As most baseball fans are probably aware, lefthander Mike Hampton of the Atlanta Braves has just made his ninth trip to the DL since 2005, with a strained pectoral muscle. Braves President, and Former GM, John Scherholtz, who has made so many good moves since his tenure began with the Braves in 1990, made his worst move with signing Hampton.
In Scherholtz's book, Built To Win, he discusses the Tom Glavine contract negotiations, when Glavine left the Braves in 2002, and states how the stumbling block was the Braves failure to guarantee a fourth year. Scherholtz's reasoning was that he didnt want to guarantee a contract for a thirty six year old guy who might become ineffective.
So, we all know the story: Glavine leaves, and goes to the Mets. He has two bad seasons in 2003 and 2004, and then three very good ones, going 41-23 from 2005 to 2007, pitching great until his final three starts of 2007. In the meantime, the Braves sign Mike Hampton, a much younger lefty, which looks like a good move. He has two decent seasons in 2003 and 2004, and then hurts himself, having two arm surgeries, and is now on the DL for the fourth straight year. In the meantime, Glavine is never injured, oh, yeah, and he returns to the Braves at age 42, for at least one year, and hopefully more, and proves he can still pitch, by allowing just one run in each of his first two starts.
If I'm Scherholtz, I would regret the Hampton signing until the day I died. Quite simply, it was one of the worst contracts in baseball history. Granted, John didnt know that Hampton was going to be injured, but the Braves, with their always tight 90 million dollar payroll, have been hamstrung by this contract, which has not allowed them to persure other players. John probably would have been better off giving Glavine the four year deal. It is likely with the three division titles that the Braves won from 2003 to 2005, that Glavine would have won many more games then the nine, eleven, and thirteen that he won in NY during those seasons.
I hope Hampton can somehow make it back to pitch for us this season, but I wont regret when his contract is up. I hope the Braves make no effort to re sign him. We should use the 15 mil from Hampton, to re sign our slugging first baseman, Mark Texiara. In the meantime, as for Glavine, hopefully he will have a great 2008 and continue pitching as he has, and will want to stick around at least another year or two. If he does, I have a feeling that the Braves will have no problem giving him the 8 to 10 mil a year for the 200 innings, and 12 plus wins he'll give them.
Mitch
In Scherholtz's book, Built To Win, he discusses the Tom Glavine contract negotiations, when Glavine left the Braves in 2002, and states how the stumbling block was the Braves failure to guarantee a fourth year. Scherholtz's reasoning was that he didnt want to guarantee a contract for a thirty six year old guy who might become ineffective.
So, we all know the story: Glavine leaves, and goes to the Mets. He has two bad seasons in 2003 and 2004, and then three very good ones, going 41-23 from 2005 to 2007, pitching great until his final three starts of 2007. In the meantime, the Braves sign Mike Hampton, a much younger lefty, which looks like a good move. He has two decent seasons in 2003 and 2004, and then hurts himself, having two arm surgeries, and is now on the DL for the fourth straight year. In the meantime, Glavine is never injured, oh, yeah, and he returns to the Braves at age 42, for at least one year, and hopefully more, and proves he can still pitch, by allowing just one run in each of his first two starts.
If I'm Scherholtz, I would regret the Hampton signing until the day I died. Quite simply, it was one of the worst contracts in baseball history. Granted, John didnt know that Hampton was going to be injured, but the Braves, with their always tight 90 million dollar payroll, have been hamstrung by this contract, which has not allowed them to persure other players. John probably would have been better off giving Glavine the four year deal. It is likely with the three division titles that the Braves won from 2003 to 2005, that Glavine would have won many more games then the nine, eleven, and thirteen that he won in NY during those seasons.
I hope Hampton can somehow make it back to pitch for us this season, but I wont regret when his contract is up. I hope the Braves make no effort to re sign him. We should use the 15 mil from Hampton, to re sign our slugging first baseman, Mark Texiara. In the meantime, as for Glavine, hopefully he will have a great 2008 and continue pitching as he has, and will want to stick around at least another year or two. If he does, I have a feeling that the Braves will have no problem giving him the 8 to 10 mil a year for the 200 innings, and 12 plus wins he'll give them.
Mitch
