Tom Glavine 2009

Tom Glavine is apparently playing hardball with the Atlanta Braves and asking for more money than they've offered him so far. As a Mets fan, I hope Atlanta gives him what he's asking for. The truth is, at this point in his career, Glavine should be paying them to let him pitch. He's been absolutely terrible for the past two year, and at 42 years old (43 by Opening Day) there's little chance that Glavine will improve substantially. In 2007 he struck out only 4.1 batters per nine innings, walked 2.9 and had a 41.8% groundball rate. In 2008 he increased his strikeout rate to 5.1 and his groundball rate to 47.4%. The only problem was that he also increase his walk rate to a shocking 5.1 per nine innings. It's hard for any pitcher to be successful with that lack of control, and impossible for a finesse pitcher like Glavine. If Glavine signs, I'll be looking to play opposing hitters against him as much as possible in 2009 in daily transaction games like Rotohog, Yahoo Fantasy Baseball, Draftbug, and Snapdraft!