The Braves sure have been a lot of fun this year.

So:

How much and for what team does each of the following pitch in 2009?

Glavine
Maddux
Smoltz
Schilling

He probably got back with Alyssa Milano

Enjoy that first round draft pick Mets fans.

Didn't they get Ike Davis with that pick, who's sorting sucking?
Maybe I should go check him out play the next time I'm at Coney Island

robin, I would be very surprised if Glavine pitches again. Maddux has also been saying he wants to retire.

Smoltz, if he pitches at all, will be with Atlanta. I think he will give it a shot, but I doubt he has 80 IP in him.

Schilling will also give it a shot. Maybe he is the next old guy for the San Diego retirement home. But again, I doubt he gets past 100 IP, if that.

robin, I would be very surprised if Glavine pitches again. Maddux has also been saying he wants to retire.

Smoltz, if he pitches at all, will be with Atlanta. I think he will give it a shot, but I doubt he has 80 IP in him.

Schilling will also give it a shot. Maybe he is the next old guy for the San Diego retirement home. But again, I doubt he gets past 100 IP, if that.

I tend to think you are right about Glavine and Smoltz. Schilling and Maddux--not so sure. I think if Schilling does pitch, he will be a Dodger--no way McCourt could pass that up.

Enjoy that first round draft pick Mets fans

The Mets also got a supplemental pick for him and used that on Holt who has been very good so far.

For some reason, we tend not to worry when a soft-tosser losses a few MPH on his fastball. The drop from 93 to 90 generally gets a lot of press but the drop from 85 to 82 is even worse. That's why Glavine dropped off the cliff.

Schilling and Maddux--not so sure. I think if Schilling does pitch, he will be a Dodger--no way McCourt could pass that up.

Of the four, I think Maddux is the most likely to be physically able to continue pitching. From 1988 to 2007, he has started at least 33 games every season except the two strike shortened seasons. But he has been saying lately that he is thinking about hanging them up, and that is very different from what he used to say. If he does decide to try one more year, I don't think he wants to pitch anywhere but for a West Coast National League team. So it is SF, LA or SD, with SD the logical choice, if they want him.

As for Schilling, you may be right.

Can you imagine how much trouble the Mets would be in had they decided they needed Glavine back and convinced him to return somehow? Presumably, they would not have made the Santana deal had the off-season unfolded that way, and their season would have been crippled by reliance on yet another old player, as it was hurt -- but NOT crippled, fortunately -- by Omar's decisions to count on Alou and El Duque. They were fortunate that Glavine had decided early on that it was a return to Atlanta, or retirement, because all indications are that if he'd wanted to stay with the Mets, the Mets did want (or at least would have welcomed) him back.

I'm not one of those who is anti-Glavine to the extreme that I wish they'd never signed him -- but talk about leaving at exactly the right time, and by that one decision affecting the fortunes of two division rivals for a long time to come.

Of the four, I think Maddux is the most likely to be physically able to continue pitching.

I hope he is. I'm relying on the insane belief that he has it in him to take a run at 400 wins, or at least move past the 373 mark.

Of course, I'll still be happy if he gets two more, and moves past Mr. Clemens on the all time list.

but talk about leaving at exactly the right time

I couldn't disagree more. The exact right time would have been September 15, 2007.

Yeah, Glavine is done. I think Smoltz is done. Maddux could be a 4 or 5 starter next year if he wants, but I'm not sure he'll want. I thought he'd go to a contender but I think his not wanting to is a sign that this is it for him.

I, too, really hope to see him win two more games. I think he could have won 15 this year if he'd had a good offense behind him. Of course, that wouldn't really mean he was pitching better, I'm sure he knows that and, when you have 350 wins you don't really have to go out of your way for more.

The exact right time would have been September 15, 2007.

Ouch. Well, yes. But I don't think there was really a way to know what lay ahead for Glavine after he pitched a pretty nice game last September 14. If only we'd had a passing gypsy wagon and a crystal ball to tell us. Sigh.

Sigh.

I'll give you the sigh, but it was entirely predictable in the more broad sense that some very old player was likely to do in the Mets' 2008 season.
If only Omar were capable of eliminating that particular, huge hole in his game...

I'll give you the sigh, but it was entirely predictable in the more broad sense that some very old player was likely to do in the Mets' 2008 season.

I assume you meant 2007? No one, after all has (yet) done in the 2008 season . . . and I'm hoping that the decision to rely on Alou won't have that effect.

As for 2007, while Glavine's meltdown in his last three starts was a big factor, there were bigger culprits in the debacle -- Mota and Reyes, to name two. I'd probably put Glavine # 3 on the list, just off the top of my head.

Oops. Let's hope that wasn't my inner Gypsy speaking. I'll grant you Mota and Reyes were more proximate causes of the disaster than Glavine, but I was thinking of how to read the particular tea leaves from 2007 and what they say about Omar both then, and going forward.

As for 2007, while Glavine's meltdown in his last three starts was a big factor, there were bigger culprits in the debacle -- Mota and Reyes, to name two. I'd probably put Glavine # 3 on the list, just off the top of my head

While Mota and Reyes may have been bigger contributors, the thing which is most remembered by the public from the meltdown is Glavine's nightmare start. Apart from the most serious of Mets fans, I really doubt most people even remember that Mota was on the team, or Reyes' terrible stretch performance.

The 2008 Cubs can add Legend Killers to their resume.

Remember back around 1999 when I told you Glavine was due to fall off a cliff? Told you so.

Was thinking the same thing as #20.

I remember when Voros' first articles on DIPS were published on Baseball Prospectus. I fired up the calculator and headed off the the Braves page on Fanhome to tell them all that Glavine was done. Got deservedly reamed for it.

I, too, really hope to see him win two more games.

Kind of like I hope Griffey hits two more home runs.