AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2008 > February > 15
Friday, February 15, 2008
With Glavine back, notepads are full
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Good morning and a raised cup (sixth, by last count) of coffee from The Happiest Place on Earth (rolled eyes).
The Braves are about to hit the field for their first pitchers-and-catchers workout, but we can assure you that at least one aspect of Tom Glavine’s game hasn’t eroded.
His interview skills.
Before the Braves had their initial team meeting (which they’re still in as we speak, at 9:53 a.m.), Glavine slipped into his Braves gear, went through a conditioning workout (before the team’s first official workout), and then filled it up for a half-hour in a media scrum in the Braves dugout at Champion Field (there, I’ve used the proper name. Hope they’re happy. Free passes to something, please).
If he can still pitch half as well as he can answer questions, then he’ll be a mighty solid No. 3 starter.
Glavine is still a bonafide ace in the interview dept. None better. None.
It was not the throng of reporters that he got used to during his five seasons in New York, but Glavine brought his “A” game for the 10 or so media members on hand, including a couple of NY reporters, a few Atlanta writers and TV types, and ESPN’s Jayson Stark (with his video-blog cameraman in tow. How ‘bout if we had a video guy to follow your Crusading Everyman around for this blog?)
Anyway, I’ll use a lot of the Glavine stuff for the story I’ll write for the paper and website later today. But a few choice morsels for now:
— Glavine said he arrived at 7:10 a.m., and only Bobby Cox, Eddie Perez and strength coach Frank Fultz were in the clubhouse at that early hour.
“All the old guys get here early — we need to make sure we wake up,” Glavine joked.
— I asked if the mood in the clubhouse was like it used to be, when the Braves were always reigning champions who expected to win, or whether he sensed it was more a hunger to get back on top. Glavine said, “A little bit of both. This organization, as successful as it’s been, there’s a built-in expectation to win.
“But obviously there’s the realization of what’s happened the last two years; that’s fresh on everybody’s minds. Everybody in [the clubhouse] is hungry to get things back on track.”
— Glavine said if the Braves hadn’t been interested in bringing him back this season, he would have retired.
He said that he knows those who are skeptical of his continued ability to still perform at a high level will point to his last three starts for the Mets, when he was 0-2 with a 14.81 ERA.
He said those who aren’t skeptical will look at his entire body of work from last season. Glavine was 13-6 with a 3.88 ERA in 31 starts before those final three.
“When people are skeptical of you, of course it motivates you,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it’s not a huge motivator for me.” Rather, he said he’s motivated by his personal expectations and goals for himself and the team.
— On the Mets: “They’re a big-market team that has the ability to be aggressive every yeaer. They’re doing a lot of things. Over the course of the last five years, they’ve done a good job reestablishing themselves as a class organization that will have to be contended with on a yearly basis.”
Folks, until we see Glavine pitch, here’s my bottom line on this subject, which we’ve kicked around and dissected all winter: He won 13 games and pitched 200-1/3 innings last season, and he was 8-1 with a 3.20 ERA in his 16 starts before those final three.
The Braves don’t need him to be an ace, and aren’t expecting it, though he probably will pitch like one some nights. What they need is a reliable third starter behind Smoltz and Hudson.
Glavine pitched 200-1/3 innings last season; the Braves got 430 innings from Smoltz and Hudson, but their next-highest total was Chuck James’ 161-1/3, and after that it fell off to Buddy Carlyle’s 104.
This rotation is so much deeper, with Glavine and Jair Jurrjens added and with Mike Hampton possibly back, the Braves aren’t expected to need Buddy Carlyle to make many, if any, starts. Even James will have to fight to win a job.
Bennett is serious: The Braves’ long man/spot starter could end up being Jeff Bennett, who was already running the stadium stairs when I sat down in the pressbox at 7:55 a.m.
Bennett has dropped nearly 60 pounds since last July, when he weighed 270 and his wife told him he was fat. He’s a slim 210 now, and Bennett came to camp with one thing in mind: Winning a spot in the rotation.
Don’t know if he’ll be able to do that barring a couple of injuries, but it’s possible. And that “sixth starter” job that Smoltz describes could go to Bennett, who seems perfectly suited to the role, given his background as both a major league reliever and his success late last season as a starter at Richmond, then with Atlanta and during winter ball.
Kotsay, Frenchy here: Most or all of the Braves’ outfield is here, after new center fielder Mark Kotsay and Jeff Francoeur reported and suited up this morning, six days before position players are required to report.
Left fielder Matt Diaz was the first non-catching position player in camp, arriving three days ago (but he lives just down the road).
Both Kotsay and Francoeur appear to be in outstanding condition. Francoeur, as I noted earlier, has added about 10-15 pounds of muscle, and it’s evident in the way he feels out his uni. Kotsay is about the same as I remembered him years ago when he was with the Marlins, except for the full beard (which I’d imagine won’t last long, since John Smoltz is the only one that gets away with that.)
(Well, sort of. Brian McCann grows his during the season, so it’s not really noticed. Next thing you know, he has a full beard and no one says anything. But I saw McCann with a beard yesterday, too.)
OK, gonna go down to the field: I want to nose around, see how Mike Hampton’s doing, talk to a few guys, check out some throwing sessions.
Oh, did want to say, I met Jurrjens this morning. Very polite, nice kid. Not quite as big as I anticipated, probably about 6-1, 6-2. But then again, if someone had told me two years ago that little Chuck James would win 11 games in the majors in 2006 and 2007, I’d have said, “You’re kidding, right?”
I’ll write plenty of comments later today. But it’s the first workout and I need to get down on the field, and figured you guys would rather me file early so you could start discussing things and coming up with some questions.
Who knows, maybe we can even get Chipper to post today, if he’s near a laptop (I haven’t seen him here, so I’m assuming he’s not coming to the ballpark today).
”SLOW TURNING” by John Hiatt
When I was a boy,
I thought it just came to ya
But I never could tell what’s mine
So it didn’t matter anyway
My only pride and joy
Was this racket down here
Bangin’ on an old guitar
And singin’ what I had to say
I always thought our house was haunted
But nobody said boo to me
I never did get what I wanted
Now I get what I need
It’s been a slow turnin’
From the inside out
A slow turnin’
But you come about
Slow learnin’
But you learn to sway
A slow turnin’, baby
Not fade away
Now I’m in my car
I got the radio on
I’m yellin at the kids in the back seat
‘Cause they’re bangin’ like Charlie Watts
You think you’ve come so far
In this one horse town
Then she’s laughin’ that crazy laugh
cause you haven’t left the parking lot
Time is short and here’s the damn thing about it
You’re gonna die, gonna die for sure
And you can learn to life with love or without it
But there ain’t no cure
There’s just a slow turnin’….
