Is John Smoltz the greatest pitcher of all time?

I only ask because that is apparently what Mr. Mark Bowman of mlb.com thinks. Or his editor. Or whoever it was that picked the headline for this article, entitled “Smoltz latest, greatest to reach 3,000 Ks.”

Do they even have editors over there? Because if whoever it was actually believes that John Smoltz is the greatest pitcher to ever reach 3,000 strikeouts, then they are the only one in the world who thinks that.

Even Smoltz’s own mother wouldn’t suggest that he is the greatest pitcher on this list:

Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton, Bert Blyleven, Tom Seaver, Don Sutton, Gaylord Perry, Walter Johnson, Phil Niekro, Greg Maddux, Ferguson Jenkins, Bob Gibson, Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz.

In fact, it may even be possible to argue that John Smoltz is actually the worst pitcher on that list, but he certainly isn’t the best one, because that is basically a list of the greatest pitchers of all time. So in no way whatsoever is Smoltz the “greatest” pitcher to join the list.

So what really is going on with that title? I think what has happened here is another example of how these people get so up to their neck in sports clichés that they forget that what they are writing is actually English words that actually mean things, and simply apply these catchphrases where ever they please, much the same way Jackson Pollock applied paint to canvas, although probably with even less forethought.

I’m sure the person who came up with that headline probably just thought it had a nice “ring” to it, without even considering that it was actually words which would be making the insane claim that Smoltz was the greatest pitcher on the list above. But still, my gods. Learn to speak English - it’s your own native language (I hope).

Also, the subtitle of that article is pretty funny too - “Veteran no longer walking in shadows of Maddux, Glavine.” Um, okaaaay. Greg Maddux: - 349 wins, 4 Cy Youngs, 2 20-win seasons, so good he can be caught with your eyes closed. Tom Glavine: 303 wins, 2 Cy Youngs, 5 20-win seasons, hot baseball wife.

John Smoltz? 210 wins, 1 20-win season, 1 Cy Young. I think it is fair to say he is still chilling pretty deep in the shade of Maddux and Glavine. I mean Glavine has ninety-three more wins than Smoltz does. Even if you give him back the three years he was a closer, was he really going to average 31 wins per season?

Also, everyone is talking like Smoltz is a surefire Hall of Famer now, and he probably is, but if Smoltz makes the Hall for getting 3,000 strikeouts, than Bert Blyleven, who is number 5 on the list above, needs to have been inducted several years ago.

When Tom Glavine turned down a $13 million option year with the Mets to return to the Braves for only $8 million, he told ESPN’s Jayson Stark that was doing it just to be closer to his family:

“My family was the reason,” Glavine said. “Had the Braves not been interested in bringing me back, I would have retired, because it was time for me to be home.”

Some observers were still baffled, but we here at UmpBump can understand this decision quite well, because Tom Glavine has a bonafide hot baseball wife.

Glavine’s second wife, Chris, who he married in 1998, not only makes it out to almost all of Tom’s games and helps raise the couple’s four children, but has also been a major supporter of “CURE Childhood Cancer” and the Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research and also personally hosts an annual fundraiser/luncheon in Atlanta called “Tribute to Our Quiet Heroes,” which honors the hard work, sacrifice and dedication of the mothers of children with cancer.

We believe you will agree that Chris Glavine is a most deserving addition to the pantheon of Hot Baseball Wives.

(more pictures after the jump)

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• Today the AJC does a “Where are they now?” feature on former Braves CF Otis Nixon. It seems Otis is sober again and he’s writing a book. Did you know that Nixon has twin sons named Travian and Travion?
• The AJC also has a feature that talks about how Tom Glavine’s pay has paralelled the gains made by the players union. If you missed the press conference, Glavine has decided to earn $11 million this year, rather than $13 million, because $13 million was just too much pressure.
• Crashburn Alley, which recently brought you Bill Conlin uncensored, today takes a look at why Andruw Jones is the most valuable free-agent CF on the market, despite what Jayson Stark might think.  This is pretty much a debunking of Stark’s argument that Andruw is in steep decline. Crashburn relies on fancy modern stats, like Revised Zone Rating, rather than just regular Zone Rating. Classy.

Today, AJC columnist Furman Bisher welcomes Tom Glavine home with a big wet kiss on the buttocks. Furman is amazed — more than that, he’s flummoxed — by the selfless Tom Glavine, who agreed this week to pitch for less in Atlanta:

What he did was something I’ve never heard any baseball player do before. He said he wasn’t sure he was worth what the New York Mets were offering.

His projected salary, I should say. It was there. All he had to do was take it, a $13 million option to pitch another season on Long Island.

…

So in the end it was take a $5 million cut in pay to live and pitch where his home and heart are.

What Bisher doesn’t seem to understand is that, while Glavine is pitching for less, he’s not pitching for that much less. The Mets gave him a $3 million buyout. He signed an $8 million deal with Atlanta. So he’s pitching for $11 million in 2008, $2 million less than he would have earned with New York. Not $5 million less.

Glavine, for his part, says the reason he was willing to take less money is because, well, I’ll let him tell you:

“I wasn’t sure I was worth 13 million,” Glavine said. “I’m not a No. 1 starter any more. I didn’t have the feeling that I could go out and pitch like a $13 million guy anymore.”

See, making $13 million made Glavine uncomfortable. That’s a lot of pressure. $11 million is much less of a burden.

Bisher thinks Glavine’s admission is the greatest thing he’s ever heard. Seriously, he’s giddy.

This is utter violation of the athlete’s code. You don’t get such honesty in this day and age of the agent and his pawn.

Bisher goes on to say that Glavine is going to be lights out in Atlanta and that the reason he sucked down the stretch in New York was, well, it was all mental. He was home sick.

I put nothing into Glavine’s rocky wind-up in New York: three blown starts, including one tormented one. His mind was at work on other matters. He knew he was pitching his way out of a Mets uniform, and his head was getting mixed signals.

Now all the disturbing doubts are gone, and here is a man with a freedom of mind. He’s home again. He drives to Turner Field to an old familiar parking space. Walks into home, not the visitors clubhouse, greets old pals and familiar faces. That should add years to his happiness and his ERA.

First of all, I’ve got news for you, Bish. Matt Diaz has Glavine’s parking space now and he told me the other day that he’s not giving it up for nobody. He said if Glavine wants his space back, he’s going to have to take it.

And “years to his happiness and ERA?” Well, I guess we’ll never know since Glavine only signed a one-year deal, right Bish?

Yes, the contract is only for one year. With Glavine’s well-ordered lifestyle, his deep faith, and the ease with which he delivers his 82-mph fastball, change of pace and slider, his trim body should be good for two or three more seasons.

Well, it’s hard to argue with that logic. Glavine does look pretty smooth throwing those 82-mph fastballs. But if you think that’s impressive, Bish, you should see just how casually I loft my 68-mph cheese. You want deep faith? I was a freaking alter boy! And if you’re looking for a guy who’s willing to accept a contract for less than $13 million a year, hey, I’m your man. I’ll pitch for $5 million right now! Sign me up!

There’s been a lot said about Tom Glavine’s return to Atlanta, but I think this passage, from AJC baseball writer David O’Brien’s story, best sums it up:

Glavine joins Smoltz and Hudson to give the Braves what could be the National League’s most accomplished starting trio. Wren and Cox also are optimistic about lefty Mike Hampton, who has missed two seasons recovering from elbow surgeries.

Hampton is scheduled to make his first start in the Mexican Winter League on Thursday. He would give the Braves four former 20-game winners, though none has hit that standard since 2000, when Hudson went 20-6 for Oakland and Glavine 21-9 for the Braves.

Four 20-game winners. That’s great. But 2000 was a long time ago. You know who else won 20 games in 2000? Daryl Kile. So that’s not a good example. But you know who won 19 games that season? Randy Johnson. What’s he up to these day? Maybe he could pitch for the Braves?

On ESPN News, Keith Law said Atlanta went with sentiment over sound baseball judgement. He said Glavine showed this season that he has “very little left in the tank”. He said “shame on the Braves for guaranteeing so much money” and that they had “probably wasted a good chunk of that money.”

What do you think? Will the Braves be buoyed by experience, or just old?

Now that the Braves season is all but over, Atlanta fans can start planning for 2008. And, despite this season’s disappointing finish, there is every reason for fans to be excited about next year.

First of all, Mark Teixeira will be at first base on opening day and, if he can repeat what he’s done over the last two months, he should be a candidate for MVP.

Chipper Jones will be returning after an MVP calliber and (mostly) healthy 2007 season.

Tim Hudson and John Smoltz will be back. Both had solid 2007 seasons.

Kelly Johnson will be a year older and wiser.

And the Braves bullpen should be bolstered by the return of Mike Gonzalez, who missed much of this season with an injury.

Still, there are questions surrounding this team. Will Dotel be back? What about Adruw Jones and Edgar Renteria? Will Mike Hampton be healthy?

Perhaps the most interesting possibility for Braves fans longing for a return to the postseason: will Tom Glavine return to finish his career in Atlanta?

Just about everybody wants Glavine back.

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

“I hope so,” Smoltz said of a potential bid for Glavine. “Do you do it just for [public relations]? No. You do it because of two things: He can still pitch; he can still win baseball games. And, this is where he belongs.

And all reports are Glavine wants to finish his career in Atlanta. He wanted the Braves to sign him before this season, so that he could win his 300th game as a Brave. But the Atlanta brass coudn’t scrape together the dough.

What would keep Glavine out of Atlanta next year? Well, for one thing, Glavine has a $13 million player option to pitch for the Mets in 2008. And it’s hard to imagine the Braves offering the veteran pitcher that much money.

The AJC says the Mets may not want to pay Glavine $13 million, either:

Glavine has a player option with the Mets for 2008 worth up to $13 million, but could decline if he retires or wants to return to Atlanta. The Mets reportedly might ask him to take a salary lower than $13 million.

If that’s the case, the Braves might get it done with, say, a one-year, $10 million offer. Smoltz isn’t alone in making a pitch for the pitcher.

Maybe there’s something I’m missing, but I can’t imagine the Mets asking Glavine to take less money than he’s contractually entitled to. I imagine that conversation going something like this:

Mets: Tom, we’d like to pay you less than $13 million to pitch in 2008. Something more like $11 million.

Tom Glavine: No, I’d rather not do that.

Of course, there’s always the chance that Glavine would accept less money just so that he could pitch one last season in Atlanta. But, as John Smoltz points out, he probably won’t accept much less.

“If I’m Tommy,” Smoltz said, “as bad as I want to be here, I’m not going to be an idiot and take a slap in the face [contract]. … “

So the question becomes, do the Braves want Glavine back bad enough to pay him? And does Glavine still eye a return to Atlanta, even after he’s already gotten his 300th win and even after the Braves failed to make him an offer in 2007?

Time will tell.

One of the subplots of Tom Glavine’s accomplishment of 300 career wins has been the mini-debate among members of the press regarding whether or not this will be the last time that this round number will be reached. Certainly, a major reason why this debate even exists is to make it a more compelling event for the viewers, as if we needed any extra help to fully appreciate the moment. But the talking heads and the pens must see some truth in this to spend so much time discussing a hypothetical, right? There must be some part of them that is honestly wondering if we’ll ever see anyone reach 300 ever again. Me, I have no such doubts. I know that I’ve had the opportunity to witness some of the greatest players to ever play this game. But I’m also not so egotistical (close, but not quite) that I fail to realize that some of the absolute best are yet to step foot onto a Major League field.

We all want our lives to be special. We often talk in hyperboles regarding our personal experiences although the overwhelming majority of the time they are far from warranted. For example, I have a tendency to describe things as being ”awesome” even though the situation is far from awe inspiring. If your friends are less than ecstatic after listening to your story about “the best time” you had over the weekend, you’re more apt to assume that the message didn’t come across properly than you are to realize that the experience you’ve described was simply underwhelming from the start. It doesn’t make us bad people or anything. It’s just something that we do.

And it’s this human flaw, I think, that helps perpetuate the singular experience of being a baseball fan. If you ask a 25-year old who’s the better hitter: David Ortiz or Hank Greenberg, I think a lot of them would say Ortiz. If you asked the same question to someone in their seventies, I’m fairly certain that the answers will be very different. Moreover, this is the same reason why we say things like “you can’t appreicate (player X) until you’ve seen him play every day”, which is one of my least favorite arguments ever because once that defense is utilized, the debate is over. It’s a total cop-out.

Which brings me back to the argument at hand. Is Tom Glavine the last 300-game winner ever? I’m pretty confident in stating that, no, he is not. Assuming that this planet of ours can withstand having us human beings living on it for a good while longer, there will be another 300 game winner. It’s money in the bank. There was a time not too long ago when people were wondering if the art of the stolen base was dead. That it perished along with the careers of Rickey Henderson, Vince Coleman, and Tim Raines. Then comes Jose Reyes who’s on pace to swipe 78 this year. If I told you that he would steal 85 or even 90 next year, is that so out of the realm of possibility? I don’t think it is.

What makes this mark seem unlikely in the future is that the group of pitchers that were supposed to follow the current collection of 40-year olds like Glavine, Maddux, Clemens, Smoltz and Randy Johnson never panned out. The best pitcher between the ages of 35-39 is Pedro Martinez, who is at the moment 94 wins shy of 300 due to injuries and subsequent decline in performance. Mike Mussina is 38-years old and has 246 career wins but  he too has shown his age the past four seasons. Andy Pettitte has had a very good career but was never consistently a top-10 pitcher. And the list just detreriorates after that:

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Stepping away from the rumor mill for a bit, we here at Umpbump would be remiss if if we didn’t talk about what may turn out to be a day remembered for greatness that far surpasses any trade that goes down.

First up, at 7:05 EST, the New York Yankees will face the Chicago White Sox as Alex Rodriguez will try to become the 22nd member of the 500-Homerun Club. Sure, we crack jokes about the guy. And if he doesn’t like it, then damn it, he shouldn’t be so good at being the butt of it. But make no mistake that when his playing days are done, we’ll remember him as one of the greatest players to ever put on a baseball uniform. And as a man who has a thing for muscular women.

At 8:05 Flushing-Standard-Time, Tom Glavine goes for win number 300 in his illustrious, yet somehow boring, career. The guy is mechanical and I actually mean this as a compliment. It is clear that Tommy can no longer carry a pitching staff, and this may have been true for some time. And yet, I am amazed by what he has accomplished despite the fact that his peripherals aren’t eye-catching. For his career, he has a 5.34 K/9, and a 1.76 K/BB. How did he get to this point where we’re talking about him as a sure-fire Hall of Famer? Simply put, the man is consistent. Mechanical. Maybe boring. 

Finally, at 10:10 EST in Los Angeles, the world will tune in to see if Barry Bonds can tie the most heralded record in sports. It’s going to be tough, no doubt about it. Especially if Bonds is benched so as not to have a PR nightmare when the LA fans boo after realizing that David Beckham is actually not a very good soccer player.

On November 2, 1948, the Chicago Daily Tribune boasted the headline that Republican Thomas Dewey had defeated incumbent President Harry Truman to become the 34th President of the United States. The only problem is that nearly sixty years later, no one’s ever heard of a President Thomas Dewey because, well, Dewey lost.

More importantly, this morning, New York Daily News writer Adam Rubin has the headline “Glavine is Snake-bitten“. Rubin writes:

The Diamondbacks snapped a 10-game home losing streak to the Mets with a 4-3 victory last night.

Adam, the ladies don’t like it when you finish before the deed is done. The Mets actually defeated the Diamondbacks last night 9-4 after Damion Easley took Arizona closer Jose Valverde deep for three runs with one out in the top of the ninth. A walk and a single later, David Wright hit his second home run of the year (both in the past three games) to cap off the six-run inning.

So what lesson have we learned?

1. Make certain that what you’ve written has actually happened - especially if it’s going to press.
2. The Mets are just like Harry Truman. Except, you know, that whole Korean War thing. And in this terrible analogy, George Steinbrenner is Joseph McCarthy.

I’m going to stop now.

My friend Paul, who you might remember is both a Mets fan and a dick (it’s a chicken or the egg thing), sent me this email regarding the Phillies-Mets match up a few minutes ago:

I’m not sure if you’ve taken notice, but tonight’s Phils-Mets match up will eature two starting pitchers with a combined age of 85. Not since Satchel Paige faced Richard “The Dapper Dick” Peckinpaugh in the 1953 season have two pitchers this old taken the mound in the same game for opposing sides.

Between Glavine and Moyer, they have over 40 years of big league experience. This is the first time that they have ever faced off.

And please don’t bother looking up “The Dapper Dick” in any baseball book/website.

An interesting bit of trivia, that. In this age of steroids and HGH, players peaking in their late 30s isn’t unusual (See Bonds, Clemens, etc.). But I think it’s safe to say that neither of tonight’s pitchers (especially Jamie Moyer) is juicing. They’re just freaks. And darn good pitchers. Should be a good game.