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Wednesday, November 29, 2006
No Braves offer yet for Glavine
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tom Glavine wants to rejoin the Braves and the Braves want the 40-year-old left-hander back in their starting rotation. But as of late Tuesday, a signing seemed far from imminent _ in fact, there was reason to doubt if it would happen at all.
First and foremost, the Braves still had not made an offer to Glavine.
“There’s been a few very pleasant conversations with the Braves, who have expressed interest in having Tommy back,” agent Gregg Clifton said near midnight, “but as of now, no formal discussions about any terms that the Braves would be wiling to offer Tom for him to return.”
Braves GM John Schuerholz told me earlier Tuesday that he wouldn’t discuss Glavine because he never discusses free agents (I knew this would be his answer, but had to ask). John did tell me that as of Tuesday afternoon, nothing _ no trade or free-agent signing _ was imminent, though he said that could certainly change with one phone call at any time.
He also said the Braves expected all along to improve their roster via trades rather than free-agent signings, because of payroll constraints and the exploding free-agent market.
Glavine’s agent said he had only casual conversations with the Braves, and no dollar figures had even been mentioned. He scoffed at an internet rumor Tuesday night that claimed Glavine had agreed to an $8 million deal with the Braves.
Clifton said there have been no offers made yet by either the Braves or the Mets, who are awaiting word from Glavine as to what he wants to do _ return to the Mets or go back to the Braves.
Time is becoming a factor with Glavine, who assured the Mets he would give them an answer before the Dec. 4-7 winter meetings in Orlando, where the Mets would presumably begin an all-out push for Barry Zito and/or another marquee pitcher if Glavine, a former two-time Cy Young Award winner who has 290 career regular-season wins, doesn’t return to New York.
Glavine spent last week vacationing with his family and discussing how important it would be for them to have him him home pitching again for the Braves (the family still lives in Alpharetta) rather than flying the kids back and forth to New York once the school year begins, as he’s done the past four years.
The nine-time NL All-Star pitched for the Braves from 1987-2002, had five seasons of 20 or more wins for Atlanta, and was the 1995 World Series MVP. He’s third in wins among active pitchers behind Roger Clemens (348) and former Braves bud Greg Maddux (332).
Glavine’s 131 strikeouts in 2006 moved him from 40th to 30th on the career list with 2,481.
After going 23-34 with a 4.25 ERA in a span of 78 starts from May 23, 2003 to Aug. 5, 2005, he has fashioned a 20-11 record and 3.26 ERA in his past 42 regular-season starts since making changes to his pitching approach and relying less on his old staples _ changeups and fastballs on the outer edge of the plate and beyond.
Despite his desire to return to the Braves and their desire to improve their pitching staff, it still seemed completely up in the air whether he would pitch for the Braves in 2007 or return for a fifth season with the New York Mets. He has said repeatedly it’ll be one or the other, which would eliminate the opportunity to create a bidding war by bringing in other teams.
The Mets haven’t made an offer because they’re waiting for Glavine to tell them whether he wants back with the Braves. I’d be surprised if the Mets offered him anything less than a two-year deal similar to the one Mike Mussina just got from Yanks ($23 mill for two years).
If the Braves don’t make a competitive offer, and soon, it may quickly become less likely he’ll be back with Atlanta.
They aren’t expected to offer him more than the $8 million that his friend, golf partner and ex-teammate John Smoltz will make in 2007, and Glavine almost certainly won’t get a no-trade clause from the Braves _ Schuerholz never has given them to other players, be they stars or journeymen.
The Mets gave him a blanket no-trade clause before, and would give him one again.
Why would the Braves be dragging their feet? I didn’t get anything on that from his agent, but I’d guess it’s because the Braves are trying to complete a trade to open up some payroll room or perhaps to open a spot in the rotation, or both.
2B Marcus Giles? Likely to be traded. Starter Tim Hudson? Still seems unlikely, to me, despite his often-mediocre performance in Hudson’s first two seasons with the Braves.
Schuerholz told me Tuesday: “[Hudson] set the bar pretty high when he was over [in Oakland]. But if you look at the body of work since he’d been here _ he’d be the first to say it’s not what he’d hoped or or what we expected, but measured against the industry _ wins, innings pitched, starts … there’s still some positives.”
And Hudson’s salary, which jumps from $6 mill in 2007 to $13 mill in each of the next two seasons (2008-09), no longer looks so daunting in light of huge contracts being awarded to pitchers this winter. “Less and less so with every passing day,” Schuerholz said.
Personally, I think the Braves are trying to pull off a trade before they can make a formal offer to Glavine. And they might also be trying to wait until after Saturday, too, because if the Mets decline to offer arbitration to Glavine by a Dec. 1 deadline, the Braves wouldn’t owe them the two draft picks that go to teams who lose Type A free agents after offering arbitration.
The Mets presumably wouldn’t offer arbitration, because Glavine would likely be awarded a salary well in excess of the $11 million or so that the Mets would prefer to pay him in 2007.
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