House That Hank Built
Fansided

Atlanta Braves: Reasons for Signing Dickey and Colon

By Alan Carpenter

Sep 27, 2016; Miami, FL, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Bartolo Colon (40) looks on from the dugout during the sixth inning against Miami Marlins at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 27, 2016; Miami, FL, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Bartolo Colon (40) looks on from the dugout during the sixth inning against Miami Marlins at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 3
Next
Jun 25, 2016; Anaheim, CA, USA; Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Jhoulys Chacin (49) in the first inning of the game against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 25, 2016; Anaheim, CA, USA; Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Jhoulys Chacin (49) in the first inning of the game against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /

We Need a New Plan

So: with all of that as a backdrop, John Coppolella had made it clear that he wanted some veterans to come in and provide more than just stop-gap support.

So this time, we don’t have a Jhoulys Chacin or Bud Norris or Wandy Rodriguez or Roberto Hernandez getting signed – guys that needed to rebuild value after having various issues of their own.

Would more pitchers like that have worked?  Frankly, it’s odds of less than a coin flip.  Here’s some full-year stats on those stop-gappers:

  • Chacin in 2016:  144 innings, 4.81 ERA
  • Norris:  113 innings, 5.10 ERA.
  • Hernandez:  9 innings, 8.00 ERA,
  • Rodriguez in 2015:  86 innings, 4.90 ERA.
  • Trevor Cahill: 32 innings, 5.40 ERA.
  • Eric Stults:  47 innings, 5.85 ERA.

That’s where the Atlanta Braves have been in the past 2 seasons.

Really Was Only 2 Choices

When you go through the lists of the top free agents and consider proposed contract terms as fangraphs.com did, you quickly realize that almost all of the pitchers want 2+ year deals.

That’s not where the Braves want to be right now.

Indeed, there are only a pair of starters with the following resumes:

  • Would entertain a 1-year deal
  • Routinely will give you 180+ innings

Their names are R.A. Dickey and Bartolo Colon.  All of the others either have durability questions or they want longer term deals.

They are not the best starting pitchers on the free agent lists.  That honor goes to guys like Rich Hill, Jeremy Hellickson, and Jason Hammel.

Who’s next?  Ivan Nova and Edinson Volquez?  How about Brett Cecil?  Andrew Cashner?  Any of those names excite you?

But many those players will demand – and receive – deals in the 3-5 year range that are worth upwards of $15-20 million per year.

The worst case scenario for the Braves would be wanting one of these “better” pitchers, giving them more money, and then still being in the same boat as before.

Atlanta just picked up two – for $20.5 million of total guaranteed money.

Damage Control

Meanwhile Colon and Dickey will give up a few runs, but they will also keep you in games… the opposition just doesn’t get a lot of big innings of either of these guys.

  • Dickey in his twenty-nine 2016 starts:  6+ runs allowed four times
  • Colon:  just 3 times in 33 starts.

They will be added to Julio Teheran and Mike Foltynewicz to be the backbone of the rotation.  If there needs to be a spot start to support one of these four, Josh Collmenter will be waiting in the wings as the “In Case of Emergency, Break Glass” guy.

Home/Braves News