Tom Glavine is on the fence about next year, but I’d like to see him back, not only because of what he brings to the clubhouse, but because he can still pitch.
With a little help from his hitters and bullpen, he could have 17 to 18 wins this year. He’s certainly pitched better than his numbers, and his numbers have been good.
I understand wanting to get younger, but the Mets are better with Glavine than they are without him, and I think that would apply to next season, too.
26 Comments
John, While I agree Glavine has been solid for us the last two years, it’s time to move on. Let him go back to the Braves to end his career. The Mets must start to prepare for the future and it is now. The rotation next year should be Maine – Perez – Pelfrey – Humber and Pedro…..They also have the other young kid Mulvey perculating down in Double AA.
It looks like it will be a very thin free agent crop, but the Mets should focus on rebuilding the bullpen…....
Believe…..
Totally agree with you John.
I grew up a Braves fan (until Glav left for the Mets) so I should probably be one of those people who wants to see him return to the Braves but … I have no desire to see that. I want him pitching next year and I want it to be with the Mets. I think he brings a lot to this ballclub, both on and off the field, and I think he makes them a better team.
My bet is if Glavine decides to pitch next season, it is with the Braves….
If Glavine comes back, I can see it with the Mets. The Braves had their chance last year and passed. As far as the Mets and getting younger, sure, that’s ideal. But, if you’re going to have the same bodies, then I want Glavine. Remember, you have Hernandez and Martinez, too, but they aren’t without physical question. Glavine just doesn’t miss any games. He’s never been on the DL. That’s why you would want him.-JD
There was a recent story that made it clear that the Braves are looking to cut costs next season. Glavine is a veteran leader…something that stats do not cover. I hope he is back. Last night was a perfect example of a rookie pitcher walking two guys with two outs and not knowing how to get out of it. With Pelfrey, Maine and Perez, there will be a lot of outings like that until these guys learn how to be mentally tough.
If Glavine goes back to Atlanta, they become the favorites in the NL East in 2008.
good man. good leader. good pitcher (if the team is good). i’m fine with his return
though it makes the rotation set for next year: pedro, duque, ollie, maine, glavine w/o improvement or pelfrey/humber getting a true shot
his option is for $13m. that’s too much. he needs to negotiate that down
the pen needs to be much, much better if this rotation is coming back. i’m talking joe nathan from the twins (low-payroll), lidge from houston, etc to join wagner, feliciano, and heilman.
any chance new astros gm wade is foolish enough to trade oswalt. with the phils he was the worst gm :)
How do we now that the Braves will even WANT Glavine. He has gone crawling back to them each time his contract with the Mets expired only to have them kick them to the curve. The Mets have welcomed him into their family with open arms. If the Mets still want to resign him, he should tell the Braves to go eff themselves. As for the young pitchers, they are not ready. A rotation of Maine – Perez – Pelfrey – Humber and Pedro means that the Mets are writing off the season. I say go with Pedro – Glavine and let the rest compete for spots. In fact, some of those younguns should perhaps be moved to the pen.
It would be a good idea to do as some other teams do and put young starters in the pen for a year or half a year. This way, they pitch in many high pressure situations while keeping innings down. Some will say the innings are too low, but the pressure of the pitches will make them feel higher, because there is more pressure late in a game pitching an inning or two than trying to spread out your pitches going six or more innings. Unfortunately, if the player does well there, like Heilman, the Mets might be tempted to leave that player in the pen. It’s still not too late to move Heilman back to a starter for next season, especially if Sanchez comes back strong. I could see El Duque in the bullpen also with the way he has been injured at three different times already this season.
I would like Glavine back and hope he wants to come back. I think the pitcher who has worn out his stay (as far as I’m concerned) is EL DUQUE….sick of his end of the year injury bug.
With Martinez and Glavine along with Perez and Maine the Mets are still looking for one more quality starter.
Trade for Santana?
Well I’ve said my peace! :-)
I learned a lot about Tommy Glavine this season during the time he was working on win #300. Then, when he had passed that milestone, I learned even more. Any athlete who is spoken of that highly by his peers, sports officials, and yes, even the writers, deserves to play as long as he wants and is able. Knowing that Tom Glavine would never give a team less than his best, if he wants to be a Mets again next year, I’m all for it.
Well I agree with you Jeff but El Duque probably hasn’t worn out his stay with thiose that pay the bills since Omar gave him 2 years. Another problem Willie will have next year. How can you set up a rotation with a guy who you know can’t play all year. Same for Alou. As good as he hits he only goes 90 games. That’s no way to run a ship, I mean a team.
The Mets can’t trade for Santana because we don’t have the chips on the farm to get him. We as a fan base naturally over rate our kids. But the results have been poor when they got their chances so far. The result is a diminished trade value.
The mets woul dbe insane to not jump at the chance to resign Glavine. He has been the only pitcher on the staff who didnt miss a start. He has 6 bad games in 32 starts. I agree Glavine should have at least 17 wins at this point. There is no replacing a hall of fame pitcher whi can give you 15 ewins a year. If pedro comes back strong next year he also should get an extension. Having 2 hall of famers on the staff will mean big things will be coming from the 3 young guys following them. I say Pedro, Glavine,Maine, Ollie and pelfrey would be a superb staff next year with Duque in the pen as the long man to give his arm the rest he obviously needs. If one of the starters gets hurt Duque or Humber can come in and replace them.
6 innings from a 42 yr old lefty is acceptible.
What’s not acceptable at the major league level is 5 or 6 innings from someone in their mid 20’s.
Pitching has been ruined by this relief specialist stuff.
Get the kids on the farm back to expecting to pitch complete games and you’ll get better outings from them. They groom them for 6 innings now and when you need them to stretch they can’t.
Get back to basics.
2008 El Duque could be turned into the right-handed version of 2006 Darren Oliver, albeit at a much more expensive rate, at least double, and if he is willing. In my opinion, it is tougher to navigate around the probability of Duque being injured than with Alou. Hopefully, Willie will give Alou more time off in the beginning of 2008 than he did in 2007, even if Alou is hot early because we’ve seen how good he can be late in the year when he has rest.
While I´d love to work Pelfrey or Humber into the rotation, Pelfrey hasn´t shown that he´s ready. Glavine can still pitch. If Pelfrey, Humber, or Mulvey has a lights-out spring, then I´d put Duque in the pen.
That said, I´m not too confident in Maine either. I just get the feeling that the hitters will figure him out sooner or later, and that his stuff just isn´t good enough to win long-term. No stats to back it up, just a feeling.
I think that if Pedro has a half decent year in 08, then the Mets will extend him to open the new park in 2009. Ollie is a FA after 2008. So are Santana and Sabathia…hmmm…
2009 Rotation?: Santana, Pedro, Pelfrey, Humber, Ollie/Maine/Mulvey
Sam G: Here, Here…I totally, totally agree with you. Wish the team’s executives saw it the same way.
Spiderpig—I agree on Alou. Some sort of a loose plan of Alou playing 4-5 days per week, with Endy or someone else filling in the other days. If Lastings is in RF, then Endy won´t need to substitute there too much (at least not to give him rest). Maybe that way Alou can contribute all year.
BTW- the same plan could be applied to Castillo at 2nd base—4 or 5 days per week, with someone else filling in when flyball pitchers go.
I DO NOT! WAN THE SAME 1-5 NEXT YEAR, BYE BYE EL DUQUE SAME GOES FOR GLAVINE, ITS TIME FOR PEREZ AND MAINE TO CALL THEMSELVES THE ACES! a rotation of perez, maine, pedro, pelfrey.humber and one FA starter like Carlos silva, randy wolf, livan hernandez, BARTOLO COLON! also some trade possibilities arroyo, blanton, nate robertson, garland rather have 1 of those
I do not want the Mets to resign Tom Glavine. For the $12M it would take to resign him, the Mets would be better served looking elsewhere for an option. Also, they need to get younger with prospects like Mike Pelfrey and Phillip Humber. Tom Glavine does not come up big in games the Mets need him. The game in Florida and tonight against Washington are examples. In addition, he pitched poorly in Game 5 of last year’s NLCS. He struggles against good lineups. The Yankees hit him hard twcie this year (heactually won one of the those games) and the was shelled by the Tigers. After this season I never want to see Glavine in a Mets uniform again.
Glavine drives me nuts and I wouldn’t mind if he retired. I wouldn’t even complain if Gota moved to the rotation and took all those starts!
But the Mets are better with Glavine than without him until they can get someone to push him to the sideline.
– Pelfrey doesn’t seem to have the smarts to use his abilities in a meaningful way.
– Humber doesn’t seem to have enough to inspire confidence in the Mets’ management.
No one else is even close. (Spare me the Heilman rhetoric, please.) If Glavine doesn’t come back for another year then Minaya has to spend talent to replace him or we pull our hair out over the roller-coaster rides Pelfrey/Humber deliver. Much as I’d rather see the “kids” get a chance, they just aren’t ready yet. So i’d vote to bring Glavine back.
And Humber won’t fool me by what he does tonight no matter what it is. If he really has what it takes to earn a spot in the rotation he would have gotten a chance before now.
Sloppy—the Mets certainly have the chips for Santana. When the lefty had popped off the Castillo-to-the-Mets trade, ESPN radio held a panel discussion of teams that could a.) afford to pay Santana over $20 million and b.) had 2-3 blue-chip prospects to deal. The Mets and Yanks were at the top of that discussion.
Personally, I’d look to turn the corner on Glavine and replace him with an elite front-line pitcher like Santana. And I’d be willing to deal people like Pelfrey and Gomez to get him.
El Duque will be back unless he voluntarily retires. He’s got a guaranteed contract for next year. If Alou comes back that’s two injury prone players that once again pose potential problems for Willie. Not to mention both Mota and Schoeneweis have guaranteed contracts for next year too. Plus it now seems clear to me Delgado who also has a guaranteed contract for 2008 is not in a long slump this year—rather it’s near the end of the line for him. Not a very rosy picture for 2008. And none of this is Willie’s doing.
As for Santana, who wouldn’t love to have him? But I don’t think the Mets have the type of elite prospects it will take to get him. Gomez isn’t elite. Nor are Pelfrey and Humber.
As for Humber, don’t discount him just because the organization didn’t seem to be high on him. This is just his first full year back from TJ surgery. Next year will be more telling. Also it seems clear to me that the Mets organization plays favorites when it comes to promoting prospects. And it isn’t always based on merit.
From one of the St. Paul newspapers this morning: “The Twins don’t have to trade Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana this winter, but they are expected to shop the left-handed pitcher who can become a free agent after next season. There will be more of a market for Santana, 28, this winter than next July before the trade deadline. The New York Mets, run by Omar Minaya, remain the strong favorite to acquire him if he leaves.”
I disagree with the notion that Gomez isn’t an elite prospect. He’s raw—but he’s also playing in the bigs at 21, without much time at AAA. He’s got the ability to be a first-rate defensive outfielder, a stolen base champion and, based on his size alone, could develop 15-25 HR power in the near future. Is he a finished product? No. But his talent is clear to anyone who’s watching.
Same thing for Pelfrey. He’s not a finished product, but everyone from Keith Hernandez to Don Sutton is predicting great things for him once he masters that secondary pitch. Sutton, in what might be the best comparable to date, said Pelfrey reminded him of Brandon Webb.