Glavine says he’s ready

The Braves have a decision to make:

After throwing six scoreless innings and earning a win in his third minor-league rehab start in two weeks, Braves pitcher Tom Glavine pronounced himself ready to return to the major leagues Tuesday night as the 43-year-old veteran turned in a solid outing in Rome’s 3-0 win over the Augusta Green Jackets in front of a sellout crowd of 5,105 at State Mutual Stadium.

“I don’t know what else I can do,” said Glavine, who threw 65 pitches for the low-Class A Rome Braves, 45 of those for strikes. “Physically I felt good and I feel like I’m ready.

Given four set slots in the rotation, Kris Medlen’s recent good outing and Tommy Hanson knocking on the door, the Braves truly don’t need Tom Glavine at this point. What’s more, they’ll be on the hook for a $1 million bonus upon activating him. But that’s not Tom Glavine’s problem, is it? They signed him, and they offered the bonus. He has responded about as well as can be hoped in rehab. Most importantly, he’s Tom Glavine. If the Braves pitch him, the fans will show up and cheer, as they should. If they jerk him around, no one will be happy.

I’ve stated a few times how I wish that Glavine wouldn’t pitch again. I said that, however, because I feared he couldn’t, and didn’t want to see him embarrassed. It’s still not clear that he will be effective in the Majors, but he has shown enough in his rehab starts to be given a shot, even if I’ll be watching it with trepidation. In any event, I don’t see how the Braves can’t give him a start or two at this point, so they may as well activate him, pay that million bucks, and hope for the best.