What teammates and others are saying about John Smoltz:

• From JEFF FRANCOEUR:

"To be honest with you, I'm happy for him in the fact that he can have some closure this season. He wanted to get back worse than anybody, but his arm wouldn't allow him to do it. I talked to him the other night after he threw and he said he could barely drive home. He had to drive home with his left hand. That's no way for him to go. He's too good and too big a competitor. Who knows?"

"If there's anybody who would want to come back, it's Smoltzie. And if there's anybody who can come back, it's Smoltzie. If that is it, he's had a hell of a career, and I think he's got nothing to be ashamed of. We all would love to have him out there 50 percent but for him that's no way to compete, having to get shots and do that. I'm glad for him, he's going ahead and getting surgery. It's been hard on him."

"(If he retires they'd lose) one of the old school guys that went out there when ever he needed to. People said he couldn't close, he closed. People said he'd never be able to start again, he came out and started again. He's pretty much been able to do whatever he wants. And so in here we'll lose a leader and a guy everybody looked up to, but baseball will just lose a guy that really is one of the top three or four guys that when you talk about major league baseball, he's the face of it."

• From BRIAN McCANN:

"All year long, he goes out there and gives us everything he's got when he's hurting. It just shows you what kind of guy he is. I look up to him. He's a great teammate and a great friend."

"He couldn't take anymore. His pain is so great he could barely pick his arm up. He gave us everything he had all season long, and just couldn't take anymore."

"Knowing him, I know for a fact this is not going to be it. He's going to get back on the field."

"It's not too big of a surprise because it's been hurting all year, going back to spring."

• From CHIPPER JONES:

"Devastating. Coming into this season, I said if there's one guy on the club we couldn't do without, it's John Smoltz. The mere speculation that he would be able to come back and close for us kind of kept everybody going."

"If you had asked me in the spring, I would have said we don't have a chance in hell of winning the division without him starting for us. We managed to keep our heads above water not having him. But now, not having him for the rest of the season is just devastating. Flat-out devastating."

• From manager BOBBY COX:

"You'll never replace a Hall of Famer. You just

can't do it. But we've got some guys that can help us

win."

"You can only tolerate so much pain. He always pitched with pain. He's always been the best competitor in the world."

"I'm not saying John's not going to pitch for us next spring. Hopefully this operation will allow that to happen."

• From general manager FRANK WREN:

"We saw him go out there and throw nearly as well as he ever has, at times. But you could also see in his face that it wasn't easy."

"It's a sad day for us in a lot of ways, because we don't know the outcome of that surgery. He's been such a special guy in this clubhouse and a special guy on this club and has meant so much to everything that has been accomplished here."

• From BLAINE BOYER:

"Smoltz has been like my mentor. Just growing up a Braves fan, a Smoltz fan, and now knowing him on a personal level, it's probably tougher for me than it is for him. He has closure now. I'm hopeful he'll be able to come back for another year or two, if he wants to. But he has some closure."

• From TOM GLAVINE:

"If he wants to, he will [come back]. Only reason I say 'if he wants to,' is because rehab is not an easy thing if you're a young man, let alone when you're our age and have logged 3,000 innings. ... It's a little harder at this stage of our career, when you've accomplished the things he's accomplished, to get back in there and keep banging your head against the wall if you're not seeing progress."

"I'm a little mad. I came here to be the No. 3 starter and play a lot of golf and now that's gone."

"He has demonstrated time and again the ability to come back from an injury or adjust the way he pitches or adjust his role. He's a great athlete. He's got a great work ethic in terms of what he expects out of himself. It's that desire to keep pushing and keep going that's proven he can come back."

• Smoltz on Smoltz:

"This spring, where my frustration came in was I was looking forward to this year more than any year I've ever played, with Tommy [Glavine] coming back, with the possibility of this team being as good as I thought it could be. I did what I thought was best - and I almost pulled it off. It almost worked. The irony is the first four games is probably the best I've ever thrown."

"There's not one bitter, remorseful sad bone in my body."

— David O'Brien, Carroll Rogers and Jeff Schultz contributed to this article.