Glavine Agrees With Braves on $8 Million Contract
| 18
|
by Niteowl049
Baseball Notebook
Tom Glavine Agrees With Braves On $8 Million Contract for 2008
Tom Glavine gave the Braves a hometown discount, agreeing to $8 million contract after rejecting a $13 million contract option by the Mets. Instead he took a $3 million buyout so in effect is making $2 million less than if he had stayed with Mets. The formal signing should be sometime this week.
After finishing his Mets career with one of the worst starts of his career -- if not the worst -- by giving up 7 runs in 1/3 of an inning, it is no wonder that he left the Mets. It still remains to be seen if he can actually help the Braves since he didn't finish the 2007 season well. If he does pitch well it will give the Braves a formidable rotation in the first three spots of the rotation with John Smoltz, Tim Hudson and Glavine. Whether Mike Hampton will return to the rotation won't be known until spring training if he gets through it with no major health issues.
Scutaro Traded to Blue Jays For Two Minor Leaguers
Marco Scutaro has been traded by the A's to the Blue Jays for minor league pitchers Graham Godfrey and Kristian Bell. Bell who will turn 24 in January is not on the fast track to the majors as he has played four seasons in A ball with a 18-17 record in minors. Godfrey is 6-7 in the minor leagues and has played only season of A ball.
In my book the A's should have kept Scutaro but A's front office wanted him out of there to make room for Donnie Murphy and Kevin Mellilo in the infield. Neither player has impressive minor league statistics so can't get too excited about either one of them right now and they may miss Scutaro if Bobby Crosby is injured again.
Joe Nuxhall Dies at 79
Joe Nuxhall died last week at the age of 79. Four days after D-Day in 1944 Nuxhall became the youngest pitcher to ever pitch in a major league game at the age of 15. It is amazing that he was in junior high that spring and in the majors a month later.
When summoned to go to the bullpen by the Reds manager Bill McKechnie, Nuxhall tripped over the top step of the dugout and fell flat on his face in the dirt. In his relief appearance he got two of the first three batters out but then noticed Stan Musial was in the on deck circle and didn't get another batter out, walking five batters and giving up two hits after giving up five more runs.
It was 1952 before Nuxhall resurfaced in Cincinnati and played for them off and on till 1966 with stints with Kansas City Athletics and Los Angeles Angels. He is one of the few 135-117 pitchers in baseball with his own statue. His statue is in front of the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. He broadcast Red games from 1967 to 2004 when he retired.
Nuxhall was also known for his batting, slugging 15 home runs and driving in 78 runs and in 1961 had 19 hits and a .292 average for Kansas City.
Cincinnati and baseball fans everywhere have lost a great man and like he used to say at the conclusion of his broadcast, "The old lefthander is rounding third and heading home" and last week he made it home to stay for the last time. He may be gone but the memories will linger for many years to come.
Mariano Rivera Close to Signing With Yankees
With the news that Mariano Rivera is close to accepting the Yankees offer of $45 million for three years it is becoming evident the mass exodus from the Yankees never materialized. With the departure of Joe Torre, the Yankee free agents were free to follow Torre or go to other clubs but the nucleus of the club is unchanged since Rivera, Bobby Abreu, Jorge Posada and the third baseman A-Rod will all apparently don the pinstripes again in the 2007 season.
