It Hurts to Get Cut

It hurts to get cut, even if you are a 43-year-old future HOFer. Tom Glavine is apparently now considering filing a grievance for being cut by the Braves.

One of the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement between the owners and the players’ association is players can't be cut for financial reasons. Glavine was set to make $1 million if he made the Braves’ major league roster, with an additional $1.25 million for 30 days on the Braves’ roster and another $1.25 million if he lasted 90 days.

I don’t see Glavine winning the grievance if he files. Yes, financial factors played a role.  However, the Braves rightfully saw Glavine as an insurance policy if the young guys didn’t improve enough to be called up. Tommy Hanson proved he’s ready, and the Braves no longer need Glavine.

This is the way professional baseball has always worked, and frankly it’s the way professional baseball should work. Hanson will cost the Braves $400,000, pro-rated for the rest of the season and is 22 years old.

Teams should dump 43-year-old geezers, no matter how great they once were, for 22-year-olds who are ready forever and a day. It’s entirely possible Glavine might help the Braves more in 2009 than Hanson. However, there is only a snow ball’s chance in Hell that Glavine will help the Braves over the next six years as much as Hanson will.

Glavine is peeved because the Braves let him pitch in front of a full house at Class A Rome, Ga., when they already knew they were going to cut him and go with Hansen.

You know what? If they did so, the Braves did Glavine a favor.

Glavine is 43 years old, coming off an injury and a 2008 in which he had a 5.54 ERA. By giving Glavine the opportunity to pitch six shutout innings of three hit ball against players in the Sally League, the Braves have made it much more likely that another major league team will risk around $1 million to sign Glavine for the rest of 2009.

Glavine has now pitched 16 innings of minor league ball this year, and has only given up four earned runs, good for a 2.25 ERA. This is just enough to suggest to another team that Glavine may, indeed, have something left in the tank to be of some use in 2009. Even if Glavine only signs for $500,000 to finish out the season for a major league, he’ll get more out his game at Rome than the Braves will.

What it comes down to is that getting cut hurts. It’s like a beautiful woman you want telling you to get lost. It doesn’t matter how old you are, it doesn’t matter that you know baseball is a business, it still hurts.

Nevertheless, it’s already time for a man of Glavine’s age and experience to get over it and find a team that wants him. There are still 29 other fish in the sea.