Baseball Guru
02-16-2003, 08:23 PM
Glavine comfortable in new environment
By Kevin T. Czerwinski / MLB.com
http://mlb.mlb.com/images/2003/01/29/AhLwpJWA.jpg
NEW YORK -- Mike Piazza knows a thing or two about making a big debut in the Big Apple. After all, few players arrived in New York with the fanfare that accompanied the All-Star catcher.
Yet, when he sits down for a quiet moment with the Mets' new resident staff ace, there will be no pearls of wisdom from Piazza on how to deal with the cauldron that is New York. Tom Glavine, after all, already knows a thing or two about expectations and pressure and no pep talk, not even from the likes of Piazza, will be needed.
"I don't think there's much you can tell a guy like Tom," Piazza said. "He's been through the fires and the battles before. I don't expect him to change anything. He just has to keep doing what he's doing. The fact that he chose to come here gives us a boost of confidence and there's no question that we can win."
It's been a long time since Glavine was one of the new kids on the block. It took much of the winter for him to come to terms emotionally with the fact that he is no longer an Atlanta Brave. But like Piazza, the veteran left-hander doesn't see his new surroundings as an impediment to the latter stages of what has almost certainly been a Hall-of-Fame career.
"It's been a strange winter because it's been different," Glavine said. "For 16 years I was with one club and now there's been a change and that change doesn't happen overnight. There have been many more details that my wife and I have had to address. But things have gone as smoothly as I hoped they would and I certainly feel settled in New York."
Glavine recently purchased a home in Connecticut and has made "four or five trips" north since signing his three-year, $35 million deal with the Mets. The winters are a little colder than those in Atlanta but he's finally beginning to fit into his new life.
"An important part for us was to be able to come here with relative ease, settle in and move about to kind of get the anxiety out of my mind before the season starts," Glavine said. "It will make it easier to worry about baseball than what life in New York will be like.
"Now, I feel like I'm definitely part of the organization. And when I talk about the Mets now, it's easier to say 'We' than it was at first. That takes time. But I think that with each day that goes by, we feel more entrenched with this club and we're more and more comfortable."
Glavine's comfort level is of paramount importance to team owner Fred Wilpon, who personally courted the southpaw throughout the whole free agent process. If Glavine is comfortable and happy, expecting a Glavinesque season from him isn't out of the question.
The author of 242 career victories, Glavine was 18-11 with a 2.96 ERA last season in Atlanta. The Mets haven't had a starter of his quality, an ace of his caliber, topping off their staff since the days of Dwight Gooden and David Cone.
Glavine is quick to admit that he shouldn't be viewed as a savior. He knows what is expected of him, though, and what it can mean to the club if he performs up to those expectations.
"If I can go out and continue to do here what I've done throughout my career, 15 to 20 wins from a starting pitcher would be a nice addition," Glavine said. "There is some pressure on me, obviously, to come in here and do what it is I've done over the years. I don't know that I relish it [the pressure] because I don't think about it too much.
"They brought me in here for a reason and that's to go out there and help stabilize the staff, to be a guy that you can pencil in for X amount of wins and X amount of innings. When you have those kinds of guys on the club, it makes things easier for everyone. I am certainly not the piece to the puzzle. There are a lot of guys on this team that are good players who have to have good years in order for us to win. Winning isn't based on one guy."
But one guy can certainly be a catalyst and provide the spark that makes a team a winner. Glavine pointed to Terry Pendleton as just such a player. Pendleton's 1991 arrival in Atlanta didn't produce nearly as much fanfare as Glavine's arrival in New York. Yet Glavine insists Pendleton's arrival turned the Braves around and helped spark the decade-long dominance that Atlanta has enjoyed.
"I look back at my career and the addition of Pendleton to the Braves and what he brought," Glavine said. "He was a guy who came from a winning organization [St. Louis] who knew what it took to win. He had the demeanor we needed to have at the time and that made a big difference.
"My coming here can bring a lot of those things that Terry Pendleton brought to the Braves at that point and time. Hopefully I will bring the same kind of success we had in Atlanta."
Glavine has already had that kind of effect. The younger pitchers on the staff eagerly speak about how they can't wait to get to Spring Training and pick Glavine's brain. Even veterans such as Al Leiter and John Franco want to have sit-downs with the former Cy Young winner to talk technique and strategy.
And general manager Steve Phillips never misses an opportunity to speak about the experience Glavine and fellow southpaw Mike Stanton will bring to the New York clubhouse.
Glavine's the new guy in town. He isn't worried. He isn't anxious. He's ready for the challenge. And that's all the Mets are asking of him.
"I don't think there's any question that if I bring to New York what I've done over my career that I'm going to be a nice addition to the team," Glavine concluded. "One that will hopefully bring the team to the next level."
By Kevin T. Czerwinski / MLB.com
http://mlb.mlb.com/images/2003/01/29/AhLwpJWA.jpg
NEW YORK -- Mike Piazza knows a thing or two about making a big debut in the Big Apple. After all, few players arrived in New York with the fanfare that accompanied the All-Star catcher.
Yet, when he sits down for a quiet moment with the Mets' new resident staff ace, there will be no pearls of wisdom from Piazza on how to deal with the cauldron that is New York. Tom Glavine, after all, already knows a thing or two about expectations and pressure and no pep talk, not even from the likes of Piazza, will be needed.
"I don't think there's much you can tell a guy like Tom," Piazza said. "He's been through the fires and the battles before. I don't expect him to change anything. He just has to keep doing what he's doing. The fact that he chose to come here gives us a boost of confidence and there's no question that we can win."
It's been a long time since Glavine was one of the new kids on the block. It took much of the winter for him to come to terms emotionally with the fact that he is no longer an Atlanta Brave. But like Piazza, the veteran left-hander doesn't see his new surroundings as an impediment to the latter stages of what has almost certainly been a Hall-of-Fame career.
"It's been a strange winter because it's been different," Glavine said. "For 16 years I was with one club and now there's been a change and that change doesn't happen overnight. There have been many more details that my wife and I have had to address. But things have gone as smoothly as I hoped they would and I certainly feel settled in New York."
Glavine recently purchased a home in Connecticut and has made "four or five trips" north since signing his three-year, $35 million deal with the Mets. The winters are a little colder than those in Atlanta but he's finally beginning to fit into his new life.
"An important part for us was to be able to come here with relative ease, settle in and move about to kind of get the anxiety out of my mind before the season starts," Glavine said. "It will make it easier to worry about baseball than what life in New York will be like.
"Now, I feel like I'm definitely part of the organization. And when I talk about the Mets now, it's easier to say 'We' than it was at first. That takes time. But I think that with each day that goes by, we feel more entrenched with this club and we're more and more comfortable."
Glavine's comfort level is of paramount importance to team owner Fred Wilpon, who personally courted the southpaw throughout the whole free agent process. If Glavine is comfortable and happy, expecting a Glavinesque season from him isn't out of the question.
The author of 242 career victories, Glavine was 18-11 with a 2.96 ERA last season in Atlanta. The Mets haven't had a starter of his quality, an ace of his caliber, topping off their staff since the days of Dwight Gooden and David Cone.
Glavine is quick to admit that he shouldn't be viewed as a savior. He knows what is expected of him, though, and what it can mean to the club if he performs up to those expectations.
"If I can go out and continue to do here what I've done throughout my career, 15 to 20 wins from a starting pitcher would be a nice addition," Glavine said. "There is some pressure on me, obviously, to come in here and do what it is I've done over the years. I don't know that I relish it [the pressure] because I don't think about it too much.
"They brought me in here for a reason and that's to go out there and help stabilize the staff, to be a guy that you can pencil in for X amount of wins and X amount of innings. When you have those kinds of guys on the club, it makes things easier for everyone. I am certainly not the piece to the puzzle. There are a lot of guys on this team that are good players who have to have good years in order for us to win. Winning isn't based on one guy."
But one guy can certainly be a catalyst and provide the spark that makes a team a winner. Glavine pointed to Terry Pendleton as just such a player. Pendleton's 1991 arrival in Atlanta didn't produce nearly as much fanfare as Glavine's arrival in New York. Yet Glavine insists Pendleton's arrival turned the Braves around and helped spark the decade-long dominance that Atlanta has enjoyed.
"I look back at my career and the addition of Pendleton to the Braves and what he brought," Glavine said. "He was a guy who came from a winning organization [St. Louis] who knew what it took to win. He had the demeanor we needed to have at the time and that made a big difference.
"My coming here can bring a lot of those things that Terry Pendleton brought to the Braves at that point and time. Hopefully I will bring the same kind of success we had in Atlanta."
Glavine has already had that kind of effect. The younger pitchers on the staff eagerly speak about how they can't wait to get to Spring Training and pick Glavine's brain. Even veterans such as Al Leiter and John Franco want to have sit-downs with the former Cy Young winner to talk technique and strategy.
And general manager Steve Phillips never misses an opportunity to speak about the experience Glavine and fellow southpaw Mike Stanton will bring to the New York clubhouse.
Glavine's the new guy in town. He isn't worried. He isn't anxious. He's ready for the challenge. And that's all the Mets are asking of him.
"I don't think there's any question that if I bring to New York what I've done over my career that I'm going to be a nice addition to the team," Glavine concluded. "One that will hopefully bring the team to the next level."