Give Braves East now if they keep dream rotation intact

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Consider, for a moment, this potential, delectable Southern fried rotation in Atlanta next summer: Tom Glavine , followed by Greg Maddux, followed by Mr. Hyde Mike Hampton (who won 22 games for Houston in 1999) rather than Dr. Jekyll Mike Hampton (7-15 with a major-league-worst 6.44 road ERA in 2002), followed by Kevin Millwood.

Now that's a rotation, one that would increase the heart rate of the Atlanta Braves and TBS junkies everywhere.

Tom Glavine is being courted by the Phillies and Mets but he might take a hometown discount to stay in Atlanta.(AP)

Now, mind you, this isn't necessarily what will happen in Atlanta next season, and it isn't necessarily even what probably will happen. But that it still might happen at this stage of the winter is testament to how ludicrously little of Hampton's gazillion-dollar contract the Braves have inherited -- and how magnificently Braves general manager John Schuerholz has done his job.

Again.

That Atlanta is only paying $48.5 million on the remaining six years and $84.5 million of Hampton's original $121 million contract shows that the Braves are whizzes at this new math. (Florida is paying $30 million, and the Rockies are paying $6 million.)

That it's back-loaded to the point that the Braves are on the hook for only $5.5 million to Hampton in the first three years establishes that the Braves' NL East dominance has a chance to continue for, well, generations.

"Those first three years, that's a hell of a deal," one Braves source said this week. "By the time he starts making money, the other guys will be done."

The inference is clear enough: Even if the Braves can hang onto both Glavine and Maddux this winter, both will be 37 by the end of April. Say each man signs a three-year deal -- the stage then will be set for them to pass the baton on to Hampton (who is only 30) in 2006, with enough salary being freed up to allow the Braves to re-shape themselves yet again.

Of course, this begs two questions:

1. Can the Braves re-sign both Glavine and Maddux?

2. Can Hampton turn back into the pitcher he once was, or did his two years in Coors Field ruin him for good?

Glavine, Maddux and the free-agent market

Realistically, it's still a stretch to imagine the Braves having the resources to retain both men, especially in light of the fact that they expect to hold their payroll at around $90 million in 2003 and that they already have $56 million committed to just six players: Chipper Jones, $12 million; Andruw Jones, $11.5 million; Gary Sheffield, $11 million; John Smoltz, $10 million; Javy Lopez, $7 million; and Vinny Castilla, $4.5 million.

But just because they signed Hampton -- once the financial parameters of that transaction are fully understood -- certainly doesn't preclude the Braves bringing back both Maddux and Glavine (as it seemed to when word of the trade first broke). Especially if the duo, each of whom would prefer to remain in Atlanta, agrees to take a hometown discount.

"If we could get both of those guys back and fit them into our budget, that's my No. 1 priority," Schuerholz said Tuesday, a day after commissioner Bud Selig signed off on the Hampton deal. "If not, my priority is to get one of them back.

"And if not that, it's to try to find the next-best pitchers we can find."

Those close to the Braves think that the odds of retaining Glavine are higher than those of them keeping Maddux.

The Braves presented Glavine with a new offer in the aftermath of the Hampton deal, two years at $9.5 million per year with a third-year option for $10 million. If the Braves guarantee that third year -- as they eventually are expected to -- that is expected to seal the deal with Glavine.

To be sure, with Philadelphia and the New York Mets after the left-hander, it's not a lock. The Phillies have offered a three-year, $27 million deal, and the Mets have checked in with a three-year, $31 million offer. Glavine visited New York on Thursday and Philadelphia on Friday. If the Braves are close financially, though, it is difficult to imagine Glavine not returning.

The case of Maddux, represented by super-agent Scott Boras, is more problematic for the Braves. Boras and Schuerholz were said to have held preliminary discussions at the GM meetings in Tucson, Ariz., last week, and though neither will comment on specifics, it's believed that Boras is asking for something in the neighborhood of five years and $75 million.

These cases are why the Braves' pre-emptive strike to acquire Hampton buys them what could be a very solid insurance policy, if not another layer of depth to what traditionally is one of the best rotations in the game.

The old Hampton or the new Hampton?

The seeds of the deal were planted when Schuerholz mentioned to Colorado GM Dan O'Dowd at season's end that "if you ever see moving (Hampton), we'd like to discuss it."

The Rockies got serious at the GM meetings, and Florida's emergence as a middleman allowed the Braves to work the financial parameters of the deal to their satisfaction.

Now, if they can get Hampton back on track, they may have gotten a steal.

"Our feeling is as strong as the Cardinals' feeling was, I'm sure, when they acquired Darryl Kile (after the 1999 season)," Schuerholz said. "He was coming off a year in Coors Field in which he went 8-13 with a 6.61 ERA, and the next year he was 20-9 with a 3.91 ERA.

"We think Mike Hampton is every bit as capable of having the same turnaround.

"Pedro Astacio pitched at Coors Field, and not very effectively. But since he's gotten out of there, he's regained his effectiveness."

But what about the fact that Hampton was 4-3 with a 5.68 ERA in Coors Field last summer and 3-12 with a 6.44 ERA on the road? Isn't that a cause for concern?

"That happens with all of these guys," Schuerholz said. "It beats you up so severely psychologically that you begin to not trust yourself. We think extracting Mike from that environment, he'll get back his pitching ability of the past."

Said one National League scout: "I think Denver got to him, and I think there were some injuries -- his groin. But I think what really got him and the guys on the team, with him and (Denny) Neagle, it looked like they were going to make a run for it, then all of a sudden (Rockies GM Dan) O'Dowd had to change directions. Those players were angry, and he went right down with it.

"Hopefully, he'll get healthy and won't try to force things, he'll just let 'em happen.

"He was way out of whack. He wasn't together. He couldn't locate his pitches. But Atlanta wouldn't be getting him if he was pitching like he was two years ago.

"I saw him throw as hard as he had in two years late in the season, but he had no idea what he was doing. He had the arm strength -- it wasn't that."

The fact that Hampton remains relatively young and healthy and is such a good athlete (he batted .344 with three home runs for Colorado last summer) all indicate that there is no reason why he can't return to his old form.

Or, as one Braves' source said, "If we can't get him back on track, shame on us."

Of course, shame on Hampton, too, for taking all of that Colorado money two years ago and then threatening to block any trade unless it was to a contender. Wasn't Hampton supposed to ensure that the Rockies were a contender?

Moving and shuffling

Their record 11 consecutive division titles comes replete with criticism that they've won just one World Series during their NL East dynasty (in 1995), but with each new division title and playoff appearance, the Braves' excellence becomes more and more clear:

Their streak of division titles and playoff appearances is unprecedented in any of the four major professional sports, and nobody is as adept at retooling as the Braves.

Teams have come and gone during the current Braves run. Cleveland -- Atlanta's 1995 World Series victim -- has ascended from the bottom of the AL to the top and back down again. Baltimore took advantage of opening Camden Yards, put together a couple of playoff teams and is back into another rebuilding phase. Philadelphia advanced to the World Series in 1993 before being knocked back down.

While Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz have provided backbone for the Braves, Schuerholz and his staff have expertly woven impact players such as David Justice, Fred McGriff, Denny Neagle and Marquis Grissom in and out of the lineup depending on finances and contract commitments.

"You have to," Schuerholz said. "There's no way around it. You have to manage your roster of talent, you have to manage your payroll and you have to make changes to keep the mix fresh. All those things are essential to keeping your team in the mix to do what we do."

While the Hampton acquisition was the most complicated from a financial standpoint, Schuerholz says the most difficult part of the retooling process is when it comes time to say goodbye to a veteran.

"The ones where we've had to unload talented and leadership-quality players were tough," he said. "Having to trade David Justice, Marquis Grissom, Ryan Klesko, Fred McGriff, letting go Andres Galarraga or Denny Neagle in free agency. Trading Brian Jordan last year.

"Those are tough, but you have to balance them with the roster you want. Those are tough trades to make, but if you listen to your baseball people. ... From a personal standpoint, it's difficult. But unfortunately, the more expensive operating a major-league franchise becomes, the less personal it allows you to be."

As far as his high-wire walk with his two current marquee free agents, Glavine and Maddux, Schuerholz says that nothing is imminent. Right now, he's bargaining and waiting.

Meanwhile, there are several other pitchers on either the free-agent or trade markets that the Braves are evaluating, ranging from San Diego's Brett Tomko to Montreal's Javier Vazquez and Tony Armas.

But while the immediacy of the free-agent chase will increase over the next several days, acquiring Hampton at least has removed some of the urgency for the Braves.

Whatever happens, with or without Glavine, with or without Maddux, Atlanta figures to be potent while chasing a 12th consecutive division title next summer.

And if it is with both Glavine and Maddux, well, good luck to the rest of the NL East.

War on terror

In these winter days of numbers-crunching, calculator-burning and ledger sheets, some of the costs figured in determining how much a club can spend on a free agent might surprise you.

Take the NL champion San Francisco Giants, who face the possibility of losing second baseman Jeff Kent and third baseman David Bell to free-agency (among others).

The Giants expect to maintain a $75 million payroll, and in figuring their 2003 operating expenses, one item to consider relating to their privately funded Pac Bell Park is terrorism insurance.

"That's a big item these days, especially for us in a privately financed park," owner Peter Magowan said recently.

How big of an item?

"It's tripled since 9/11," Magowan said. "I think it's something like $1.5 million or $2 million, compared to a third of that before (9/11). That's just one of the things you have to look at."

Cooperstown bound

Among the latest items headed for the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.:

• The bat of San Francisco's Tsuyoshi Shinjo, who became the first Japanese-born player to appear in a World Series.
• The cap worn by 20-year-old Anaheim rookie Francisco Rodriguez during Game 2, when he became the youngest pitcher to win a World Series game.
• Scott Spiezio's bat from his three-run home run in Game 6, when the Angels came back from the largest deficit ever in a potential Series-deciding game.
• The cap worn by Game 7 winning pitcher John Lackey, the first rookie to start and win a Game 7 since Babe Adams in 1909. Lackey, 24, began the season at Triple-A Salt Lake.

For those of you who either live in Southern California or who might be traveling there over the holidays, Baseball as America, a wonderful traveling exhibit organized by the Hall of Fame, is at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County through Dec. 15.

Short Hops

• Among the items to be covered at the owners' meetings Wednesday and Thursday this week is the setting of a budget for Montreal. This is worth watching, because many in the industry expect the Expos to be forced to unload a handful of arbitration-eligible players -- such as pitchers Javier Vazquez and Tony Armas, catcher Michael Barrett and shortstop Orlando Cabrera -- once their player payroll is set. GM Omar Minaya would love to move third baseman Fernando Tatis, who is owed $6.25 million for 2003.
• Baltimore discussed Cory Lidle with Oakland before the A's sent the pitcher to Toronto for a couple of highly touted prospects. The Orioles, whose farm system has fallen below the poverty level, do have a surplus of center fielders and are shopping Chris Singleton.
• Two GM jobs remain open. Boston now is expected to hire from within, either going with Theo Epstein (27) and surrounding him with a cast of experienced baseball men or with Lee Thomas, currently a high-ranking Boston executive. Former Oriole Mike Flanagan remains a leading candidate in Baltimore, and the Orioles also have spoken to Detroit Tigers assistant GM Al Avila, former Montreal Expos GM Jim Beattie, Arizona Diamondbacks assistant GM Sandy Johnson, former Chicago White Sox GM Ron Schueler, Seattle vice-president of scouting and player development Roger Jongewaard and Milwaukee special assignment scout David Wilder .
• One reason the Cardinals weren't more involved in the Mike Hampton trade talks is because they are close to re-signing free agent Woody Williams.
• The current count for managerial interviews by Yankees' third-base coach Willie Randolph: 11. His latest rejection phone calls this winter have come from Seattle, Detroit, the Mets, Milwaukee and Tampa Bay. He was offered Cincinnati's job two years ago, but Randolph rejected that because he didn't think the Reds offered a high enough salary.
• If you noticed that the Orioles added Albert Belle to their 40-man roster from the 60-day disabled list, settle down. He's not making a comeback. He's got one year left on his contract, and the Orioles simply made a procedural move for insurance purposes.
• Is Felipe Alou half the manager Dusty Baker is? Alou's average annual salary in San Francisco is $1.75 million. Baker is getting close to $3.75 million annually in his new deal with the Cubs.
• OK, in addition to his $252 million deal, check out this list of $700,000 worth of incentives Alex Rodriguez scooped up this year: $100,000 for making the All-Star team, $100,000 for making a postseason All-Star team, $100,000 for winning a Gold Glove, $100,000 for winning a Silver Slugger, $100,000 for winning a player of the year award and $200,000 for finishing second in the MVP balloting.
• Now that their main offseason priority has been accomplished by landing manager Dusty Baker, the Chicago Cubs are expected to join the list of clubs pursuing infielder David Bell.
• Congratulations to Colorado broadcaster Wayne Hagin, who will move to St. Louis to follow the late, legendary Jack Buck.
• Detroit, which had hoped to hire Hall of Famer Ernie Harwell's successor by Thanksgiving, now looks like it will have to extend that self-imposed deadline.