Who needs a Bartolo?

For all you nay-sayers who thought that giving Bartolo Colon a 1 year contract was a waste of money, consider this...the Red Sox got off a 19 day/3 country road trip where they finished below .500 and were swept in their series in Toronto. Except for Daisuke Matsusaka, the starting pitching has struggled. John Lester is 1-1, Clay Buchholz is 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA, Tim Wakefield doesn't have a win yet, and Josh Beckett has a 9.64 ERA.

Curt Schilling is guaranteed to receive $8 mill this year but not guaranteed to return to the starting line-up before the All-Star break, if at all. Bartolo Colon is only getting $1.25 mill in guaranteed money and before tweaking his oblique muscle last week (an injury that should only sideline him for a short time), the 2005 Cy Young winner had command of 4 pitches and topped out at 96 m.p.h with his fastball in a recent start in Triple A.

Considering most of the other pennant contenders including the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox are already searching for pitching help, having Bartolo Colon in your back pocket and possibly the starting line-up is a win-win situation for the Red Sox.