Mets Return Glavine, Ask For Refund
Posted by Christopher on November 19, 2007
According to several sources, Tom Glavine will return to the Braves, signing an 1 year, 8 Million Dollar Contract. This was pretty much a foregone conclusion from the minute Tom walked off the mound at shea on the last day of the regular season.
The Mets have the option of offering Glavine arbitration. Assuming Glavine declines arbitration, the Braves would owe the Mets a compensatory draft pick (a first rounder, if I am not mistaken). The only potential drawback would be that Glavine could agree and return to the Mets at a salary set by an arbitrator.
I understand that Glavine ate up alot of innings and brought professionalism to the Mets clubhouse. Tom Glavine is a Hall of Fame pitcher…but not for what he did with the Mets.
I will do my best to relay my judgments on Tom without being caught up in his last start. Tom proved this season that he is no longer a 1 or 2 pitcher in a rotation. At this point, Tom is completely dependent on umpires giving him an extra couple inches on the corners. When Tom doesn’t get the calls on the corners, he is completely ineffective. While Tom had his share of solid starts this season, he was wildly inconsistent and pitched the Mets out of several winnable games.
The big question is how will the Mets replace Tom. Tom pitched 200 innings, and made 34 starts of which 23 were “quality starts“. On the other hand, Tom’s ERA of 4.45 was unremarkable. For comparison, Mike Pelfrey put up a 4.88 ERA after the All Star Break when he seemed to find his groove.
Personally, Tom didn’t instill much confidence in me this season. I was much more confident on days Ollie or Maine were coming to the mound. Personally, if we are going to have a wildly inconsistent pitcher, I would rather have it be one of the kids from the farm*. I thought Pelfrey really started to come on towards the end of last season and at least his struggles would be a learning experience for the future. I am not too concerned with the loss of Glavine.
*Note: An upcoming post will be devoted to the Mets pitching situation in general and possible offseason moves.
