Goodbye For Good, Glavine!

By Shari Forst
Posted Saturday, November 24, 2007

I have to say that I never fully accepted Glavine as a Met. Yeah, he put on the orange and blue, he did what was expected. but he never embodied the spirit of a New York Met. I know he is not a demonstrative guy, not like a Lo Duca, but he always seemed as if his mind and heart were still with Atlanta.

So lo and behold, he resigns with the team he never wanted to leave in the first place -- the Atlanta Braves -- for $4,000,000 less than the declined option he had with the Mets. His reasoning? "I didn't think I was worth the money anymore...". Hey Tom, I am sure if you wanted to stay a Met they would have gladly paid you less. I appreciate the candid statement that tries to resemble humility, but give me a break. You never wanted to leave the Braves, and they could have offered you a bag of balls and some Big League Chew and you would have gone back.

Did Tom think he was worth the money last year? He should have given back some money for that performance on the last day of the season. His four years here were mixed. I hated him when they first got him, and after getting lit up his first opening day 15-2 I was less than pleased. He spent that entire first year as a Met being stubborn and not readjusting after the umpires refused to give him the calls he had gotten in the past.

His second year I felt better about him, he was OK. He won more than he lost, but 2006 made me have faith him that he could win at will. His performance in the playoffs was stellar. With all of the chaos surrounding who would start those playoff games he stepped it up and showed that he was pro, a gizzled vet who could be counted on. However that was the only year out of the four that I could say was worth having him here.

Last season he just seemed like he wanted that elusive 300th win. When he finally got it I expected it would be back to business as usual but he seemed to care less and less as the season wore on. He wasn't able to pull out those much needed wins in the second half. He had one or two good outings in September that the rest of the team blew, but that last game pissed me off royally.

He gave up eight runs in a must-win game that could have had us seeing Met baseball in October, he left the mound looking like Kenny Rogers after he walked in that run back in the 1999 playoffs. He just didn't are about the team, and aside from 2006 I always got the impression he was saying I wish I was wearing a Braves uniform.

I am glad to see him leave, to be honest, and I can't wait for him to have those innings where he gives up four or five runs in an inning like he did last season. However if the Mets don't get some pitching soon that won't matter much.

They did solve the catcher problem by getting Johnny Estrada, a FORMER all-star who has had some off-season surgery, and another former Brave. At least they stuck the Brewers with Mota in that deal.