All about the Braves and baseball events.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Will He Stay Or Will He Go? DANANA-NANA-NANANA

To Mark Bowman's Mailbag! What nice ditties hath he for us today?

With Tom Glavine filing for free agency, what are the odds of him becoming an Atlanta Brave?
-- Jordan U., Scranton, Pa.


As much as I'd like to see Glavine back in Atlanta to win his 300th game, I just don't see it happening. The Braves don't need him as much as the Mets and won't be able to financially match the offers made by New York.


The Braves don't need him as much as the Mets? Ummmmmm... I'd say Glavine is needed by both teams equally. I have zero confidence in Kyle Davies and Horacio Ramirez, and I would like to see Ramirez gone. Someone else in the Braves system can be developed to be better than him, I'm certain of that. Whoever it is, I don't know, but anyone can probably be more consistent than Ramirez was last year.

There's no doubt in my mind that Glavine would love to end his career with the Braves. Thus, he's holding out hope that Atlanta would overwhelm him with an unexpected offer.


Or not. They don't have the money to spare, that is the impression I get.

But by keeping the Braves in the mix, he's also putting pressure on the Mets to make their best possible offer. This combined with the fact that Pedro Martinez's future is unknown provides him great leverage in his negotiations with his current employer.


Ding ding ding! Give the man a prize, he knows something! :D

Until the Mets decline to exercise their option on Nov. 20, the Braves can't even give Glavine any indication of what they'd be willing to offer. But unless a high-salaried player like Tim Hudson or Andruw Jones was moved, it doesn't look like they would be able to offer anything more than a $7 million annual salary.


That would be stupid to move Andruw just to get Glavine for one or two years. No one will take Tim Hudson and his huge contract, as I said, after his career-worst year.

Of course, if Atlanta deals somebody like Hudson or Jones, Glavine may see this as a move that decreases the Braves' chances of getting into the postseason. Thus, that could lead him back to the Mets, who have the finances to fill their many needs.


HA! Moving Tim Hudson INCREASES the Braves' postseason chances just by getting rid of his horrible inconsistency! As I said, I'm certain that anyone can step in and perform better than him. ANYONE. Make Oscar Villarreal a starter, I don't care, just get Hudson as far away from the Braves as possible.

As for getting into the postseason altogether, the Braves need pitching, pitching and more pitching. Their offense was very good last season. Even without a true leadoff hitter and super, they still were third in runs per game in the National League.

If the Braves were in desperate need to strengthen their starting rotation,


If? IF?! They ARE!!


they may be more apt to do whatever necessary to bring Glavine back. But with John Smoltz, Mike Hampton and Hudson currently in place, there isn't a need for desperation.


Smoltz good. Hudson crap. Hampton BIG question mark. Davies and Ramirez super crap. Seems like a good time for a remedy to me.

Over the next few weeks, you'll continue to hear Glavine say he'd like to do whatever is best for his family, which still resides in Atlanta. This obviously leads one to believe he'd be willing to provide the Braves a great discount.

Although he's likely already financially set, I just don't see this happening. He's a sharp individual who understands his business both on and off the field. Thus, he'll keep a poker face over the next few weeks and force the Mets to provide him their best possible offer.


I agree with this, but that's all. The Braves need to have Glavine, or at the very least someone like him; a stablilizing force in the roation. Kyle Davies and Horacio Ramirez are NOT stabilizing forces by any stretch of the imagination. Someone else needs to be in there.

3 comments:

Jay said...

Nice blog Sam. I take it your not a big fan of HoRam and Davies are you? :)

I wouldn't mind seeing Huddy leave, but something inside of me wants him to stay, praying that he will get back to the old Hudson...who knows, maybe its just indigestion.

samthebravesfan said...

Well, I wouldn't mind if they stay, but they have to get better.

I want the Horacio from 2004, who started super but didn't get run support and then he got injured. Otherwise, he's just average. He has never posted an ERA below 4. He barely keeps his strikeouts above his walks, and there is the matter of giving up a whole chunk of gopher balls.

Chuck James is what Horacio should be: he can give up the homers, but he keeps his walks down and has a great K/BB ratio.

As for Davies... well, he has kind of soured on me. He shouldn't, but he has. That was probably because he tried to come back from his long recovery from the injury and he stunk up the joint. We'll have to see about him.

I think we all want to believe that last year's Tim Hudson was a complete fluke; that he just had a hiccup year and he won't do that again. I mean, that was a REALLY bad year. He allowed 29 more runs than in his worst year, and believe it or not, 2006 was the first year he lost more than 10 games.

The keys to the rotation, of course, are:

1. The improvement of Hudson
2. A comeback by Mike Hampton
3. The continuing age-defying John Smoltz.
4. Instant improvement by HoRam and Davies.

If they all do what they're capable of, there will be nothing to worry about. :)

samthebravesfan said...

Oh, and thank you so much for saying I have a nice blog and commenting. :)