When I saw the news that Bartolo was leaving the Mets, I immediately assumed he received a two-year deal from some other team. I told myself that a two year guarantee would be a pretty big risk to take on old man Colon.

But then I saw he received one year 12.5 million to go play for our rival Atlanta Braves. In 24 hours the Braves have signed R.A. Dickey and Bartolo Colon and have assembled the old man innings eating dream rotation combo that I talked about at the start of the offseason.

So what is the reaction I’m hearing from much of the Mets’ fan base? I’m hearing a lot of “we’ll miss Bartolo, but that was too much money considering our pitching depth.” It seems the Wilpons brainwashing techniques have worked quite well. They must be transmitting the signals directly through SNY this year. Listen closely people. Baseball has no salary cap. The fans don’t have to pay Bartolo Colon 12.5 million dollars. The Wilpons have to pay that money. The notion that 12.5 million dollars is too much money to give a man who was our most durable and reliable pitcher over the past 3 years is insane. The man gobbles innings, the fans love him, and his teammates love him. Oh and he was also an All-Star. It’s usually important to keep your All-Stars.

And the depth argument is ridiculous as well. I don’t care how many young pitchers we have on this roster. In case you forgot, Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Steven Matz and Robert Gsellman all had arm surgery. Zack Wheeler hasn’t pitched in the major leagues in two years due to his Tommy John surgery. Noah Syndergaard still has a bone spur in his elbow that the Mets felt didn’t warrant surgery. Seth Lugo pitched a nice little stretch of games in September as a rookie. Let’s stop pretending that this fragile crop of injury prone arms are a lock to stay healthy next year. Who cares if Colon starts in the rotation and winds up in the bullpen? We said that would happen last year, and then Wheeler disappeared from the face of the earth.

Whatever. Big Sexy is a goner. The Cold Stove continues. Now we just wait for Yoenis Cespedes to head to the Nationals for 5 years, 125 million and then listen to the brainwashed fan base say “we’ll miss Yo, but that was too much money considering our outfield depth.”