Bartolo Colon, 46, yearns for one more season in the majors

Even though Bartolo Colon hasn’t thrown a pitch in the majors since September 2018, the 46-year-old is not thinking about retirement.

Colon hopes to pitch one more big league season, and if given the choice, it would be with the New York Mets.

“I thought that last year maybe I would have the opportunity,” Colon said on a video call with ESPN. “I know that if it didn’t happen last year, this year would be less likely. I’m getting older and the game is all about the young pitchers coming up. When you get older, teams no longer need your services.”

Colon, who has pitched 21 seasons and won 247 games, said his time with the Mets from 2014 to ‘16 held some of his fondest memories. He highlighted the clubhouse environment and the Mets’ young pitching staff, particularly Noah Syndergaard, who anointed him “Big Sexy”—which became the title of his recently released autobiography.

“That Mets team was really something special,” he said. “I’ve played with 10 teams, but with the Mets, the way all those players treated me, how that entire franchise treated me, from the front office to the kitchen staff, it was amazing. And Mets fans are the best. In the beginning, when they laughed at me every time my helmet fell off, at first I felt uncomfortable. But when I saw how much the fans enjoyed it, I asked for a bigger batting helmet so that it would fall more because it was so much fun for them!”

He added: “If it was up to me, I would retire with the Mets. I would like my career to end in New York.”

Jays’ Guerrero Jr. feeling strong after offseason workouts

TORONTO (AP) — After a winter of workouts more intense than any he’d experienced before, Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is feeling strong.

The Blue Jays laid out a detailed offseason plan for their star third baseman, asking him to drop weight and boost endurance, increasing his resistance to baseball’s inevitable wear and tear.

Less than one month before spring training, Guerrero spoke positively about the team-designed workout plan he’s been following.

“I feel a lot better and it’s been working well for me,” Guerrero said through a translator. “I feel a big change in me. I feel lighter.

Well, we’d kind of hope so, as the alternative isn’t very promising in the slightest.

Luke Voit is in The Best Shape of His Life

We’ve had some early BSOHL guys already — the sort who like to talk about it in the fall, just as their workout program gets going and/or they’re looking for a job — but with the Super Bowl over and spring training just a couple of weeks away, it’s time to get into the busy part of Best Shape of His Life season.

Today’s BSOHL All-Star, Yankees 1B/DH Luke Voit, who had core surgery in October and now wants to make it clear that he feels great. From the New York Post:

“According to the first baseman, however, the procedure not only repaired the problem but combined with the post-surgery rehab work has significantly improved other areas of his well-built 6-foot-3, 225-pound frame.

“I have never felt any better in my life. It’s everything. I feel faster, more agile and my strength is back,” Voit told The Post while driving through Atlanta on his way from Missouri to Tampa on Saturday.”

Well, this is the time of year for such articles….

Nationals’ Max Scherzer ‘good,’ ‘strong’ and rarin’ to go

WASHINGTON (AP) — With a “2019 World Series Champions” patch stitched onto the right sleeve of his white Washington Nationals jersey, and his eyes—one brown, one blue—open wide, Max Scherzer made it clear as clear can be Saturday that his neck is just fine and his preseason routine is same as ever.

“I played catch probably two weeks after the World Series and I was playing catch OK, so I knew that there was no long-term damage. I did the whole MRI thing and that came away clean, too. Everybody wanted to dot their I’s and cross their T’s and everybody did,” Scherzer said with a chuckle at the club’s annual fan festival at Nationals Park.

“I’m good. I’m strong. I’m good,” he added, as if to emphasize the point. “I can throw a baseball. I’m good.”

The three-time Cy Young Award winner, third in the 2019 NL voting after going 11-7 with a 2.92 ERA and 243 strikeouts in 172 1/3 innings, started his preparation for spring training on Jan. 1, just like he did a year ago.

Who had January 11th in the pool for the first “best shape of his life” article to come out?