Informally, Bartolo Colon has agreed to push his opt-out date from today to June 1st. His contract remains the same otherwise, according to Alex Speier.
Colon’s oblique strain basically set him back a month. He looked quite good in his one Triple A start on April 3rd. It sounds like Colon and the Red Sox want to make this work, but who will he replace in the rotation? It would have to be Tim Wakefield, Jon Lester, or Clay Buchholz.
None of them are pitching badly, though Lester appears to be on the shakiest ground given his strikeout, walk, and home run rates. As far as innings concerns, Lester pitched 163 last year while Buchholz tossed 148. Even by the "30 inning increase" threshold, they’re both safe to make 30+ starts. Regardless of how they sort it out, this is a good problem for the Red Sox.
