Mets decline option

Marty Noble at Mets.com, writes about the Mets declining the team option on Tom Glavine:

The Mets freed him -- and made him $3 million richer by the term of a buyout provision -- Monday when they declined to exercise their option on his contract that assured them of having his services. The deadline for such action was to pass at midnight for the veteran left-handed pitcher who played an integral part in helping the Mets end the Braves' run of division championships at 14 in 2006.

Not that Glavine won't or can't return. He hasn't decided for which team he wants to pitch in 2007. But he has decided he will pitch for no team other than the Braves or Mets. And if he can't find work in Atlanta and be comfortably close to his Alpharetta, Ga., home and his family, he will pitch a fifth and likely final season with the Mets.

His decision, vis-a-vis the Mets, is expected after Thanksgiving and before the Dec. 4 start of the Winter Meetings. Glavine told Mets COO Jeff Wilpon he would end the suspense by then and allow the Mets to move forward with a degree of certainty they have lacked.