Does Alex Colome make sense for Padres’ closer role?
Photo: Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images
Would signing Alex Colome complete the perfect San Diego Padres offseason?
The Padres are the clear-cut winners of the offseason, regardless if they make any other moves. Bolstering the rotation with Yu Darvish and Blake Snell and re-signing a key contributor in Jurickson Profar are just a couple of the notable moves San Diego made this offseason. All that’s outstanding is addressing the closer position.
Last offseason, the Padres acquired Emilio Pagan from the Tampa Rays to be the primary setup man for Kirby Yates. The latter was lost not long into the shortened season, forcing the acquisition of Trevor Rosenthal at the trade deadline. Rosenthal, 30, was outstanding after being acquired, not allowing a run while collecting four saves in nine appearances.
There appears to be mutual interest in Rosenthal returning to San Diego, but he’s also generating interest from the Blue Jays, among other teams.
That said, Alex Colome would be a perfect addition to the back end of the Padres bullpen. After the Chicago White Sox signed Liam Hendriks to a lucrative three-year deal, it was clear Colome would be finding a new home for the 2021 season.
The 32-year-old spent the last two years on the southside, posting a 2.27 ERA while racking up 42 saves in 83 appearances. In 2020, Colome collected 12 saves, third-most in the American League.
A review of advanced statistics indicates how dominant Colome was last season, despite recording just a 6.4 K/9. He allowed a 3.1 barrel percentage, landing in the top five percent of the league. Primarily a two-pitch pitcher, Colome relies heavily on his cutter, throwing it nearly 72 percent of the time.
Alex Colome's cutter last season:
.154 BAA
33% whiff rate
0 HR allowedh/t @soxgifs pic.twitter.com/nX8ElaLp5Z
— Rafa Nieves (@mlb_agent) January 3, 2021
Colome’s primary pitch a .154 batting average while hovering around 89 MPH. He complements this pitch with a four-seam fastball, yielding a .200 average in 2020 and topping out at approximately 95 MPH.
Ultimately, it will come down to dollars and cents, and Colome made a pre-COVID adjusted $10.5M. Given how well he performed in the shortened season and his proven track record, he deserves Hendriks-type money. Whether it be Rosenthal or Colome, signing either one of them will be the feather in the cap in the Padres offseason.
Padres writer/editor for East Village Times. LA Kings writer/editor for Hockey Royalty. IBWAA member.
If we resign Rosenthal, he will likely be our regular closer. I believe if Colome is brought in, it might be closer by committee. I cannot see spending $8-10M on Colome if Rosenthal is available for the same.
Maybe Pagan and Pomeranz will fight for the closer role if a back end reliever is brought in other than Rosenthal or Colome. I hope we bring back Rosenthal. The team has come too far this off-season to go cheap on the BP.
Not sure he would need to be the closer, but his addition to the “back end” of the bullpen would be fine with me if Rosenthal prices himself out of San Diego.