Mets five best free agent starting pitcher signings of all-time

3) Tom Glavine

Unlike the Colon deal, the one the Mets signed with longtime foe Tom Glavine didn’t seem to work out the way many had hoped. After years of watching Glavine battle the Mets as a member of the Atlanta Braves, he turned heel on the Georgia Ted Turners and came to the Big Apple beginning in 2003.

Glavine, like many of the players on this list, had already aged and spent a long time in Major League Baseball. His best days were in the past. Luckily for the Mets, it wasn’t all completely tragic moving forward.

Originally signed to a four-year deal, Glavine would stick with the Mets for five total seasons. He would make 164 starts for them and turn in a 3.97 ERA.

Glavine’s time with the club included two All-Star selections and three straight years in the middle of his five seasons with an ERA below 4.00. He wasn’t the Hall of Fame pitcher he was in Atlanta. Glavine still managed to give the Mets some good years.

When we look back at Glavine’s time with the Mets, the taste is quite bitter. That’s because his final start with the team sealed the deal on the club collapsing at the end of the 2007 season.

The time Glavine spent with the Mets shouldn’t be defined by that one bad loss. That’s how sports work, though. When fans think of him, it’s the way 2007 ended that comes to mind first.

Something we don’t remember enough is how well Glavine performed in the 2006 postseason for the Mets. He pitched six shutout innings in the NLDS and went 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA in a pair of starts in the NLCS. It wasn’t his fault the club failed to go further in their one postseason trip with him on the roster. Sadly, it’s how you finish that matters most.