Bad Free Agent Signings: Tom Glavine

Tom Glavine
New York Mets starting pitcher Tom Glavine sits in the dug-out after being removed from the game during the fifth inning of a game against the Detroit Tigers in Detroit, June 10, 2007. (REUTERS)

On December 8, 2002, the Mets’ offer of 3 guaranteed years for $35 million, plus options for a fourth year as his best option for reaching 300 wins. His new contract with the Mets was worth between $35-42 million.

Tom Glavine, one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball history, and career long Atlanta Brave.

Glavine agreed to a lucrative 4 year deal with the Braves’ bitter rival, the New York Mets. But for many Met fans, Glavine was a Brave and was never accepted as a Met.

This move was met by Braves fans with a mixture of sadness, disappointment, and some acrimony. Glavine did make the All-Star team with 11-3 record in 2006, but many of his victories and no decisions were supported by the Mets arsenal in 2006.

In 2007 Glavine joined the 300-win club on Aug. 5 with a win over the Cubs in Chicago on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.

But the memory that will linger with Met fans is the historic collapse in final two weeks of the season. Tom Glavine did not make it out of the first inning as the Marlins scored seven runs before the Mets came to bat in the final game of the season.

The last pitch he threw hit opposing pitcher Dontrelle Willis.

The seven runs matched the most Glavine (13-8) allowed in an inning during his 21 years in the majors, the Elias Sports Bureau said. He also gave up seven to Colorado in 1996. It also was the second-shortest start of his brilliant career — and perhaps his last.

Glavine went 13-8 with a 4.45 ERA in 200 1/3 innings for the Mets in 2007. Overall, he was 61-56 in five seasons with the Mets.

Instead of retiring, Glavine agreed to an $8 million, one-year contract with the Braves. Glavine went 2-4 with a 5.54 ERA in 2008, but injuries and age caught up with hime before being released by the Braves on June 3, 2009.

Glavine was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014 as an Atlanta Brave. No Mets’ fans attended induction at Cooperstown.

Tom Glavine’s career numbers >>

About the Author

MeetTheMess
Lifetime Met fan who hates his parents for making him become a Mets fan as a child. No amount of therapy has helped and cannot switch teams now. Quitting smoking was easier. What a joke this organization really is, how much pain and suffering it has brought us through the years. Bad enough to be in Big Apple with Yankees fans.

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