Poor Murray Chass

Exactly. There's no question the Braves have too many pitchers, but now they've got egg on their faces. Atlanta's not a hometown for sports teams (a lot of people from all over the country live there), but enough people remember the good old days of Braves baseball that this decision will stick in people's craws for a while.

 

I dunno...a lot of fans dont feel that way at all...there are a lot of fans who still dont like Glavine for jumping to the Mets several years ago and i know quite a few who were happy when he got cut.

 

You never have too many pitchers.

 

Um, in this case, I think you can.

When you're 12th in the NL in HRs and 15th in SBs,
When you're leading RBI man until a day or so ago was your shortstop,
When you're projected total HR output for the season from traditional power positions of LF, RF and IB is 24--combined,

you might have plenty of pitching. Pitching that can lose a lot of 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 games.

 

Just about any team is going to go through eight to 10 starters in a season. Guys get hurt, guys disappoint, things happen. You need options.

What does their lack of offense have to do with that?

 

I understand there's going to be a need for other guys to spot start for injuries or to bring someone up to replace someone who's blown his spot in the rotation, but the inference to Tom Glavine when he signed with the Braves earlier this year was that he would be one of their starters.

He wasn't signing up to spot start when someone got hurt or to wait for a spot to open up. He signed to be a part of that rotation.

And Wren changed his mind between March and June.

While Glavine did nothing on the mound himself to warrant that change of heart.

I guess that's Wren's perogative. But, maybe someone in that position should have shown a little forethought and considered, before signing him, what the implications might be to the franchise for having to waive him or worse yet as it turns out, pulling the rug out from under the player who pitched the clinching game for the only major sport championship the city has ever seen.

 

It's more than spot starts. It's the possibility that a starter will get injured and someone else will have to step in for an extended time. Brett Myers? You always need options. Find me one MLB general manager who's saying, "Damn it, we have too many pitchers. We have to get some of these guys out of here."

Son of a gun, I'm looking at Tom Glavine's career record and I'm seeing five seasons with the New York Mets, a divisional competitor.

I'm guessing that negates some of the sentimentality someone might feel about, "the player who pitched the clinching game for the only major sport championship the city has ever seen."

BTW, David Justice drove in the only run in that game, and Mark Wohlers saved it. No warm and fuzzies for them?

 

That clinching game? Zero runs and one hit allowed over eight innings.

World Series MVP.

Five 20-win seasons.

Two Cy Young Awards.

Eight all-star selections.

Four Silver Slugger Awards.

Two hundred and fifty-six wins in a Braves uniform.

I think he deserves a wee bit more consideration and sentimentality than do David Justice and Mark Wohlers.

 

If baseball-reference.com is accurate, the Braves paid him $78,139,293 for those accomplishments.

That's in excess of 78 million dollars.

But you're right: Let's give him a parade down Peachtree Street, a lifetime pass to Turner Field and all the cotton candy he can eat.

 

Which one?

 

Hell, all of them.

And he can have all the peanuts he wants, too, salted in the shell.

 

Take your pan and your violin and go away, Tom. Nobody wants to hear it.