"I never quite understood why this - Tom Glavine joining the Braves' front office in some official capacity - couldn't have happened last summer. It is, and was, an obvious move. But someone (meaning Frank Wren) got in a hurry and someone else (meaning Glavine) got mad, and it wound up with the two sides upset with one another, which had happened back in the winter of 2002 and led to No. 47 leaving for the Mets.

But let's look on the bright side: The first breach took five years to mend; this one took only nine months.

Wren didn't err by not adding Glavine to the 25-man roster last June. Let's be clear about that. The Braves called up Tommy Hanson instead, and the kid darn near won Rookie of the Year. Where Wren erred, as is usually the case, was in timing and tone. He gave Tommy G. a shove, as opposed to applying a bit of finesse.

Becoming special assistant to John Schuerholz means Glavine is officially retired, and it was pretty clear a year ago he was all but done. But he's a proud man, and he wanted to leave when he was good and ready. For reasons still unclear, Wren showed up on a Wednesday at Turner Field determined he had to cut Glavine that afternoon. And then Glavine stomped off and Wren tried to defend himself and John Smoltz sounded off from Boston and Glavine went on the radio and Schuerholz offered an apology as to the matter was handled, and the whole affair lives in PR circles as an example of How Not To Do It."