I’m glad at least one, Greg Maddux realized that time catches up with everyone and decided to go on his terms. Two over 40 somethings whining and how many innings have they pitched this year. $5 million for Smolyz and he has done nothing! Good move Braves!

As for the decision itself, I have no problem with them releasing Glavine. I have heard multiple announcers from the two Atlanta sports radio stations spout off that Glavine could have gotten hitters out even with a sub-85 MPH fastball.

To that I say: bull-pucky! Glavine’s change-up ranges in the high 70s, but it has only minimal movement. Further, unlike Greg Maddux, Glavine’s fastball has only mediocre movement; i.e., it is relatively straight.

To be effective in keeping the hitters timing off, his fastball MUST be AT LEAST 10 MPH faster, and clearly his fastball was not. Unlike Smoltz, Glavine does NOT have a reliable, major-league-level curve, slider or split-finger pitch. It is either fastball or change-up with Glavine, and without a significant difference in speed, the major league hitters would have adjusted and absolutely HAMMERED anything Glavine threw up there.

I know there will be citations of how Jamie Moyer gets batters out with even slower stuff, but Moyer throws an excellent curve PLUS his change-up is in the high 60s-low 70s range, a 12-15 MPH difference on his 83 MPH fastball.

I watched Glavine pitch in 2001 and 2002 as a Brave and the previous five years for the Mets, and his stuff was mediocre at best during those years. Further, before he got hurt in 2008, he only had ONE quality start.

I believe the scouts WHO GET PAID TO MAKE THESE KINDs OF ASSESSMENTS judged that Glavine’s stuff was not even mediocre, and that paying him $1M to start one game to get hammered would be a waste of money.

I also believe that Frank Wren actually went to the trouble of laying this all out for Glavine, and then gave him the option of gracefully retiring. It is similar to what the White Sox did with Tom Seaver when HIS fastball degraded to the low 80s, and Seaver had the good sense face reality and retire. But Tom Glavine did NOT want to hear this unpleasant truth and gave the Braves no choice but to release him.

Glavine now has the chance of proving me wrong by signing with another team and (he hopes) going to pitch for them to prove the Braves made a mistake. I honestly hope he is given that chance, so when he does start and gives up eight hits and six runs in two-plus innings two or three times in a row, everyone will see that Frank Wren was right.

Just my humble opinion…

At the same time, they have embarrassed themselves this yeaer and unfairly criticized the braves for not valuing them enough and not keeping them on for another year as over-the-hill ineffective statrters, when the Braves needed better piitchig than Smoltz and Glavine can give them any more.

I do bit wish Glavine or Smoltz any harm, but I do wish they would stop whining about being treated unfairly by the Braves. Rather, Ifeel that Smoltz and Galvine have traeted the braves and Braves fans unfairly by desiring to continue playong beyond their glory years and claiming the Braves “owe” them another year. hey have been well-paid, and maybe they can earn even more, Hope so, but I am very thankful Frank Wren and his staff finally put the old war horses out to pasture. let’em play for somebody else. We braves fans have seen enough of both Tommy and John and would like not to have the good memories spoiled anymore by havig to watch their aged bodies under-perform and to hear their whimpering self-pity.

Why do the great ball players find it so hard to retire? I don’t know, but I wish we had a Senior League to which all players over 40 were banished, It would make for better MLB teams.

Oh, and can a fan file a grievance for abuse by aged ball players who think they can still do moere than they raelly can.

The Braves have been mediocre for about 4 years now. Our offense is horrible. Hitters turn to outsiders for help and tonight, we managed 2 hits. So here’s my question: Why hasn’t Frank Wren released (fired) Bobby Cox and Terry Pendelton? Certainly Cox is going to be a HOF, but does that give him a free ride? The Braves didn’t give Glavine that pass. The Braves have been lousy for several years and it’s apparent that a change would do the team good. They can’t hit the side of a barn but Pendelton is still here. Glavine isn’t meeting performance expectations so he’s gone. So why is Pendleton still here?

I’m thinking that the Braves want to see how Tommy Hanson pitches his first few starts before making a big trade. If Hanson shows the maturity and command to pitch well, then I could see the Braves willing to ante up Vazquez for the right handed bat they need (and of course getting rid of Franceour). If Hanson falters, then Medlen will have to take his spot, making it really hard to get rid of Vazquez., which makes them have to take a different approach if they want to trade for a right handed power bat.

The only way I could “see” where keeping Franceour made sense is if the Braves were to acquire a power hitting right handed first baseman in a trade where the other team took Casey Kotchman in return in a packaged deal. Then the Braves could “afford” to have him bat 8th and keep him in there for his defense. That just puts off the decision of getting rid of him until the end of the season. However, the odds of the Braves being able to swing that kind of trade arent great.