Bart likes to make us chuckle!
PORT ST. LUCIE — Bartolo Colon just wants to make everyone happy. The Mets right-hander is happy that people enjoy laughing when his batting helmet comes off during his at-bats. What does the 42-year old care? He’s back where he wants to be, playing the game he loves and having more fun than anyone else.
“It makes me very proud,” Colon said. “It makes me so happy to know the fans take me in like that, and not just the fans but I know even the media here, I hear about it on the radio, whenever I’m up at-bat, the helmet flies off and they like to talk about it.
“It’s pretty amusing and I’m glad everyone enjoys it.”
On the night the Mets were eliminated from the World Series, Colon said he was not ready for retirement and wanted to come back to New York. He likes the team, the coaches and being near his New Jersey home. So though there were bigger offers and ones that would have given him more guaranteed starts, Colon came “home.”
“Of course there were other offers but nothing really interested me like the Mets did,” Colon said. “Just from sitting down and talk- ing to my agent and wife we knew this was the best decision for us.”
Colon will begin the season in the Mets rotation, holding a spot for Zack Wheeler, and with 218 wins in his 18-year career he will have a chance to surpass Pedro Martinez’s 219 wins, the second most by a Dominican-born pitcher.
“It means a lot to me, but of course Pedro is our favorite, he’s huge to us, so although I’d be very proud we’d still look up to Pedro as the big guy.”
That would leave just Juan Marichal with 243 ahead of Colon on the list of wins by Dominican-born pitchers. While Colon is often asked about retiring, he was not ruling out sticking around long enough to go after the record.
“We’ll just see what happens in this future,” he said coyly.
Whenever Wheeler returns from his Tommy John rehab — expected to be in July — the Mets will use Colon as a spot starter and reliever. He pitched to a 2.07 ERA in seven appearances out of the bullpen during the playoffs last season.
“I adjusted just fine,” Colon said of the change in roles. “It helped that they really talked to me beforehand so I was able to prepare and really it’s more mental preparation which I felt I had done so it was an easy adjustment.”
DELIGHTFUL
Jacob deGrom threw off the mound Wednesday and said he felt fine after he skipped drills and a bullpen session on Monday as a precaution after feeling tightness on the left side of his groin.
“I feel great,” deGrom said. “It went fine.”
JUST JUAN-DERFUL
Hitting coach Kevin Long noticed it last year, after Juan Lagares lost his job to Yoenis Cespedes. Most young players struggle coming off the bench, particularly those who had been starting, but Lagares was ready every time they called his number as a pinch hitter or late-game replacement.
“He kept working and really got himself ready to play off the bench,” Long said. “He may be one of the best I have ever seen go from playing every day to being prepared off the bench. You started to see it in August and September.”
Lagares’ ability to come in late and be effective was on display in Game 1 of the World Series, when he won a nine-pitch battle with Kelvin Herrera.
“He was able to work that atbat into a big single,” Long said. “He’s really impressed me. I started to see improvement in August and September and I think we will see more this year.”
STRIKE TWO
Hansel Robles will begin the season serving a two-game suspension. The right-handed reliever reached an agreement with MLB Wednesday, reducing his original three-game suspension.
Robles was originally suspended after being ejected for throwing near the head of Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp in a Sept. 30 game in Philly. Robles appealed and the sides reached the agreement on Wednesday.
The Mets open with two games against the Royals with a day off in between, so this will have limited impact on the bullpen.