Elsewhere in the NL East…

• Rio Ruiz wasn’t called upon when Adonis Garcia hit the disabled list last week, but after being promoted in the wake of Freddie Freeman’s injury, the 23-year-old corner infielder has impressed the Braves enough that he’ll likely remain their primary third baseman upon Garcia’s activation, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports. Atlanta still has some questions about Ruiz’s strikeout tendencies and ability to hit lefties, but his .320/.393/.480 start to his career and .262/.305/.447 effort thus far in Triple-A have apparently earned him some trust. (It probably doesn’t hurt Ruiz’s case that Garcia was struggling to a dismal .237/.278/.348 batting line at the time he was placed on the DL.) With Garcia nearing activation from the DL, the roster spots of Emilio Bonifacio and Danny Santana could be at risk, Bowman adds.
• The potential price tag in a sale of the Marlins could dip further below the reported $1.3 billion mark that both the Derek Jeter/Jeb Bush and Tom Glavine/Tagg Romney groups were said to be willing to exceed, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman. Heyman spoke to one person with knowledge of the Bush-Jeter group in particular and said that group is still short of the necessary capital to formally make such a bid. He adds that some potential suitors for the Marlins have backed away after looking “under the hood,” so to speak, which gels with previous reports that the team’s lack of revenue and long-term payroll commitments could be negatively impacting the sale process.
• Though he’d already been operating in such a capacity without the title, Koda Glover has been officially labeled the Nationals’ closer by manager Dusty Baker, writes MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman. “We wanted to break him in slowly because this guy’s … shoot, he’s only a year-and-a-half out of college,” said Baker. “So he had said that’s the job he wanted, and so it’s his now.” Glover took the reins from veteran righty Shawn Kelley after Kelley blew a save recently and has excelled since being activated from a minor DL stint. The 24-year-old hasn’t been scored upon in his past five appearances and has been the Nationals’ most effective reliever in 2017, tossing 14 innings with a 2.57 ERA, 7.1 K/9, 1.3 BB/9 and a 47.6 percent ground-ball rate.

• Derek Jeter and former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who are leading one of the groups bidding for the Marlins, believe the team “has been spreading misinformation including the terms of the bid,” Ken Davidoff and Josh Kosman of the New York Post report.  Jeter and Bush “were exasperated” by apparently inaccurate reports from earlier this week saying they had reached a general agreement to buy the Marlins, as the Jeter/Bush group is still trying to line up investors.  A source tells Davidoff and Kosman that Jeter and Bush may eventually decide to not bid altogether: “These are not guys who can afford a vanity acquisition.  My guess is they will back out,” the source opines.  The Jeter/Bush group has enlisted the help of New York hedge fund financier Anthony Scaramucci as an advisor to bring some new investors into the bid, though Scaramucci himself won’t be joining the ownership group.
• Joel Sherman of the New York Post breaks down the economics behind the potential sale, which goes well beyond the $1 billion-plus price tag.  Some in the game say the Marlins are $400MM in debt, and a new ownership faces losses in the range of $150-$200MM over its first few years of operations since the club lags behind in such revenue-generating streams as attendance, sponsorships, and a local TV contract.  “Some creative bookkeeping” will be required to work out the sale price no matter which competing group ends up buying the Marlins, and current owner Jeffrey Loria “will accept the fastest deal that meets his requests and he believes will be approved by the other owners” in order to get out from under this financial burden.
• Given these costs involved in buying the Marlins, Sherman raises the possibility of another fire sale as a way that a new ownership group could cut costs.  Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe also raises the possibility, particularly in regards to trading Giancarlo Stanton.  The slugger is owed $63MM through the 2019 season, and then, if he doesn’t exercise his opt-out clause following that year, a whopping $244MM through the 2027 season.  Even though Miami would surely have to eat some of this contract in a trade, Cafardo still wonders if a deal could be reached given Stanton’s injury history and less-than-elite production in 2016.
• Also from Cafardo’s piece, he reports that the ownership group led by Tom Glavine and Tagg Romney appears to have all of the investors arranged behind its $1.1 billion bid.  A source tells Cafardo that it doesn’t appear as though as of Glavine and Romney’s investors would leave the bid to join the Jeter/Bush group.
• Marlins manager Don Mattingly and catcher A.J. Ellis are no strangers to performing under an ownership change, Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times writes, as both were with the Dodgers during that team’s perhaps even more tumultuous sale from Frank McCourt to the Guggenheim Baseball ownership group.  “That uncertainty, at this stage, is definitely hanging,” Ellis said.  “There’s so many guys here who have been with the Marlins their whole life. That’s all they’ve ever known. It could be a huge life change for them.”

The exact price of the Romney group’s bid isn’t known, though Soshnick relays that offers for the Marlins currently range between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion – an enormous increase over the $158MM Loria paid in 2002. Fifteen years later, Loria “wants to get out of it,” Glavine told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. Glavine added that he feels “very good” about the Romney offer, though the 51-year-old declined to disclose whether he’s committed to putting forth any money (Glavine made just under $130MM as a player, per Baseball Reference). Glavine’s also unsure of how long a potential sale might take to go through, but he did reveal that his main purpose has been to woo investors to the Romney side.

The 305-game winner went into further detail in his discussion with Cafardo, saying: “It’s been a lengthy process. I was contacted a couple of years ago by some people to ask whether I’d have an interest in doing something along these lines, and I certainly did. This Marlins situation came about last summer. After casual conversations and kicking tires it became apparent we could put people together and raise money.”

If the Romney-led team does succeed in buying the Marlins, it’s unclear which role Glavine would take with the franchise, but he would “certainly want” some sort of position.

“I’m not going to say I’m the GM, but I know the game pretty well,” said Glavine. “I understand it. There’s a lot on the business side that I don’t understand, so I’m open-minded about what the best role for me would be and what I like to do the most.”

Glavine informed Cafardo that he believes at least three groups have made efforts to secure the Marlins. Quogue Capital founder Wayne P. Rothbaum is at the helm of one, per reports from both Soshnick and Douglas P. Hanks of the Miami Herald. However, Soshnick’s information differs from Hanks’ with respect to a couple of other prospective buyers, ex-Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Those two have teamed up to buy the Marlins, according to Hanks, but Soshnick notes that’s not yet the case. Instead, as of now, Jeter and Bush have only discussed working together, per Soshnick.

Glavine will retire with a pair of Cy Young Awards and a 3.54 ERA in over 4400 innings of work. The ten-time All Star and 1995 World Series champion won a total of 305 games, thanks in part to five 20-win seasons. Glavine didn't pitch in the majors last year, so he will likely enter the Hall of Fame in the same class as longtime rotation-mate Greg Maddux.

The Braves signed Glavine to an incentive-laden deal last year, one that would have paid the lefty $1MM for making the team. The Braves released Glavine instead and the pitcher contemplated a grievance before taking the rest of the year off in spite of interest from other clubs.

He presents some possible solutions to their seemingly perpetual shortstop issues, so let's round 'em up…

• Marco Scutaro: The 33-yr old has enjoyed a tremendous season for Toronto (.282/.380/.411), and projects to be a Type-A free agent. He made just $1.1MM this season, and it seems likely that the Blue Jays would offer him arbitration.
• Hanley Ramirez: Cafardo mentions that it still remains to be seen if Hanley can stick at short long term, but there is no question that he's one of the five best players in the game today. Given his team friendly contract that will pay him $64.5MM between now and 2014, the Sox would have to offer a bounty of young talent just to get their foot in the door.
• Miguel Tejada: A projected Type-B free agent this offseason, it seems unlikely that the Astros would offer him arbitration. He could be a one year stopgap at shortstop, and perhaps enjoy an offensive resurgence similar to Mike Lowell thanks to Fenway Park and the Green Monster.
• J.J. Hardy: As Cafardo notes, it "would take a leap of faith to think that his horrid season is an aberration." However, he did hit .280/.333/.470 from 2007-2008, and they'd definitely be buying low.
• Jose Reyes: We've seen plenty of talk that the Mets should trade Reyes, but it remains to be seen if they actually will. Can you imagine Reyes and Jacoby Ellsbury on the bases?
• Troy Tulowitzki: Cafardo admits it's a long shot, but everybody has a price. Considering that Tulo is guaranteed just $29.25MM between now and 2014 and is hitting .283/.363/.526 this year, doesn't it seem like it might be easier to acquire Hanley?
• Cafardo also throws out the names of several other possible options, including Adam Everett, John McDonald, Omar Vizquel, Stephen Drew, and Brandon Wood.

The Red Sox still have Jed Lowrie in-house, but he's missed considerable time this year with wrist problems. It would be a stretch to think that 19-yr old Cuban signee Jose Iglesias could fill in next year, but stranger things have happened. I'll throw the name of one more impending free agent out there: Felipe Lopez. He last played shortstop regularly in 2007, but it's at least worth considering.

Here's the rest of Cafardo's non-Red Sox rumors…

• Ken Griffey Jr. would like to return to Seattle for another year, and "probably can if his price is right." Junior is hitting .218/.325/.393 in 382 plate appearances this year, almost exclusively as a DH.
• The Brewers placed Jeff Suppan on trade waivers last week, and Cafardo says it'll be interesting to see "if any contending team still looking for an experienced starter puts in a claim or tries to make a deal for him." Considering there's still $14.5MM in guaranteed money left on his contract, I'd guess no one puts a claim in.
• Hardy was also placed on trade waivers.
• Free agent pitcher Mark Mulder has decided not to make a comeback this year even though he made progress with his throwing program. He's likely to play winterball though.
• Agent Gregg Clifton says client Tom Glavine is unlikely to attempt a comeback next year, and has started to field calls about broadcasting opportunities.

“I’m not going to pitch or do anything in baseball until at least next year.” Glavine stopped short, according to Fox 5, of announcing his retirement, saying he plans to be “a full-time dad.”

The decision leaves Pedro Martinez as the surefire Hall of Fame pitcher remaining in the free agent market. Glavine did not announce his retirement, though it is hard to imagine him returning after taking the rest of the season off.

The decision is surprising for a number of reasons. For one thing, Glavine had been so adamant about objecting to his treatment by the Braves, who released him following his final rehab start.

For another, who knew people Tom Glavine's age knew how to text?

• Ben Sheets isn't far enough along to be talking contract, but the Rangers are in touch with his agent.
• The Rangers could deal prospects away to improve their playoff chances this year, but Daniels doesn't suggest that's likely.  
• Tom Glavine is "probably not" a fit.  
• Orlando Hernandez could be ready for the majors by late July. 
• Daniels says signing Matt Purke and Tanner Scheppers before July 31st wouldn't make him more likely to part with other prospects in a deal.
• The Rangers talked with Luis Vizcaino before he signed with Cleveland.
• Could the Rangers pick up a big-time starter? Daniels says "we'll see."  

• Joe Smith of The St. Petersburg Times spoke to agent Dan Horwits, who says his client Jason Isringhausen plans to come back and pitch in the big leagues again. Izzy will miss the rest of the year due to Tommy John surgery.
• The Baltimore Sun's Jeff Zrebiec writes that the Orioles have a valuable trade chip in reliever Danys Baez.
• MLB.com's Bill Ladson reiterated that the Nationals are not going to bring Pedro Martinez or Tom Glavine aboard as players. The team would be interested in Glavine as a coach, though.
• Pete McElroy of of MASNsports.com lists the 16 draft picks the Nationals have signed.
• The Yankees signed catcher Buck Afenir as an undrafted free agent out of Kansas according to KUsports.com.

The only recent trade talk we've heard involving the Brew Crew lately is that Jake Peavy is too expensive and that Tom Glavine isn't good enough to help. Peavy is out for at least a month with an ankle injury, so he figures to be out of the mix for now.

Let's round up the rest of McCalvy's rumors:

• Neither Trevor Hoffman or Ryan Braun has spoken to Peavy lately, perhaps about pitching in Milwaukee. Hoffman, of course, was Peavy's teammate in San Diego, while Braun played with him in the World Baseball Classic.
• Melvin said he hasn't spoken to Indians' GM Mark Shapiro "in a while," potentially eliminating Cliff Lee as the rumored front-line pitcher.
• Boston GM Theo Epstein called Melvin recently not to talk trade, but to apologize for a rumor about the Red Sox attempting to acquire Corey Hart.
• Melvin said "There's not one team that's saying, 'I'm ready to trade my players,'" specifically mentioning the Mariners.

• MLB Trade Rumors got a hold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Derrick Goold, who says the Cardinals brass have expressed little interest in the veteran.
• The Marlins are supposedly at budget, and thus have no interest in Glavine, according to Juan C. Rodriguez at the Sun-Sentinel.
• Todd Zolecki at MLB.com says the Phillies don't seem to view Glavine as an option.
• Michael Hunt at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel doesn't think the Brewers should pursue him.
• Kevin Baxter at the L.A. Times claims the Dodgers aren't likely to pursue Glavine. Peter Gammons wonders if they'd reconsider.
• David Lennon at Newsday says the Mets aren't interested in re-signing him.
• Bill Ladson at MLB.com thinks the Nationals would want him more for a coaching gig, not as a player.

Does Glavine make sense for any teams, or was the Braves' assessment the nail in the coffin for his playing career?