Loud and clear

Braves send Glavine a message he didn't want to hear

ATLANTA --Tom Glavine simply didn't hear what he wanted to hear. Or he didn't hear enough of it. Or, maybe, he didn't hear anything at all.

So Glavine, a stand-up guy and a superb pitcher for 16 long years with the Atlanta Braves, took his bruised ego and his two Cy Youngs and his five 20-win seasons and agreed Thursday to a $35 million contract to pitch for the New York Mets for at least the next three years.

Sigh. Haven't we heard all this before?

This has been a strange, sad, familiar kind of dance that Glavine has put on the past few weeks. He flirted with the Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies and waited for the Braves -- his Braves -- to sweep him off his feet.

But the Braves weren't exactly hot to trot for their aging lefty. Oh, sure, they would have liked to keep him. He's one of the best left-handers in baseball. He's dependable. John Schuerholz, the team's general manager, loves the guy. So does Stan Kasten, the team president. Heck, everybody loves Glavine.

He was there before the Braves were good, in the late '80s, and he's been there through each of the 11 straight division titles they have won. He's a stand-up guy. But, hey, we said that.

The problem, as the Braves saw it, is that Glavine has been around such a long time. He'll be 37, Glavine will, at the start of the 2003 season. And history proves that pitchers start to slide big-time in their late 30s.

Still, Glavine was no doubt hoping his history with the Braves would mean something. He was hoping for one last, big payoff from the team he's toiled for all these years. He has 242 career wins. He wanted to get No. 300 with the Braves.

He wanted the Braves to give him the chance. He gave them every chance to take the chance.

The Braves couldn't. The Braves wouldn't.

The Braves, by many accounts, offered up a three-year deal, just like the Mets and Phillies did. Maybe that three-year offer wasn't as good as the Mets made, or the Phillies. Almost certainly it wasn't as good.

So Glavine was forced, at least in his mind, to go where he was wanted. It also happens to be where the most money is.

Isn't that funny how that works?

You can debate whether the Braves made a bad move in not coughing up more money for Glavine. You can call Glavine just another dollar-grubbing player.

But really, can you blame Glavine for going with the Mets, who offered millions more over the three years -- and a possible fourth year the Braves just weren't willing to give?

And can you blame the Braves? Signing Glavine for this year may not be a big risk. He's coming off a fine year. But for 2004? And 2005? At that kind of money? With what history tells us about older pitchers?

Don't be fooled. The Braves have lost a good player, maybe a great one, while their biggest rivals, the Mets, have gained a frontline pitcher they badly need. The Mets are better off. The Braves, as they are now, are worse.

But, truth be told, the Braves aren't exactly torn up about losing Glavine. They now have a little more money to play with. Maybe that will help them land their other free-agent ace, Greg Maddux, though no one should be surprised if he bolts, too. Whatever, the Braves are not done dealing yet, not by a long ways.

The Braves will be fine. They could end up better. They've beaten all comers in the National League East for more than a decade. By this time, you have to give them a little credit. Maybe they know what they're doing.

It's a sad thing for all of Glavine's Atlanta fans, of course. It's sad for Glavine that he doesn't get to finish his career where he wanted to finish it.

But the Braves, simply, didn't want to risk that much money on a soon-to-be 37-year-old pitcher, however good he has been.

It's not something Glavine, or his fans, wanted to hear. But the message came across, loud and clear.

John Donovan is a senior writer for CNNSI.com.

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