Oakland Athletics pitcher Bartolo Colon was having a nice year in 2012. In fact, earlier this season, he set a record for most consecutive strikes thrown at 38. Colon is one of the main reasons the A’s have a legitimate chance at a wild card this season. He is Oakland’s most consistent pitcher, throwing 152 1/3 innings, with a solid 3.43 ERA and a 2.4 fWAR. But we now know why the 39-year old former Cy Young winner’s career was reborn – - performance enhancing drugs.
Colon failed a drug test today – and like Melky Cabrera – will receive a 50-game suspension. Colon, who had a controversial stem-cell operation to save his right arm a few years ago, will miss the remainder of the 2012 regular season. Luckily for the A’s, they are rather deep in starting pitching, especially since Brett Anderson just returned from the disabled list last night, but Colon will be a big (literally and figuratively) loss for the A’s.
It’s safe to assume we have seen the last of Bartolo Colon in the game of baseball. No one will want to touch a 40-year old coming off a PED suspension. But this thought process is the same reason Colon took the PEDs in the first place – - to stick around in the game of baseball.
While cheating is a horrible thing to do, I can’t blame a guy for pulling out all the stops to stay in the game of baseball. I know I’m in the minority with my opinion on PEDs, but I don’t think it’s any different than an actress getting a face-lift of breast augmentation to keep landing acting gigs. Plastic surgery enhances looks, which is basically all that is required for some actresses.
The A’s are 66-56, a half game back from the Baltimore Orioles for the second wild card spot.
Bryan is a featured writer for Rant Sports. Although he concentrates mostly on the game of baseball, you can find him covering things all over the Rant Sports Network.
