NEWS FLASH

Bartolo Colon is still really, really, really fat.



Thank you Rob from 6-4-2 for the update. It's not exactly news that Bartolo Colon is a, shall I say, a plus-sized pitcher, his inability (or refusal) to cut weight is interesting. Case in point; Jim Mecir, although I never liked to see this guy pitch in high pressure situations last year (like on October 2, 2004 vs. the Angels) for the A's, if you look just at his stats, he doesn't look so bad anymore:

(0-5) 3.59 ERA 47.2 IP 19 BB 49 K

Look at his K/BB ratio, what, about 5/2? Not bad at all. Now compare that to his '03 stats.

(2-3) 5.59 ERA 37.0 IP 16 BB 25 K

Excellent improvement from '03 to '04. Why? He credited it to losing weight. Jim Mecir has really messed up knees, I think he was born without an ACL in one of his legs, he also has club feet and one leg is shorter than the other. He always had knee injuries and decided to cut weight that offseason to lessen the stress on the knees. I believe Colon is due for a nasty surprise from his knees, especially if the rumors that he has gained 20 pounds this offseason are true. There no way that this guy weighs only 240 lbs(according to his mlb.com player bio).

Don't worry A's fans. I think the A's just might have an outside shot for the postseason. Despite the breakup of the Big Three, we still have Zito (who's due to bounce back and is one who doesn't have injury problems) and Harden (who's stuff was just downright filthy at times). One of the new guys I'm really excited to see next year is Danny Haren, who was considered the Cardinal's version of Harden, he had an excellent postseason. We also don't need to rush the other two rookies, Blanton and Meyer, we have a capable #5 in Yabu. My prediction, Meyer will start in AAA Sacramento and Yabu will be #5 starter for at least the first half.

Yes, the A's starting pitching is not as good as it used to be, but it sure doesn't suck. However, our division rivals didn't improve much in this area either. And if Colon's knees can't stand the pressure anymore, well...

The Rangers starting pitching still sucks.
The Mariners starting pitching still sucks.
The Angels of The Angels of Anaheim...good, but there is still a risk for injury.