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The Mets have put pitcher Bartolo Colon on revocable waivers, per Ken Rosenthal on Twitter. Once he is put on revocable waivers, other teams have 48.5 hours to put in a claim on him. If he goes unclaimed, the Mets can trade him to any team. If he is claimed, the Mets can either let him go to the claiming team on a waiver claim, pull him back off of waivers, or work out a trade. If multiple teams claim him, the prevailing team is the one with the lowest record in the N.L., or if no N.L. team claims him, the team with the lowest record in the A.L.
I wouldn't normally mention Colon being put on waivers -- just about every player is put on waivers at some point in August -- but with Colon's contract providing for him to make $11 million in 2015 (he's making $9 million this year), and the Rangers in need for an established starting pitcher or two for 2015, I could see Texas potentially putting in a claim.
Colon put up a 5.0 bWAR last season, but has seen his ERA jump from 2.65 to 3.85 from 2013 to 2014, even though he moved to the more pitcher-friendly league. Colon's FIP has held largely steady, though -- 3.23 last year, 3.39 this year -- and the Rangers may see Colon as an opportunity to get an innings-eater for 2015 for cheap. I can't imagine Texas would want to give up much talent for Colon, but the Mets may be willing to let him go without getting much talent back to get his salary off the books.
I've speculated that the Rangers might trade for Ian Kennedy this offseason for the same reason they might have interest in putting in a claim on Colon...neither pitcher is all that great, but it would only be a one year commitment for not a ton of money, and the amount of talent they'd have to part with likely wouldn't be significant. Kennedy seems like the natural fit because A.J. Preller is in San Diego now, and he no doubt has his eyes on some of his former minor leaguers he'd like to get in his new organization, but Colon seems like a potential option, as well.
