Greg likes to pinpoint his argument on one factor — Colome’s age. That IS one factor but not the only one. Colome is under control for one more year and he will likely earn around $9 million for next season via salary arbitration. Now if you extend him, you will be paying him even more. He is a very good closer but he is not in the elite tier of closers, even though his stats this year are great. If you trade Colome, you could potentially get a piece back that is useful for the next 6 years, as well as free up $9 million of Colome’s salary (even more money if you planned on extending him) to spend elsewhere, including relief pitching.
But trying to understand these other factors/possibilities would destroy Greg’s narrow-minded argument that all the “statniks” on SoxTalk simply hate all older players.