Trade Rumors: Bartolo Colon Still A Possibility For Kansas City Royals

Bartolo Colon has cleared waivers and evidently, the Kansas City Royals may have interest in acquiring the veteran starting pitcher for the stretch run.

According to Andy Martino, of the New York Daily News, via the Bleacher Report team feed, the Royals are one of a few teams that are showing interest.

"There is still active interest in Colon. One American League executive identified that Angels, Dodgers and Royals as teams he expected to be most engaged."

How much interest the Royals have seems unclear at this point. The Royals have financial restrictions, and most of the top prospects are not Major League ready at this point.

"Kansas City remains a possibility, though they had no payroll flexibility last month, and might not have a fit in prospects, either."

Bartolo Colon has been effective despite his advancing age. The 41-year old has an ERA of 3.35, and a WHIP of 1.147. He has 130 strikeouts in 167.1 innings. He has only walked 22.

Colon gives up a lot of hits – 170 so far this season, and might be the type of pitcher that a great defense would help out. His Batting Average on Ball in Play is .299, so the Royals fine defense might cut that number down.

Colon is owed $11 million in 2015 so it is very difficult to see the Royals making a trade for him where they would have to pay that much. According the Martino, the Mets don’t seem inclined to eat much of that salary.

"Last night, after word spread that Colon had cleared waivers, the question circulating around the game was how much of the pitcher’s $11 million salary the Mets would absorb. In July, we reported that the team was willing to eat about $2 million to facilitate a deal, and nothing substantial has changed since."

Even at $9 million, it is risky for the Royals to wager on such an old pitcher, even though Colon hasn’t had an ERA over 3.83 since 2009.