series, with Colon as the hero. Maybe Colon sheds the underachiever label for the happier ones that the media likes to distribute in October. You think he knows? 2001 Bartolo Colon can be a menace to himself, but he’s worth the trouble. He came into camp looking like he’d spent his winter out-eating Rich Garces then had to log three weeks on the DL getting into playing shape. He spent the last months of the season fighting with Jerry Manuel and Dick Pole about his endurance after pulling himself out of three starts. When you consider he had four five-inning, one-run starts, you can understand the frustration. If he shows up in camp in shape, he’ll be the second-best pitcher in the league behind Pedro Martinez. 2000 He’s as pure a power pitcher as you’re going to find. When he’s got the game’s best sinking fastball working, Colon doesn’t really need a second pitch because the movement is so devastating. His changeup has come along well, but his curveball is still only a sideshow. He came into camp heavy, and when Kerry Wood’s elbow exploded, Colon got bum-rushed into a multi-year deal to insure himself against injury. After Colon’s problems throwing on short rest in 1998, Hargrove was obviously tempting fate by having him pitch on short rest in the 1999 playoffs, especially when Colon had experienced tendinitis problems in September. 1998 Magnificent young prospect, potentially better than post-season star Jaret Wright. Concerns about elbow problems led him to the bullpen in ’96, but he returned to the rotation last year. Struggled some in his first major league stint, but not enough to lead to concern. The injuries are the key, as is so often the case with young pitchers. 1997 One of the best pitching prospects in baseball. He missed a lot of time this year with a bout of tendinitis and elbow problems; the Indians have come to the conclusion that Colon cannot go beyond 80 pitches in an outing without losing his control and damaging his arm, which is leading them to convert him to relief. Colon has complete mastery of the strike zone with a plus fastball, curve and changeup.
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