AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2006 > November > 21
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Time right to return to Glavine
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Four years ago, the split made sense. Tom Glavine was 36. He was coming off a playoff fizzle. He wanted one last fat contract, and there was a team in New York (duh) willing to give it to him.
Glavine’s negotiations with the Braves began with a lowball and ended with a high ball of flaming rhetoric. He, his agent, John Schuerholz and Stan Kasten could not have accomplished less if they had lined up in opposite corners of the room, ran to the center and slammed heads (not that we weren’t touched to learn later in Schuerholz’s Manifesto that he and Glavine: laughed, cried and “shared a great bottle of Silver Oak cabernet wine”).
Sometimes, splits make sense.
Sometimes, reunions make sense.
Like now.
Tom Glavine is a free agent, and re-signing him could be the simplest way for the Braves to start fixing their team. They could do it for relatively little money for a starting pitcher. They could do it for a relatively small concession — a no-trade clause that logically wouldn’t come into a play anyway for a face of the franchise that you’re bringing back home. (Seriously, what are the odds the Braves sign Glavine, fall out of the race next season, and then decide to dump him at the deadline? I mean, that’s below even Schuerholz, isn’t it? They laughed and cried over Silver Oak!)
I know. You say: The Braves don’t need a starting pitcher — they need a leadoff hitter, bullpen help, the occasional clutch RBI.
OK. Let’s look at that rotation. John Smoltz started 35 games and his elbow didn’t spontaneously combust. By process of elimination, that makes him the No. 1 starter.
Next? Tim Hudson was slightly disappointing in his first season as a Braves player (14-9, 3.52) and worse last year (13-12, 4.86). Horacio Ramirez: like the “Operation” guy, only without the flashing red nose. Mike Hampton: coming off elbow surgery, and by April he will have gone 20 months between starts. Chuck James is good but young. Kyle Davies might be good, also young.
Still confident?
In his first season with the Mets, Glavine went 9-14 with a 4.52 ERA, struck out a career-low 82 batters and made a career-high $11 million.
Of course, we all laughed.
By last season Glavine had rediscovered the strike zone. He won 15 games and struck out 131. He led the Mets to their first division title since 1988 and within one game of reaching the World Series.
Don’t get caught up on the age thing, or the been-there/done-that thing. This is what sports have become.
Loyalty is year to year. Building plans are year to year. Signing 40-somethings doesn’t mean a franchise is mortgaging its future.
Glavine would bring stability. He’d enable Schuerholz to deal one or two pitchers for needed help elsewhere. He’d add leadership in a malnourished clubhouse, and provide counsel for young pitchers.
The Braves wouldn’t even have to pay moving expenses. Glavine never left Alpharetta. He lives in the same house. He eats at the same bagel place. He drinks at the same Starbucks next door. He counts at the same bank across the street.
I know, because I’ve run into him at all three places.
Glavine phoned agent Gregg Clifton Monday night. “He wanted to make sure the Mets hadn’t picked up the $14 million team option,” Clifton said.
They want him back, but at a lower price. But they also know Glavine’s being pulled emotionally back to Atlanta.
With his family here but his body there, “It’s like he plays 162 road games,” Clifton said.
The Mets want an answer before the winter meetings Dec. 4. Glavine is vacationing with his family, and you sense they’re taking nightly votes around the dinner table. Clifton expects to have an answer by the weekend.
If the decision is made to stay home, it will be up to Schuerholz to formulate an offer.
There was a time I thought Glavine was playing this out just for the leverage. I don’t think that anymore. Four years ago it was about the money. Now it’s about everything but money. He is near retirement and 10 wins short of 300.
The Mets won 97 games last season, the Braves 79. Signing Glavine changes the equation. Because now it makes sense.
Permalink | Comments (194) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Jeff Schultz
The Tuesday Countdown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
10: Hello lunacy, my old friend: $136 million for Alfonso Soriano. I’m so glad that baseball finally has its finances under control.
9: I’m not sure if this signals an AJC cover jinx. But since we lauded the resuscitation of the Atlanta Spirit and its two first-place franchises, the Thrashers (12-3-3 at the time) have lost four straight, the Hawks (3-1 at the time) have lost three of four and the non-Belkins lost a court decision.
8: It will be a seamless transition for Fox TV. The network has replaced O.J. Simpson’s dramatic reading, “My Hypothetical Murders,” with the “Charles Manson Christmas Special.”
7: Just wondering: 11 years after the acquittal, do you suppose any of those jurors regret their decision, or are we just assuming they don’t have a conscience, either?
6: Let’s solve some of the world’s problems: Give O.J. Simpson and Michael Richards blunt instruments, lock them in a room and put that on pay-per-view.
5: So Falcons guard Matt Lehr still denies taking steroids, and says he erred by not reading the label on his “supplements.” Well, doofus, if you hide your steroids in a supplements can from GNC, of course it’s not going to say steroids on the label.
4: Funny… For years I hid my heroin in the Nacho Cheese Doritos bag, and NOWHERE on the Nacho Cheese Doritos label did it say there was heroin in it.
3: I’m not saying this to resuscitate Falcons’ playoff hopes: But after watching Jacksonville pound one of the NFC’s better teams, the New York Giants, Tuesday - how bad is the NFC?
2: When Tom Glavine signed with the New York Mets, it was all about the money. If Tom Glavine returns to the Braves, it will be about everything but the money.
1: Yes, I am surprised that Georgia is favored over Tech - by only two.
Permalink | Comments (40) | Categories: Jeff Schultz
