Tireball.com

It’s not often that a 18 game winner who posted a 2.96 ERA is not even made an offer by his team but that is what happened following the 2003 season.

Instead left hander Tom Glavine took his 200-plus wins and two Cy Young awards and headed up north to the rival New York Mets. Glavine’s family stayed back in Atlanta and Glavine even showed up to training camp with his equipment inside an Atlanta Braves duffel bag.

It didn’t seem right that Glavine was the opposition and who would have thought that Glavine would have won his 300th pitching in a grey Mets away jersey. Glavine, one of the more active players in the community, had been rumored to be going back to the Braves the last two off-seasons but this year it actually feels like a reality.

Glavine and Frank Wren met Wednesday and while the Braves did not make a formal offer during the meeting all signs point to the 41 year-old returning to Atlanta to finish his career.

According to Ken Rosenthal, agent Greg Clifton said that “They feel he can play a key role and put them in position to contend for another world championship” while Rosenthal suggests that Glavine would settle for a one-year 8 million-dollar deal.

Would Glavine really be an improvement?

4.45 ERA 1.41 WHIP 200.3 IP Glavine (41, with NYM)
5.21 ERA 1.39 WHIP 107.0 IP Carlyle (29)
6.09 ERA 1.65 WHIP 136.0 IP Davies (23, traded to KC)
4.26 ERA 1.68 WHIP 50.7 IP Reyes (22)
7.09 ERA 1.71 WHIP 45.7 IP Cormier (26)
7.62 ERA 1.84 WHIP 41.3 IP Redman (33, released picked up by COL)
4.70 ERA 1.14 WHIP 30.2 IP Jurrjens (21, acquired from DET)
0.00 ERA 0.00 WHIP 00.0 IP Hampton (35, missed season due to injury)

Last season the Braves picked up Mark Redman in hopes he could be a rock at the end of the rotation. Unfortunatly for the Braves, Redman proved to be a huge disaster.

Mike Hampton who hasn’t picked since making just 12 starts in 2005 is expected to be back this year though with his injury history one has to wonder what expectations of the 35 year-old lefty are. Hampton is currently penciled in to be in the Braves rotation, though the same can be said of last year as well.

With appoligies to Buddy Carlyle and Lance Cormier the only member of the Braves rotation last season that appears to have any future there is JoJo Reyes who made ten starts following a late season promotion. The Braves also acquired 21 year-old Jair Jurrjens from the Detroit Tigers.

Even posting numbers off his norm last year Glavine still out preformed anyone of the Braves staff not named John Smoltz or Tim Hudson.

No team running for the playoffs is going to be confortable with two young kids who have a combined 17 starts in the majors at the back of their rotation. There is a good chance that one or both will return to Triple-A to start the upcoming season. Jurrjens has made 31 starts at Double-A the last two seasons and was promoted to the Tigers from Eriee. Reyes made six starts for Richmond prior to his promotion, last year was his first above Class A.

The Braves have denied a need for Glavine the past two winters but this winter things appear to be different.