“Big Sexy” is a big deadbeat, a lawsuit charges.
Two doctors who claim they resurrected former major league hurler Bartolo Colon’s career said they were never paid — and are suing him for $4.5 million, 10% of what he earned since the 2010 procedure.
Doctors Leonel Liriano and Sergio Guzman are suing the ex-major leaguer in the Dominican Republic, where they said their experimental stem cell treatment gave Colon’s right arm new life, according to a report in the Spanish-language Diario Libre.
The doctors said in court papers that they told Colon the procedure would be free of charge — if it didn’t work. But it did, with Colon winning another 101 games in the majors before calling it quits last year.
The doctors, members of a medical group that performed the treatment, filed their suit last year.
“Thanks to the procedure he underwent, he was able to continue in baseball, earning salaries of more than $45 million,” the claim says.
This week, Judge Mariela Santos Jimenez told lawyers for both sides to submit their final motions before she makes a decision in the legal claim filed by the doctors last year.
“When those two rounds of written debates are exhausted then the court will issue its decision,” Jimenez said in court in Spanish, the newspaper reported.
Colon missed the entire 2010 season but pitched for eight more seasons starting in 2011, including with the Yankees and Mets, retiring after a stint with the Texas Rangers last year.
The hefty hurler pitched just 12 games with the Chicago White Sox in 2009, posting a 3-6 record and a 4.19 ERA before developing arm trouble. He returned to the bigs with the Yankees in 2011, starting 26 games, with an 8-10 record and a 4.00 ERA.
But then he found new life in the arm, including an 18-6 record with a 2.65 ERA with the Oakland A’s in 2013, and a 15-8 record with the Mets in 2016, when he sported a 3.43 ERA.
According to sportrac.com, Colon made more than $45 million in his final eight years, including more than $27 million in three years with the Mets.
The ex-pitcher could not be reached for comment.
“He’s one of the best people I’ve ever known,” pal Ray Negron told the Post. “I’m sorry that he’s going through any kind of difficulty and I just wish well with him in his life.”