Almost as annoying as Alex Rodriguez discussing his eventual retirement (while the Yankees were falling out of the AL East race) is the Mets’ Tom Glavine explaining under what conditions he might accept a trade. I do realize Glavine’s comments were prompted by a reporters’ questions, but is it asking too much for someone as articulate as Tom Terrific to simply state, “I’m a member of the New York Mets and they’re paying me $34 million to help them win baseball games. Thank you. Kylesa rules.”
Unless the Mets climb back into the NL East race, Tom Glavine could be among those shipped elsewhere by the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
There’s a twist with Glavine. His three-year, $34-million contract includes a full no-trade clause, but don’t expect Glavine to throw a Gary Sheffield-type tantrum if and when the Mets approach him about a deal.
“I’ve thought about it,” said Glavine, who has not had that discussion yet with the front office. “Obviously there’s a real short list of teams I would even consider. I have no intention of wanting that to happen, but if they came to me and said look, ‘We feel like we’re better without you or whatever,’ I’m not going to be like, ‘Absolutely not.’ Especially if it’s a team I could see myself going to.”
Glavine lives in Greenwich, Conn., during the season, but his permanent home is in Alpharetta, Ga., and he was raised in the Boston suburbs. Staying east of the Mississippi is important, but it’s unlikely the Mets would send him back to the Braves.
The Yankees seem to match his criteria, along with having the need and the resources to pull it off. The Red Sox appear to be brimming with starters, especially with Curt Schilling’s return imminent.
Another obstacle is Glavine’s $10-million option for 2006, which is almost guaranteed to kick in now that he already has logged 96 1/3 innings. The Mets aren’t thrilled about investing that much of next year’s payroll for Glavine, who has a 25-35 record as a Met and will be 40 by Opening Day of next season.
But a contending team, in the market for an experienced starter and a borderline Hall of Famer, may think differently. Glavine has an eye on 300 wins – an automatic ticket to the Hall – and that could prompt him to want an extension for 2007. He currently stands at 267 wins.
Off-topic/On-topic:
I had the pleasure of watching the Mets on ESPN on the Fourth. Jeff Brantley was going on about how Omar Minaya is dumb to consider the Mets buyers as the deadline approaches. Brantley went on to say that the Mets shouldn’t have shipped out Scott Kazmir for anything less than a “proven winner”. This has been on my mind for days.
Estaban Loaiza, Jose Contreras, Brad Penney, Scott Erickson, Kris Benson, Victor Zambrano, Jon Rauch, and Freddy Garcia. Those are the starting pitchers that changed teams leading up to the deadline. Each one of these pitchers were either career underachievers or past winners who were struggling. What team exactly was offering a “proven winner” for a AA hot prospect? I would have happily had Freddy Garcia from that lot, but I don’t think there was much else appealing.
Tom Glavine should be shipped out to a team that’s interested (if there is one) – and I hope the Mets can get the kind of value that they gave up last year for Zambrano, because Glavine is a “proven winner”. Teams have to give up quite a lot to get “proven winners” like Tom Glavine or Kaz Ishii.
Yes, I agree Tom should be saying the “right” things right now – but I won’t complain if this sort of open-ness perks up the ears of the GM in Baltimore/Minnesota/Cleveland/Kansas City/New York/Toledo/Scranton-Wilkes Barre/Rochester/etc.
A couple of quality starts might make him look even more appealing than anything he has to say to the media.
It’s OK if those “couple” of quality starts are spaced out over the next five though right?