The Braves on Thursday cut loose veteran right-hander Bartolo Colon. Mr. Colon's fresh availability brings us to the matter of the pitching-starved Mets ...

As noted above, Colon's lugging around an ERA north of 8.00, and to say the least he's at an age that lends itself to, well, forced retirement (to say nothing of deep decline). That said, Colon's FIP paints a slightly more optimistic picture. FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) is scaled to look like ERA but reflects just those outcomes that have nothing to do with fielding -- i.e., strikeouts, walks, and home runs allowed. As such, it can be a better measure of raw pitching skill than ERA is. Colon's FIP this season is 5.08, which is more than three runs lower than his ERA. That's not good, to be sure, but it's playable if you're desperate.

Speaking of which, yes, the Mets are desperate. Presently, starters Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, and Robert Gsellman are on the DL, and the Mets don't really know who their fifth starter is at the moment. Framed another way, we're not even to July and the Mets have already used 11 different starting pitchers this season.

Beyond that, there's of course a sentimental attachment to Colon. Beloved in Queens, Colon pitched from 2014 through 2016 for the Mets, and along the way served as a reliable (and unlikely) rotation stabilizer. The Mets aren't really a team of consequence right now, so why not drum up some fan base enthusiasm by bringing back Colon? It's not as though the Mets as an organization are above making personnel moves with ticket and merch sales in mind.