AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2007 > November > 22
Thursday, November 22, 2007
After Glavine, still moves to be made by Braves
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Yes, the Braves still have concerns, including the glaring hole in center, the lack of a proven lefty reliever, and a starting rotation that has a potential pool of eight quality pitchers to choose from, but more than half of whom are either over 40 (John Smoltz, Tom Glavine), have 10 or fewer big-league starts (Jo-Jo Reyes, Jair Jurrjens), or missed the past two seasons (Mike Hampton).
That said, Braves players I’ve spoken with, as well as a few players and officials from other teams, are in agreement: The Braves and new GM Frank Wren have been aggressive, proactive, and sensible with their early moves.
The latest was the long-anticipated signing of Glavine to a one-year, $8 million contract. Not bad for a 303-game winner and future Hall of Famer who has won at least 13 games in 17 of the past 19 seasons, and pitched at least 198 innings in 12 of 13 seasons. Even if he will be 42 in March.
Glavine conceded at his Monday press conference that he’s not a No. 1 pitcher anymore, though he can still pitch that way some nights. He was brutally honest and said he’s not a $13 million pitcher (the option he declined with the Mets) and didn’t want the pressure of that price tag every time he went to the mound.
But that’s fine with the Braves, who got him to be a No. 3 starter who can pitch close to 200 innings, something that only two Braves starters (aces Smoltz and Tim Hudson) did last season. No other Brave was even close.
His $8 mill price tag is $2 mill below what old friend Greg Maddux got to re-sign with San Diego (Maddux is 41 and was 29-25 with a 4.17 ERA in 408 innings over the past two seaons; Glavine is 41 and was 28-15 with a 4.13 ERA in 398-1/3 innings over the past two seasons).
They both seem like bargains compared to, say, ex-Brave Jason Marquis, who got a three-year, $21 million contract with the Cubs before last season, after going 14-16 with a 6.02 ERA for St. Louis in 2006 and being left off the Cardinals’ playoff roster. Marquis went 12-9 with a 4.60 ERA in 191-2/3 innings in 2007.
Or how ‘bout Joel Pineiro, who just re-upped with St. Louis for three years and $13 mill. This for a starter who won 30 games (30-18) during 2002-03 for Seattle, but is 28-40 with a 5.39 ERA since then.
In the past two seasons, Pineiro is 15-18 with a 5.61 ERA, with a .301 opp avg and 37 homers allowed in 263-1/3 innings. Now three more years, $13 million.
Smoltz reaction: I got a call back from Smoltz a little too late Monday to get his quotes in my Glavine-signing story, so I’ll give them to you here. As you might expect, he was thrilled to get his old buddy back on the team — and not because it gives Smoltz another worthy golf partner.
“This is about as good as it gets for me, as far as what it means to the Atlanta Braves oreganization and what he’s meant to me, being able to work with him,” Smoltz said.
“It’s neat — that’s not the best word to use, but I don’t want to sound like I’m going overboard — it’s neat to have this happen. It’s great for the organization.”
Considering the tight budgets of recent years, the animosity over previous negotiations between Glavine, his agent and the Braves, and the failed pursuit of Glavine a year ago, was Smoltz surprised that this got done?
“I’ve got to be a little bit surprised, because you never know how things are going to work,” he said. “A lot of things contributed to it happening.”
Smoltz said that Glavine makes sense on a lot of levels for these Braves.
“Leaving me out of it,” Smoltz said, “he means a lot to these young left-handers that we have. He means a lot to the bullpen. You know you’re going to get starts out of this guy. You know he’s going to cover games.”
With the uncertainty surrounding Hampton’s health, and Smoltz’s own age, he has said he wants the Braves to have, in effect, a six-man rotation, including a long reliever capable of making spot starts when others need to skip a start.
“That’s what the mindset’s got to be, with a six-man rotation, with Hampton,” Smoltz said. “[Glavine] gives us experience, a little more comfort. It allows Chuck James to not deal with so much pressure, and also allows him to pick Tommy’s brain…. This does so many things for us.
“I know some people are just going to be focused on the wins and losses, and whether it was a PR move. I’m telling you, this is a big step toward us reaching our goals.
“Nothing’s a given; I’m not a given.”
Then Smoltz paused and said in a proud tone, “But one thing you know: the three of us are still pitching.”
He meant him, Glavine and Maddux.
The Braves have already made significant moves well before the Winter Meetings, including trading Edgar Renteria to Detroit for a young center-field prospect and starting prospect Jurrjens, trading reliever Oscar Villarreal for rookie center fielder Josh Anderson and signing Glavine.
“This is the best time to do it, best time to set your team,” Smoltz said. “Given some options, and given the fact that there are some very good pieces here already, we’ve now got to make it happen where we’re addressing some of those needs. It’s not easy - it’s not like picking apples off a tree — but it’s a lot easier to do it now than in July or August.”
Braves president Terry McGuirkhas said more than once this offseason that payroll will rise and the Braves now have the money to make moves.
“I’ve been very encouraged [by McGuirk’s comments],” Smoltz said. “Sometimes as a player or a fan — sometimes we’re both — you never know what you’re going to have to work with. I think every team’s looking for that one name that takes you go from a pretender to a contender. That doesn’t always happen, but if you get a couple of those pieces, you go hmmm…. That’s where we’re headed. We’re getting close to that.
“We lost two great players in Edgar Renteria and Andruw Jones. We’re probably never going to replace Andruw Jones….
“[But] there’s tremendous upside for Mike Hampton. And now with Tom Glavine — to have that depth gives you … tough decisions to make. If we have to make tough decisions, that’s a luxury, rather than the alternative.”
About that Glavine finish: Much has been made of Glavine’s final few starts for the Mets — which were no doubt dreadful, especially the last two.
He was 8-1 with a 3.20 ERA over his 18-start stretch directly before those last three games, in which he was 0-2 with a 14.81 ERA. He allowed 13 runs in 5-1/3 innings in his final two starts, and recorded only out in the last one.
Like I said, bad.
But a couple of other big-name pitchers struggled down the stretch, and no one one would suggest their arms are shot, their careers over. No one has said their end-of-season stumbles were indicative of anything other than, they ran out of gas at the end of the season.
Johan Santana, arguably the best pitcher in our sport, was 1-4 with a 5.11 ERA in his final six starts, with one quality start in that stretch.
Maddux was 2-2 with a 9.00 ERA and .413 opponents’ average in his last four starts, while allowing 31 hits and 17 runs in 17 innings, including starts of 3 innings and 3-1/3 innings.
Hey, Glavine was really bad in those last two starts. Beyond bad in the last one. But he said he wasn’t hurt, and Braves doctors who examined him last week said his arm and overall health were excellent.
It’s not as if he ever relied on 95-mph heat to be successful.
Glavine on Cox: Someone asked Glavine at the press conference about playing again for manager Bobby Cox. I’ll just run his answer verbatim.
“It’s great; I have a ton of respect for Bobby,” Glavine said. “I always have. He’s been the single greatest influence on my career. I’ve learned a lot from Bobby — how to play the game, how to respect the game, how to respect your team and the uniform you wear, how to go out there every day and just compete, go out there with an idea of what you’re trying to do and try your best to do it. And if you don’t, then get ready to do it again the next day and start over.
“Bobby’s reputation and Bobby’s character speaks for itself. Ask anybody who’s played for him and they’ll tell you. You’re not going to have everybody love you, but you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody in the game who’s played for Bobby that didn’t love playing for him.
“If there was one question I got repeatedly the last five years in New York, it was, ‘What’s it like playing for Bobby?’ It’s not something you can answer in a minute. It takes a while.
“He has an uncanny ability to get the best out of players, whether they’re young guys or kind of reclamation projects, he has a great ability to put guys in position to succeed. We’ve all seen it, year after year, guys come in here who you’re not quite sure what you’re going to get out of them, and when all’s said and done you get good years out of those guys. Most of that is Bobby.”
One question, and that was the response.
Whither Andruw? I don’t know where Andruw’s gonna end up, since I believed the Angels were a good bet to make him a big offer. Texas makes some sense, and the Chicago White Sox wanted to trade for him a few years ago. So maybe they’ll be a suitor.
I can tell you, everything I’ve heard is that the Braves will not be, that he’s not coming back, regardless of speculation by many who wonder if Jones might go around the lightning-rod agent Scott Boras’ back again and come back for a reduced one-year contract.
No, I’m told. Not gonna happen. Period.
Can’t tell you if the Braves will acquire another center fielder - DeJesus, Crisp, etc. - or if they’ll go with what they have and make it a three-way battle for the job among kids Jordan Schafer, Josh Anderson and Gregor Blanco.
But I will guarantee you that the Braves are going to miss Andruw Jones’ offense. Yes, offense. He was bad last season, hitting a career-low .222. Terrible average. Just awful.
And this after hitting .261, .263 and .262 over the previous three seasons. Not good.
In 257 games since June 3, 2006, Andruw has hit a dreadful .232 with a .333 OBP. Repeating, he’s hit .232 in his past 257 games, or 937 at-bats.
That said, the Braves are going to miss his run production a lot more than some people seem to believe. I keep reading folks here say things like, ‘How much worse can Schafer be, or Blanco, or whoever, if they hit .230 they’ll still be better than Andruw.’
No.
Because despite hitting .232 in those past 257 games, Andruw also had 53 homers, 154 runs and 171 RBIs in that stretch.
Granted, he might have had 210 RBIs if he’d hit for a decent average with runners in scoring position in that period. But the point remains, he had 53 homers and 171 RBIs since June 3, 2006, during a stretch in which his average was flat-out awful.
For some comparison, here’s what a few other outfielders have hit since June 3, 2006:
Torii Hunter: .286 average (.336 OBP) with 146 runs, 50 homers, 171 RBIs in 253 games.
Vernon Wells: .264 average (.321 OBP) with 144 runs, 33 homers, 143 RBIs in 253 games.
Coco Crisp: .263 average (.321 OBP) with 132 runs, 13 homers, 93 RBIs in 240 games.
And J.D. Drew (hey, we’re just having some fun here): .277 average (.384 OBP) with 140 runs, 22 homers, 124 RBIs in 238 games.
Yes, he’s often a mess at the plate. But Andruw still, somehow, piled up some pretty solid run-production numbers.
Alright, take us out Mr. Zimmerman….
”TANGLED UP IN BLUE” by Bob Dylan
Early one mornin’ the sun was shinin’,
I was layin’ in bed
Wonderin’ if she’d changed at all
If her hair was still red.
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like Mama’s homemade dress
Papa’s bankbook wasn’t big enough.
And I was standin’ on the side of the road
Rain fallin’ on my shoes
Heading out for the East Coast
Lord knows I’ve paid some dues gettin’ through,
Tangled up in blue.
She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess,
But I used a little too much force.
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best.
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin’ away
I heard her say over my shoulder,
“We’ll meet again someday on the avenue,”
Tangled up in blue.
I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell.
So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin’ for a while on a fishin’ boat
Right outside of Delacroix.
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind,
I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind, and I just grew
Tangled up in blue.
She was workin’ in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer,
I just kept lookin’ at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear.
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I’s just about to do the same,
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me, “Don’t I know your name?”
I muttered somethin’ underneath my breath,
She studied the lines on my face.
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe,
Tangled up in blue.
She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
“I thought you’d never say hello,” she said
“You look like the silent type.”
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century.
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin’ coal
Pourin’ off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you,
Tangled up in blue.
I lived with them on Montague Street
In a basement down the stairs,
There was music in the cafes at night
And revolution in the air.
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died.
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside.
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn,
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin’ on like a bird that flew,
Tangled up in blue.
So now I’m goin’ back again,
I got to get to her somehow.
All the people we used to know
They’re an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter’s wives.
Don’t know how it all got started,
I don’t know what they’re doin’ with their lives.
But me, I’m still on the road
Headin’ for another joint
We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue.
Services »
