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Mets LHP Tom Glavine has told SI.com that he will ‘most likely’ decline his $9 million player option for next season.
According to the report, Glavine must make a final decision by Friday. Glavine, among many other comments, as quoted by SI…
“I know if I decide to become a full-fledged free agent, I’d have a lot of interest from a lot of teams…Atlanta is home. The hardest thing for me in New York is playing and being away from home. I’ve played in New
York for five years now. If you break it down, I’ve been away from my home for four years now. I’m at the point where my wife and kids are making sacrifices for me.”
…i think it’s fairly obvious he wanted to return to the Braves last season, but that John Schuerholz would not pony up the money to bring him back…this season, i would be shocked if these two do not find a way to re-unite…and i’m fine with it…he’s a good pitcher, and i’m still a fan, but he cannot come back…our relationship has got to end…if for no other reason than his parting comments after Sunday’s loss will give him no room for error among us, the fans, if he was to return…
Glavine, talking to reporters after Sunday’s loss…
“I’m not devastated. I’m disappointed, but devastation is for much greater things in life. I’m disappointed, obviously, in the way I wanted to pitch. I can’t say there is much more I would have done differently.”
According to Bob Klapisch in the Bergen Record the team’s front office was appalled at his comments and attitude from Sunday.
Braves LHP John Smoltz, as quoted during September in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution…
“You [bring him back to Atlanta] because of two things: He can still pitch; he can still win baseball games. And, this is where he belongs…I’d love to see him retire in a Braves uniform. For my sanity, for everything we’ve been through, that would be the greatest thing in the world.”
By the way, at Rumor Central for ESPN.com, Jerry Crasnick writes that Glavine is likely to pitch again next season, adding that the Washington Nationals could have interest in signing him.
In his final four starts of the season, during which the Mets lost all four games, Glavine was 0–2 with a 9.50 ERA.
Put Glavine in an Atlanta uniform and the umpires will start to give him the pitch a foot and a half off the plate that he lost pitching in New York. :(
Goodbye, Tommy, and Good Riddance.
That’s because the umpires know if they don’t give him the call Bobby Cox will fight them on every pitch.
They don’t have to give Glavine the calls when he’s in a mets uniform cause Glavine had no one to stand up for him.
I live in Atl and watch many more Braves games then mets, and I agree with you 100%. Bobby Cox bitches and moans over every pitch in every game. He is relentless, you can hear him on TV when the crowd is quiet , the guy is a miserable complaining, whining machine, but only to the umpires. He’s upbeat and positive when dealing with his players.
Please stop attacking Willie. It’s not his fault he gets scared of da big bawd umpiwes.
Willie is such a chickin-s*** it’s not funny. I swear i saw him actually PRAYING for help during the Friday. How about instead of wasting your time looking to the divine Willie (which i’m sure is a real confidence booster for the team) maybe you should work on quelling some of the losing attitude that has taken hold in the clubhouse.
“I know my guys”, my a**!
Oh and Glavine, make sure you take a cab to the airport on your way out of town you bum. go back to the 20,000 brave fans that masqerade as empty seats!
Matt: Go to sleep. Only grad students are up this late.
And undergrads like myself.
Good riddance.
The whole relationship between Glavine and the Mets was a case of strange bedfellows all along. I don’t think many ever became totally comfortable with it. Hey, booing him and making nasty comments about him will just embolden him for when he pitches against us next season. If we are gonna blame Milledge and Reyes, we need to take a look at ourselves as fans, because the same way the Marlins were woken up on Sunday, Glavine won’t have any qualms about his enthusiasm to kick our asses and show us. The Braves fans never booed him, just gave him cheers, so in that aspect (although I hate their fans) they were more classy than some of our Shea boobirds – probably why he never had a killer instinct at Turner Field. I could see the Nats and Orioles having interest in his home vicinity and him trying just a little to use that leverage to get himself more from Atlanta, but of course it seems like he will end up there again. The problem is that, besides from his awful September, this was one of his better seasons as a Met and he ate up 200 innings – many quality innings. I would also like to get rid of El Duque, because to an extent the old guys are killing us. That said, who will take their place. Omar made a good point yesterday about teams like San Diego and Boston having the old farts supplement the younger starters.
I’m not sure what you are talking about when you say Atlanta never booed him – they booed him mercilessly for his first few years here and the response to him in his last start this year, with the 300 wins tribute and everything, was tepid at best.
They never loved Glavine in Atlanta – as a matter of fact theyfull on disliked him for years due to his Union work. Which is appropriate, because Tom Glavine never pitched for the Braves or the Mets, he’s always pitched for Tom Glavine. He left “home” for the money – I find it bizarre how he talked all season about how last year ended and about finishing business, and barely a month ago saying he was leaning towards returning because of the group of guys on this team. Now he fails us miserably – not just Sunday but in 2 starts prior, where 2 decnet outings would have out us in the playoffs – and he’s out of here.
Good riddance. Tom Glavine is not a winner, not a leader, not a warrior. He’s a good, and selfish pitcher who always has an excuse when he loses, but was lucky enough to be on some good teams his whole career. People used to call David Cone a hired gun, but David Cone would bleed to death for his team. Glavine is a true hired gun – give him his millions and he’ll be the same guy every 5th day – good or bad.
So good riddance. Him in Atlanta hardly makes them a shoo-in on any level. As for who replaces him, no ink is being given to the fact that Pedro is back and pitched very well, and now has the whole winter and spring to truly finish his rehab. Pedro is a leader and warrior.
Good riddance Tommy. Thanks for granting us the priveledge of taking our millions and pitching 5 years of virtually .500 ball.
Braves fans booed him his first game back as a Met.
cver,
If you have a problem with the booing that went on Sunday at Shea (which I will PROUDLY say I was a part of!) then you must not be a Met fan!
It’s amazing, Glavine came, flushed away the season in 7 minutes and Willie stood idly and allowed it go on!
The Mets deserved that sendoff! And to be honest if I am stupid enough to waste my hard earned money on opening day tickets, I’ll make sure Willie hears it from me again.
I understand that booing isn’t a positive thing and never helps. When you see your team that you followed through this whole wretched season, and it was wretched, don’t kid yourself, there were signs all year that the September collapse was coming. Booing is not only appropriate it’s necessary.
I hope Glavine has a situation where he can’t come back to the Majors again. The serenade of boos was a fitting send off to one of the most overrated pitchers in the history of the game. 1 championship in 14 attempts, 300+ wins with a heavy reliance on a very shady strike zone, a bum in every way shape and form!
Good riddance!!
Cver is a met fan.
I was just commenting on the notion some folks hold that you can NEVER boo your team.
Good riddance!
I’ll drive him to the airport if he’d like.
He never should have been a Met in the first place, so send him back where he belongs.
I dunno, if I’m wrong about that, I stand corrected. I surely haven’t seen every Braves game or every game when he pitched as a Met in Atlanta, so maybe I shouldn’t have written that. I was under the impression that he was one of their golden boys and immune from boos. After he choked and eliminated us on Sunday, they should throw him a ticker tape parade down there.
Good Riddance.
300th win = 7th game of WS to him, trying to get us to the playoffs = meh not devastated maybe a little disappointed
Glavine obviously doesn’t want to be here, at any price. There’s no way he’ll get $9 mil from the Braves, and the Nationals? Not a chance. No matter. He just wants out.
He was a class guy, but let’s face it: he came here because the Mets offered him the most money, not because he wanted to be a Met. As a good union guy, he felt obligated to take the high offer.
Glavine’s obvious discomfort as a Met made that big ceremony for his 300th win flat-out ridiculous. That he folded down the stretch made it even worse, and his choke job on Sundays was the capper. Once again, the Mets look like a 10 year-old nerd who gives away his best toy in a bid for popularity.
The Mets brought Glavine here the season that MLB began using Questec. They should’ve stayed away, knowing that, but in typical Wilpon fashion, they wanted to make a splash instead of doing the sensible thing. Instead, once he no longer got that dead fish a foot off the plate, Glavine was merely a slightly above-average pitcher. That’s what he gave the Mets for all their money–a slightly above-average performance.
You can’t blame a guy for wanting to be near his family. He’s a good guy, but he was never a true Met.
Good points.
Hey, I like your user name! I die a little inside each time I see Newhan walk out there with number 17.
I posted this on Sunday, shortly after having my guts ripped out of my body, but I’ll say it again…
Even when Glavine was pitching winning baseball for the Mets, I couldn’t stand to watch his games. All that nibbling at the corners and hoping that over-anxious batters would help him out by swinging at out-of-the-zone pitches…Not to mention the heavy reliance on generous umpires giving him several inches off the plate for that down-and-away stuff.
Announcers always seemed to bestow the badge of honor on him of “never giving in” but all too often it translated into walking his way into far too many jams.
I hope that the speculation on his departure is accurate. Although he came up big in the ‘06 postseason, this is one Met diehard who won’t miss him in ‘08…
I agree. I hated watching him pitch. You cannot rely on pitchers who need balls to get batters out. Glavine was afraid to throw strikes the other day. Without an Eric Gregg type umpire he was lost. Even the dumber hitting teams were getting wise to him.
I like Tom personally but I couldn’t let the door hit him quick enough
I guess this is the South’s revenge on The Sherman Burning of Atlanta
i can’t wait to see glavine in a braves uniform.. pitching against the mets.. and joe west behind the plate.. giving him the strike zone he didn’t give us on sunday.
you know it’s going to happen.
No big loss. As long as he takes is flat 81 mph fastball with him.
Unless he regains some “stuff”, which doesn’t usually happen at age 42ish, next year could be pretty poor. Which now, would be a good thing!
Maybe he was just tired, and being home (with a big zone) will revitalize him? Who knows, but I will go with the declining results option.
SO, how likely is it that he would have done 200 innings next year, at least decent ones? He was knocked out early quite a few times in the 2nd half.
For 9 million, they should be able to find someone to pitch 180 innings witha 4.5 ERA, which is the best you would have gotten out of him.
Best hing though, is now the fans will have one less person to unload boos on next year!
Here is what is clear to me…OMAR JUST GOT A WAKEUP CALL. HIs team collapsed and he may still believe in his manager but there is no way he is going to limp through this offseason like he did last one. HE will not dance with Zito or come up short with MAtsuzaka. HE will land what the team needs and overpay for it if he has to.
I am a Reyes supporter. I think the second half of this year was awful and spiraled out of control for him. I think he could not find himself after a month or so of trying and then took his woes out on the field and screwed up his glove. I don’t think he is ruined though. I think he will be back to the first half player he was and put together his first complete season as a met. Don’t trade him. Don’t trade Beltran, Don’t trade Wright no matter what. THis is your core and you need to stay with it.
Almost everyone else should be on the table.
I see Omar focusing on building a lights out pen with 2 closers at the end. Wagner and a Cordero type. A flier trade of Shoenweis for Gagne. I don’t know the Free Agent market yet but I would imagine he gets 2 high quality back end of the pen guys for us. One RH and one LH.
I also see a trade of one of young pitchers plus a milledge for a proven starter. Think Maine or Perez plus Milledge for a Santana type guy. I’d also look at the guy from Baltimore, Bedard.
Glavine should go and will. No real loss here
Duque needs to adjust to hitting the pen and he will not be counted on as a starter.
Omar gets us 2 starters and 2 stud relievers plus one RF who can bash and he resigns Alou.
Here is what I think is possible:
Starters
1) Pedro returns and wins 18 games
2) Maine is traded with Milledge for Bedard or Santana
3) Perez is number 3 starter
4) We take this years Lily type and pay the $10 – $11m per for 4 years for a number 4 type
5) Pelfrey wins the #5 spot
Rotation – Santana/Bedard, Pedro, Perez, Livan Hernandez and Pelfrey
Relief pitchers:
Wagner, Duque, Heilman, Feliciano are givens. We dump Mota and Shoeneweis (trade him and eat at leat half his contract)
We bring in 1 closer type and 1 solid consistent lefty:
Closer type – Isringhausen and Gagne possible
Lefty consistent – Jeremy Affeldt
Position players:
Beltran, Wright, Reyes, Alou, Delgado and Loduca all come back
Milledge is traded and Castillo is allowed to walk. Gotay is utility guy on the bench
We need a RF stud and we need a 2nd Basemen
RF options include:Geoff Jenkins, Aaron Rowand, Abreu and Adam Dunn. Not too great but I’d have to look at Rowand and see if he could convert to a RF
2nd Base options are sparse:
May have to revise my statement and bring back Castillo now that I have looked at the free agents
That is it guys.
OMAR Will not sit still here. He knows this is a make or break off season and he will not continue to take fliers on guys to hold the fort or to find some magic. I feel he goes for broke a bit and sends away a few guys an brings back quality and pays for it with free agent money. Expect the payroll to go up 25M or so
Bottom line — I was against it last year because I though having guys like Glavine and El Duque made it unnecessary, but we’re just going to have to overpay for some mid-rotation pitching this year. While a lot of the 4/$40M pitchers were mediocre-bad this season (Suppan, Padilla, Wolf), others were quite good (Lilly, Meche). Omar needs to put the thinking cap on and figure out which one of these mid-rotation guys would fit best in our ballpark and our defense.
you were outspoken and completely mistaken about a lot of things, weren’t you?
With Pedro, Bedard or Santana and Perez, plus Pelfrey, we will have 3 guys who throw hard and Pedro. I’d be ok with a Livan Hernandez type. I’d consider a Bartolo Colon (shorter deal), I’d consider looking at Jason Jennings. No doubt there are others….. Kris Benson for example
Who do you envision behind home plate?
I see LoDuca and want no part of Paulino or Pudge. Castro is a backup and will be resigned
i love how mets fans always think that teams are waiting to give up their best players for nothing.
santana for maine and milledge? you’re insane.
and baltimore is just chomping at the bit to give us bedard to get back maine and milledge.
let’s not even talk about how milledge and is punk attitude and his weak hitting and waving at breaking pitches.. has rendered him untradeable.. at least to the bedard/santana standards..
so.. keep dreaming if that makes you feel better.
What about finally making Heilman a starter? This may make sense depending on the bullpen for next year…
just when we thought that idea was dead…
Aaron Heilman is one of the best relief pitchers in baseball. His ability to pitch a shut down 8th inning, combined with his ability to pitch 3, 4, 7 days in a row make him way too valuable as a reliever to start thinking about converting him to a starter.
I definatly think the organization is going to trust Pelfrey with a rotation spot after the way he finished up this year. Pedro, Perez, Maine, Pelfrey, Duque. I dont think Heilman cracks that group. With Humber, Mulvey, and Parnell waiting in the wings I doubt we ever see Heilman start another game for the Mets.
isringhausen is on record saying he will only play for st louis, otherwise he will retire.
Doubt it. While he may have said that, his agent will wring his neck. Izzy is not retiring.
I sincerely hope that Tom Glavine was able to make his tee time at 8 am this morning in Atlanta. Smoltz will probably win, and Maddux will take second. And I hope they all live there miserably thereafter.
Glavine really disappointed us over the last few starts and his comments were even more damaging. Get the hell out of town you loser…New Yorkers do not need to be reminded of devastating things in life after enduring 9/11. In strictly a sports context his performance and loss on sunday was devastating to us mets fans…we did not need reminding of devastating events in life. get him out of here quickly..son’t let him come back to clean out his locker rather send hid stuff ups!!!!
I agree that Glavine has pitched his last game for us. Ok by me also. I never felt confident with him this year for some reason. I always felt we had a good chance to win with Pedro, Duque, Perez, Maine. While they all threw up a stinker or two, you also knew they could bring it for us and deliver more often than not. With Glavine..it was always for me about avoiding the game that happened on Sunday. He was always close to blowing up. I frankly would love to see him in the NL East. I’d have a sense we would crush him. Alou, Wright, Beltran, even Delgado. They would tee off on him by being patient and waiting for his cheese. He is not the typical lefty who kills other lefties.
See ya later LOOSER
Bye Tommy, Thanks for the memories in all but 1 month of your tenure here.
Did anyone actually read the Klapisch article linked to from here? The Marlins quotes bothered me. The president of the Marlins is calling it Game 7? That’s something a fan does, not the president of the organization. The team has won 2 WS in its short existence, and he’s more interested in taking down the Mets? Dontrelle was rooting for the Phillies? Geez. Couple that with Hanley’s comments the other day and I have really grown to hate the Marlins – whole lot of attitude problems on that team, particularly toward the Mets. I don’t get it either, since so many Mets are former Marlins and vice versa, They are quickly rising as my least favorite NL East team.
since 80% of their crowd roots and cheers for The Mets when they play in FL; that might be a sore spot!
and their manager was braves 3rd base coach…
I was at the game on Sunday and was infuriated that the Marlins remained on the field after the game for a very long time. All that hugging could have gone on in the clubhouse – just another example of them sticking it to the Mets & their fans. If a Marlin doesn’t get drilled in the first meeting between them and the Mets next year I’ll be very disappointed.
And what’s up with D-Train. I have NEVER heard of a professional ballplayer openly rooting for one division rival and against another. That team has NO class.
Batting .500;
Glavine the Brave is gone.
Willie, the Skankee still hanging around….
Ahhh…a home opener without Glavine…I can’t wait.
Matt,
Where in Klapisch’s article is the response from the Met front office commenting on Glavine’s post game comments?
The front office was appalled at Tom Glavine’s attitude after the shellacking he took from the Marlins on Sunday. Despite allowing seven runs in one-third of an inning, dooming the season, the veteran left-hander all but ended his Met career when he refused to say he was devastated.
Instead, Glavine prattled on about moving on and learning from the experience, as if he’d just pitched in a mid-July game against the Pirates. “It was an incredibly stupid thing to say. Everyone was shocked to hear that from him,” said one member of the organization. Minaya said he would huddle with Glavine in the near future, setting the stage for the left-hander’s inevitable return to the Braves in 2008
**************************************
I’ve been a supporter of Glavine. But his performance down the stretch and his statements after Sunday’s game were too much. Most of all his statements. Unforgivable.
Thanks for the quote. Very interesting
And this is why you don’t sign guys from your biggest rival. It never works out and at the end this is what you get, the chance they go back and it bites you.
I’m fine with him heading back to Atlanta. I think his last two starts shows that the league is onto his adjustments now. Unless he somehow recovers 5mph on his fastball, I see him retiring before the All Star Break with a 9.50 ERA.
Either way, his comments clearly ushered the end of the Mets era for him. He did a very nice job for us in ‘06. Sometimes a hired gun is needed to get the job done, so I had no problem in signing him, and signing him for ‘07. But he’s obviously ready for this to end, and so are we.
just like this year, his success will depend on the opponents being too agressive and the home play umpire being generous. No reason Glavine cant go 7 shutout every 5 starts or so. But I can see him struggling with the Mets and Phillies big time.
actually its a 13 mil option because Glavine had >190 IP. Not that it matters, he would have to be a massochist to want to spend next year in NY.
When you make millions of dollars year after year, does your family really have to “make sacrifices”? Not to mention they have an entire winter season off together. Coupled with an earlier retirement than most, I’m pretty sure the Glavines have more family time than the average joe. Send this bum outta here. I’m tired of hearing about his family and Atlanta. Start worrying about your fans. Tons of kids cried on Sunday because of his terrible outing.
Probably many adults as well
If you make 9 million per ( or 13 Million ) Can’t you afford two houses? And some plane tickets? I don’t get it. It’s not like he grew up in the cotton fields. He’s a New Englander.
Please drill Tommy first time he’s back in the Shea batters box
Minnesota likes fundamentally sound players who hustle, play the game right, and do it without too much back page nonsense – they would never take on the baggage that Milledge has already accrued. Maine’s a good fit but not enough – the reality is the Santana discussion begins and ends with Reyes, whether we like it or not.
mdemaio: Reyes has been as much the attitude problem as Milledge this year. I think the Twins would overlook the problem with Reyes though…
I would hope that Maine (because of his short service time) and Gomez (because he fits their style better than Milledge would be a significant start to a trade for Santana. It will need to include more of course, but I would start there.
Do they have “back pages” in Minnesotta?
THese trades all depend on who a given GM “likes” on the Mets.