Bartolo Colon gets designated for assignment by Braves

On Wednesday night, Bartolo Colon made his return from the disabled list and with the emergence of Sean Newcomb as a viable starter in the rotation, this was probably Colon’s last chance as a starter for the Braves. Sure enough, the 44-year-old returned to the mound and not much changed. When Brian Snitker didn’t give a sure answer when it came to Colon’s future with the Braves, the writing was on the wall for Bartolo.

Fast forward to today and the Braves have announced that Bartolo Colon has been designated for assignment and replaced on the roster by Rex Brothers.

Bartolo Colon’s final stat line with the Braves reads like something out of a horror story — 8.14 ERA, 5.08 FIP, 14.1 K%, 6.7 BB%, and a HR/9 of 1.57. Those peripherals are the worst they’ve been since an injury-plagued season with the White Sox in 2009, but this time the culprit was probably just the reality of Father Time finally catching up with Big Sexy.

Needless to say, Colon’s time with the Braves was a huge disappointment, but as far as the team is concerned, the blow is lightened due to the fact that, again, Sean Newcomb has hit the ground running in the bigs, so the Braves aren’t exactly scrambling to find a replacement for Colon.

Still, it’s sad that instead of getting the inexplicably entertaining innings-eater, the Braves got a shell of what Bartolo Colon used to be. Some team may pick him up later on this season, but the brief era of Big Sexy has come to a close after a very short stint.