Glavine’s Return To Braves Not Certain
FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal has heard from several major league sources that the Braves’ "tightening finances could lead to the departure of yet another Braves legend," Tom Glavine.
As Rosenthal writes, "the Braves, in greater need of another outfielder than another starting pitcher, might not be in position to add both."
The team is targeting Nick Swisher and Xavier Nady in trade talks, and has made contact with free agent Bobby Abreu. Each of those guys will earn over $5MM this season. Glavine is apparently looking for around $3MM in guaranteed money, which might not fit in the budget.
Perrotto’s Latest: Position Battles, Roberts, Pudge
John Perrotto’s Every Given Sunday column is up over at Baseball Prospectus. This week, he takes a look at some of the position battles teams will face entering Spring Training. And, as always, there’s some interesting items in his Rumors & Rumblings section. Let’s take a look:
- Some of the more interesting position battles mentioned: 1B/DH/RF in Oakland (Daric Barton, Jack Cust, Jason Giambi, Aaron Cunningham, and Travis Buck all in the mix), Tampa’s closer if Troy Percival gets hurt or falters (Dan Wheeler, J.P. Howell, Grant Balfour), and the White Sox rotation behind John Danks, Mark Buerhle, and Gavin Floyd (Clayton Richard, Aaron Poreda, Bartolo Colon, Jeff Marquez).
- Brian Roberts still wants a four-year deal before Spring Training starts up, or he’ll cut off negotiations. Does Roberts make more sense as a cornerstone in Baltimore or as a trade chip?
- Perrotto feels Tom Glavine will inevitably re-sign with the Braves.
- The White Sox have minor interest in signing Ivan Rodriguez as a backup for A.J. Pierzynski. I’m sure Pudge would prefer a starting gig, but at this point, it’s tough to be picky.
- We’ve heard a lot about the Orioles having interest in Rich Hill lately, but Perrotto reminds us that the Mariners are interested in the 28-year-old lefty as well.
O’Brien On Braves’ Outfield Options
David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the Braves’ quest to add a power-hitting outfielder:
We think they’d like to make it one of these guys, maybe in this order of preference: 1. Bobby Abreu (we’ll explain), 2. Xavier Nady or Nick Swisher (both Yankees, one or the other expected to be traded), and 4. (there can’t be a No. 3 if two guys are tied for No. 2) Adam Dunn, whose asking price (reportedly $14MM per year) is still way, waaay above what the Braves have to spend.
O’Brien says the Braves have roughly $5-9MM to work with, and they also hope to sign Will Ohman and Tom Glavine. O’Brien then runs through the pros and cons of adding Abreu, Nady, Swisher, and Dunn.
Rosenthal On Abreu, Garland, Glavine, Sisco
The latest from Ken Rosenthal…
- The Mariners and Giants are interested in Bobby Abreu, if the price is right. Yesterday Buster Olney suggested that Abreu is willing to take a one-year deal. The A’s and Nationals have other targets, while the Mets, White Sox, and Braves are seen as long shots.
- Rosenthal examines the nuances of Jon Garland‘s December 7th decision to reject arbitration, saying that it wasn’t an obvious mistake at the time.
- Tom Glavine‘s agent Gregg Clifton did not attend yesterday’s meeting with Frank Wren; it was a health update and not a contract negotiation. Rosenthal says Glavine figures to seek a Freddy Garcia-like deal. The Braves need to save money to add an outfielder, with Nick Swisher atop their list. The Yankees’ goal in moving Swisher or Xavier Nady would be to recoup prospects.
- The Brewers are not interested in projects such as Kris Benson, Jason Jennings, Mark Redman, and Victor Zambrano. They’re just lukewarm on Mark Mulder. Benson is drawing interest from the Dodgers, Rangers, and Cardinals; one exec reviewed his audition as "so-so."
- Rosenthal doesn’t seem to buy the idea that Jason Varitek and Scott Boras feared the Red Sox could cut him if he accepted arbitration, noting that Boras client Travis Lee was advised to accept years ago.
- The Braves have reservations about re-signing Andruw Jones, who could be a Spring Training cut.
- The A’s deal for Russ Springer will be worth more than $3MM plus incentives. They’re also eyeing Brian Shouse and Andrew Sisco as possible pen additions. Sisco, recovering from Tommy John, has also auditioned for the Rockies and Giants.
Glavine Meets With Braves GM
According to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, Tom Glavine and Braves general manager Frank Wren met face-to-face on Wednesday morning:
"The meeting was more about letting him know how I feel [physically] and what my program will be leading up to the games during Spring Training," Glavine said. "I let him know that I’ll be ready at the start of the regular season if there aren’t any setbacks."
While Glavine is encouraged by his arm strength, the Braves remaining payroll may not be as strong. The team is playing with $6-7MM at this point, and would like to take a look at an outfielder.
Wren To Meet With Glavine This Week
According to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, free agent starter Tom Glavine is expected to meet with Braves GM Frank Wren this week. Wren wants a progress report on Glavine’s health; apparently Glavine received a positive report from Dr. James Andrews recently. Glavine would have to battle for the fifth starter job in Atlanta.
Odds and Ends: Lohse, Reyes, Greinke, Howard
Links for Tuesday…
- Chat today, 2pm CST.
- Rangers president Nolan Ryan called the Winter Meetings "a big waste of money and time."
- Nationals GM Jim Bowden implied that a Tom Glavine signing is unlikely.
- Kyle Lohse feels the pain of all the unsigned free agents; he didn’t sign until March 14th last year. Lohse said he "put a lot of pressure on all parties" to get his four-year, $41MM extension done on September 29th. Given that it wasn’t on the open market, Scott Boras did well for Lohse.
- The Dodgers prefer Dennys Reyes over Luis Ayala, says Ken Gurnick.
- Joe Posnanski loves the Zack Greinke signing. Sam Mellinger says the Royals and fans are no longer allowed to complain about baseball’s financial structure.
- Maury Brown leans slightly toward Ryan Howard winning his arbitration case. I think the Phillies will prevail.
- Brandon Lyon turned down more lucrative offers for a chance to close in Detroit. ESPN’s Keith Law likes the Tigers’ signing, in part due to Jim Leyland’s track record with relievers.
- The Marlins seem to prefer the trade market, if they are to add a catcher.
- Joe Nathan knows his $47MM extension signed in March of ’08 is looking pretty good right now.
Glavine Shows Interest In Nationals
According to MLB.com’s Bill Ladson, Tom Glavine would be interested in signing with the Nationals if he is unable to reach an agreement with the Braves for the 2009 season. A source close to Glavine says that the lefty is close to Washington’s team president Stan Kasten, who was with the Braves from from 1987 to 2002.
Though the Nationals would rather sign young players to long-term deals, the 42-year-old could serve as a mentor to Washington southpaws John Lannan and Scott Olsen.
In just 13 games with the Braves last season, Glavine went 2-4 with a 5.54 ERA.
Glavine Progressing Rapidly
Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports that Tom Glavine’s second session throwing off the mound went significantly better than his first, and that the veteran lefty now feels that he could be ready for the start of the regular season.
Working out his surgically-repaired elbow and shoulder for the second time in four days, Glavine mixed in changeups for the first time, and reported no pain. "If you’d have told me that in the middle of January I would have thrown off the mound a few times and seen this kind of improvement in arm strength, I’d have certainly taken it," Glavine said.
As for whether or not he anticipates returning to the Braves, Glavine admitted uncertainty. "There’s always a chance that it might not work out because of finances or that they want to go in another direction. I’m not worried about that. I’m just worried about getting to the point where I can pitch again." The 42-year-old had a 5.54 ERA in 63.1 innings with the Braves in 2008.
Cafardo’s Latest: Varitek, Sheets, Glavine
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe has a new article up in this Sunday’s paper:
- Mariners advisers have suggested bringing in Jason Varitek to improve the Seattle pitching staff.
- "Arbitration-strapped" Philadelphia may have interest in Ben Sheets as he becomes a bigger bargain by the day.
- Cafardo details the Kevin Youkilis contract extension, to the dollar.
- Kris Benson will work out for the Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Rangers, and Cubs next Saturday.
- Tom Glavine would entertain an offer from Washington.
- If Atlanta takes on Andruw Jones, they would only have to take on $400K of the $21MM plus the Dodgers are paying him.