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Should Glavine be a Brave in 2009? – Updated
By: mbohn
Gone is John Smoltz. No Tim Hudson until August at the earliest. New are Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez, and Kenshin Kawakami. Add in Jair Jurrjens and four of the five rotation slots are set, maybe not sorted, bet definitely set. So where does that leave Tom Glavine? Hit the jump for more.Glavine is coming off of the first injury of his career, at 42 years young. Granted, we have seen players have success in their early 40’s, so I will not hold Glavine’s age against him. I won’t even point out that he turns 43 in March, before the season begins. What I will point out is that if Glavine returns, he will have to “earn” the fifth spot in the Bravos’ rotation.So should Glavine be a Brave in 2009? Is it in his best interest? Is it in the team’s best interest?With the Nationals being the only other team currently in the mix, because of his relationship with longtime Bravo front office man Stan Kasten, who is now the Nats’ team president, the question of what is in Glavine’s best interest is up first. He could sign an incentive laden deal with the Braves, and then fight it out for that coveted fifth rotation slot, or he could sign a guaranteed deal with the Nats and have a spot set in stone. He would probably make more money as a Nat, as the Braves do not have a history of guaranteeing money to pitchers in their 40’s (see one John Smoltz, and I’m ignoring the injury concerns on all accounts).The Braves’ interest in Glavine is also up for consideration. Do they really need Glavine, when Campillo, Morton, and Reyes are all slotted to compete for this spot already? Throw Tommy Hanson’s name into the mix as well, but I highly doubt the Braves will run him out before July at the earliest. So Glavine will have to battle it out with at least three guys, all much younger and maybe also hungrier, for the bottom of the rotation. The good news for Glavine is that he would be the front runner going in, partly because he is still a better option than the other guys, partly because Bobby Cox is extremely loyal.The part that irks me, though, is that Glavine would have to be given one of the 40 man active roster slots, jettisoning someone else. Who that would be, I am not quite sure of at this point. If it is Reyes, I’m fine with it. If it is Morton or Campillo, um, not so much.So while I think Glavine would make an excellent fifth starter on not only this team, but any team, if I’m Frank Wren I may decide to pass on Glavine. I’m not sure the money is warranted, with the payroll already set for the other candidates, and I’m not sure I would want to give up the roster spot for a fifth starter when a power hitting leftfielder should be the top priority right now.I am also not sure that it is really in Glavine’s best interest. We are talking about a five-time 20 game winner. A guy who has two Cy Youngs on his wall. Does he really want to end his career at the bottom of a rotation? One in which he has to compete with the likes of JoJo Reyes for? If I’m Glavine, I’m either guaranteed that spot, or I’m having none of it. We know he will not be guaranteed the spot, so if I’m Glavine, I’m either retiring of moving North up I-95 where I will not have to compete for a job and get paid more money.We may find out what is going to happen pretty soon, according to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick who says that Wren and Glavine will meet this week.UpdateThe meeting between Wren and Glavine went down yesterday. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman has the story up here. Basically Glavine wanted to let Wren know where he was physically, and promised to be ready by the start of the season. The most interesting part comes at the end of the column, though, as Glavine says that while he recognizes that he might not be a Brave in 2009, and he wants to pitch in 2009, he has not allowed himself to think about other options as of yet. That would tend to dispute that the Nats are in the mix.
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