Report: Mets will consider bringing back Bartolo Colon - MLB

44-year-old veteran starter Bartolo Colon was designated for assignment by the Braves on Thursday afternoon. Colon struggled over 13 starts, going 2-8 with an 8.14 ERA and a 42/20 K/BB ratio in 63 innings.

Despite the ugly stats, as soon as news of Colon’s departure from Atlanta went live, Mets fans went bananas. Colon is something of a cult hero in Queens, as he was a solid member of the starting rotation for the past three years. He posted a solid 3.90 ERA across 95 starts and three relief appearances as a Met. Of course, he also earned adulation from fans for having an atypical body type and for being relatively old for a productive major league player.

Although the Mets are skeptical about Colon’s performance this season, the club will still consider bringing him back, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports.

Colon’s peripherals certainly don’t suggest that his 8.14 ERA is representative of his skill level, but there isn’t any reason to believe that he can pitch the way he has in the past. His walk rate this season is 6.7 percent, nearly three percent higher than it was last year and nearly four percent higher than it was in 2015. Aside from the very early 2000’s, Colon has never been a strikeout pitcher, but his 14.1 percent strikeout rate this season is the lowest it has been since 2009.

That being said, the Mets’ pitching is all banged up. The simple fact that Colon could reliably take the ball every five games and give them five or six innings has to be appealing.

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CARSON CITY, Nev. — The Nevada Senate adjourned Thursday without voting on a financing bill for a proposed $1.5 billion Las Vegas Strip stadium for the Oakland Athletics, extending the special legislative session into the next week amid negotiations over whether to contribute $380 million in public funding to the project.

The measure can still be amended by lawmakers, and if it passes the Senate it would still need approval from the Assembly before going to the desk of Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who has expressed support for it. Both the state Senate and Assembly are adjourned until Monday.

In a hearing that began Wednesday and stretched into the early morning hours Thursday, lawmakers peppered tourism officials and a representative from a firm partnering with the ball club with questions about the feasibility and benefits of financing such a deal.

Public funds for the stadium would mainly come from $180 million in transferable tax credits and $120 million in county bonds. Backers have pledged that the creation of a special tax district around the proposed stadium would generate enough money to pay off those bonds and interest. The plan would not directly raise taxes.

The A’s would not owe property taxes for the publicly owned stadium. Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, would also contribute $25 million in credit toward infrastructure costs.

A’s representatives and some tourism officials say a deal would further grow Las Vegas’ developing sports scene and act as an economic engine, but a growing chorus of economists and some lawmakers warn that the project would bring minimal benefits for the hefty public price tag.