Glavine can come back, but only if he pulls a Nature Boy

Tom Glavine reportedly is coming back to the Atlanta Braves, either as a broadcaster or in some sort of front office role. If he does, he should make an entrance like this...


Glavine cutting a promo where he says "There are three reasons I returned to the Braves. Number one, I hate the New York Mets..." would help me forgive him for being so p.....errr, rhymes-with-hissy when the Braves released him last year and for his role in the players' side of the work stoppage of 1994. Seriously, it would be nice to see Glavine with the organization that helped make him a future hall-of-famer, and if Glavine is smart, he would know he will probably outlast the man who released him, General Manager Frank Wren.

Not that Wren was wrong to release Glavine, he wasn't. Wren's mistake was waiting so long as to give the impression that Glavine would pitch again, when it was obvious to everyone except Glavine that he was done....at the end of 2007. Sure, he was 13-8 with a 4.45 ERA for the Mets that year, but his ERA was only that low because of the 2.80 he posted in March/April of that season. Glavine had a 5.83 ERA in June of '07, 5.14 in July, and 6.10 in September/October. When he gave up seven earned runs in only one-third of an inning in his final start of 2007 against the Marlins, the consensus was that, great as he once was, Glavine's arm might as well have been an udon noodle.

But Glavine didn't go. He came back home to Atlanta for one last go of it. But when he went 2-4, 5.54, with 37 walks and 37 Ks in 63.1 innings before getting hurt, Wren should have been man enough to say there wouldn't be room for him in '09. Wren didn't. Glavine's feelings were justifiably hurt, and the Braves had managed to hack off two legends (Glavine and John Smoltz) within the first six months of '09. Now, the healing has apparently begun, which is good for everyone.

Still, I'd love to see Glavine break character just once and lay the smack down. You know it is in him, because he used to be a hockey player. Wonder how much it would take for Glavine, should he join the broadcast crew, to go Hanson Brothers on the Mets? Oh, and just so there is no misunderstanding, there is only one true set of Hanson Brothers, and they will break your friggin' "Mmmm Bop" neck.