By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

I get the Bartolo Colon and R.A. Dickey signings. Well, I guess I can say more specifically that I would have more than likely been happy to sign one of them, but I can understand the signing of both, even though it’s not a dream scenario.

Colon is 43 years old, and Dickey is 42. They’re both well past their primes, but adding them to a rotation that was rife with youth and trouble in 2016 takes the Braves a step closer to respectability, if not actual contention.

John Hart is no stranger to these kinds of signings, inking Orel Hershiser and Dennis Martinez in the twilight of their careers to pitch for his up and coming Indians team in the mid-90s, a team that reached the World Series in 1995 and 1997.

The Braves aren’t the Indians of the mid-’90s, but they led the major leagues in runs scored for the final month of the season. They have an established star in Freddie Freeman and a star on the rise in shortstop Dansby Swanson.

The rebuilding program begun by Hart and general manager John Coppolella looks promising, much more than it did a year ago at this time. The Braves move into their new ballpark in April, and even if it turns out they’re not ready to compete with the Mets and Washington Nationals at the top of the National League East, they should at least be fun to watch.

Colon, of course, became one of the game’s best characters during his three seasons with the Mets. He pitched, fielded and even hit, with a memorable home run last May in San Diego.

The Braves would settle for seeing him make the 33 starts and pitch the 191.2 innings he did for the Mets in 2016. They’d hope for close to the same from Dickey, who won a Cy Young Award with the Mets in 2012 and spent the last four seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Dickey’s 195 starts over the last six years are tied for the sixth-most in the major leagues, while Colon’s 175 starts over that span rank 19th.

That’s huge for the Braves, who spent most of the season struggling to find guys to make starts. There were plenty of warm bodies, just very few who were ready to make the leap to the big leagues and stay. The consistency that these two older gentlemen will likely bring to the rotation will be a huge feather in the cap of Brian Snitker.

The Braves hope to take a big step forward in 2017, and they figure to be significantly better in 2018 and beyond, with Swanson set to be joined by Ozzie Albies in the middle of the infield and with young pitching on the way.

Five of the six Braves who made 10 or more starts in 2016 are 25 or younger. Eight of the top 12 Braves minor league prospects, as ranked by MLB.com, are pitchers.

The issue Hart and Coppolella faced was too many of those guys who started games this past year weren’t ready, and too many of those top prospects aren’t yet ready to advance.

Short-term deals were important, because the Braves believe some of those prospects will be ready to contribute soon. Eating innings was important, because the Braves had 42 games in 2016 where their starter didn’t finish the fifth.

Realistically, Colon and Dickey are place-holders, two aging pitchers who make the Braves more presentable while a young team gets better around them.

But if one or both can pitch at least decently well, the Braves should expect to see a lot more checks in the win column next season.