All Together Now

Veteran pitcher A has a 4.41 ERA and just 18 strikeouts in 35 innings. He's lasted, on average, just five frames per start and is probably a fourth starter at this point.

Veteran pitcher B isn't fooling too many batters anymore. He has surrendered 61 hits in 54 innings and is fanning a batter every other inning. Despite pitching in an extreme pitcher's park, his ERA is 3.98, thanks mostly to a bagful of unearned runs.

Veteran pitcher C is a monster, the ace of his staff, except he's been summering on the Disabled List. His ERA of 2.00 and 36/8 K/BB rate are impressive, but there are questions about whether he'll be able to start again.

All three gentlemen are in their 40s and have to be thinking about retirement. May I respectfully suggest they do so at the end of this year, together?

I'm speaking, of course, of the Hall of Fame trio Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz. Each of them could choose to hang around another year or two, but to what end?

Smoltz's shoulder and elbow are clearly opposed even to continuing this year. Hitters and their .356 OBP are encouraging Glavine to cash out now.

And Maddux, he of the 350 wins, probably has the most incentive to call it a career. With Roger Clemens' reputation running through the shredder, Maddux rises one notch in the estimation of most baseball fans as the greatest pitcher of his generation. Continuing to demonstrate the degradation of his skills does nothing but diminish his place in baseball history and gives Clemens a window of opportunity to recover his pre-eminent position.

By retiring, each of them would leave millions on the table. But really, is there any purchase they can't make, besides an Indian Ocean archipelago, that another year's remuneration would allow?

Tom, John & Greg, go out together so you can go in together to the Hall in 2013. The greatest pitching staff of all time entering Cooperstown as a single starting rotation.