"Tom Glavine will be a full-time dad for the rest of the 2009 baseball season and take his time deciding whether to retire.

Two weeks after the Braves released the 305-game winner on the cusp of his return from shoulder and elbow surgery, Glavine said he won't be back in baseball this year, pitching or otherwise, but is not ruling out next season.

"I'm taking the rest of the year off and will evaluate my options this winter," said Glavine in a text message Friday.

If he comes back to pitch he would be in rare territory, at age 44 after not pitching for the better part of two seasons. But Glavine's former pitching coach Leo Mazzone, for one, thinks it's not out of the realm of possibility.

"Well, give his arm a full year of recovery," ex-Braves pitching coach LeoMazzone said. "I'd never bet against him. He's a different breed. Tommy's mentally the strongest individual I've ever been around. He pitched a lot of games when a lot of pitchers wouldn't have."

Glavine's friend and longtime teammate John Smoltz thinks it's wise to take time and not flip-flop like some well-known athletes have done.

"If I were in his situation, I'd take all the time I needed to make a real good decision," Smoltz said. "I know Tommy well enough to know he doesn't want to say something and then go against what he says. … And I don't think making a decision based on emotion over this situation would have been a wise thing to do on anybody's account."

Chipper Jones understands not wanting to leave the game."