Troy Glaus: The new Chipper Jones or a one-year wonder?
Troy Glaus was supposed to be the one-year bridge to Freddie Freeman, but he has been much more. He leads the National League in RBIs. He has 13 homers. He’s hitting .290 for the season, which is astonishing given that he was at .194 on May 1. Over the past six weeks, he has been the dominant player on baseball’s hottest team.
And now for the bad news: His contract expires at season’s end.
I know, I know. I’m the guy who thought a one-year deal for Glaus was one year too many. (What can I say? I’m an idiot.) But now Glaus is hitting his way out of the Braves’ financial ballpark: They signed him for a base salary of $1.75 million, and at his current rate he might command 10 times that come November.
And here’s the twist: The Braves could well need Glaus even after Freeman is primed and promoted. Because the one-year bridge could also be the new Chipper Jones.
There’s no guarantee the third baseman plays beyond this season. (My latest lousy guess: It’s a tossup he retires this fall.) The Braves have no suitable replacement at the top of the farm system. Glaus is a third baseman by trade, and he’s 33. He could fortify the other side of the infield in 2011, provided he’s still here. Which he might not be.
The easy move would be for the Braves to hand Glaus a new multi-year contract this minute. Too easy, I’m afraid. He’s driving up his price with every big hit, and he’d be nuts to sign anything today. The Braves hired him because he was cheap, but he won’t be cheap if he winds up with 30 homers and 120 RBIs. He’ll be exactly the sort of free agent the Braves can no longer afford.
We can’t really call Frank Wren short-sighted — he did just make the best acquisition of the baseball offseason — but a couple of more years of Glaus would sound mighty good. And there’s a sentence I never thought I’d type.
My biggest concern when we signed Troy was throwing out too many one year contracts. We could have him locked up right now and moved him for no value even if he was just average.
