After a run of 14 consecutive division titles, the Braves will be out of the playoffs for the second year in a row. In the third of a four-part series, the AJC looks at what went wrong this season and what Braves fans may expect for 2008.

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Tom Glavine, who reached the 300-win milestone this season, has a player option to return to the Mets for $13 million.

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During their run of 14 consecutive division titles through 2005, the Braves featured starting pitching of the highest pedigree. So richly talented and deep were their rotations, the Braves' often-thin bullpens and less-than-spectacular lineups couldn't hinder the reign of division dominance.

My, how times have changed.

This year's potent Atlanta lineup and improved bullpen haven't been enough to compensate for a top-heavy but otherwise woeful rotation. It's the primary reason the Braves may well fall short of the playoffs for a second consecutive year.

"Call a spade a spade — starting pitching has been a weakness," said left-hander Mike Hampton, whose two-season absence for elbow surgeries has been a big part of the problem. "Besides two spots, everything else has been a struggle."

With six games left in the season, Tim Hudson and John Smoltz are 30-16 with a 3.15 ERA, while the other eight starters the Braves have deployed are a combined 27-38 with a 5.54 ERA.

Braves players and team officials agree the rotation must be upgraded to have a better shot at making the 2008 playoffs, and that they can't count on Hampton, still on the comeback trail with one season left on his hefty contract.

One name from their pitching-rich past — Tom Glavine — is among rotation remedies the Braves are expected to explore.

"I haven't made a [priority] list yet, but we want to add to our pitching, that's for sure," general manager John Schuerholz said. "I can't [discuss Glavine]. He's a member of another organization. Not able to talk about that."

Glavine is 13-6 with a 3.97 ERA in 195 innings in his fifth season with the New York Mets, with two more starts likely. The 41-year-old former Braves left-hander has averaged more than 13 wins and 205 innings since 2004.

It's a tantalizing prospect, slotting him in with returners Smoltz and Hudson, along with possibly Hampton and lefty Chuck James.

"I hope so," Smoltz said of a potential bid for Glavine. "Do you do it just for [public relations]? No. You do it because of two things: He can still pitch; he can still win baseball games. And, this is where he belongs.

"If the Mets go to the playoffs and win it all, I don't see [him pitching again]. There'd have to be circumstances that would lend itself to it happening.

"I'd love to see him retire in a Braves uniform. For my sanity, for everything we've been through, that would be the greatest thing in the world."

Glavine has a player option with the Mets for 2008 worth up to $13 million, but could decline if he retires or wants to return to Atlanta. The Mets reportedly might ask him to take a salary lower than $13 million.

If that's the case, the Braves might get it done with, say, a one-year, $10 million offer. Smoltz isn't alone in making a pitch for the pitcher.

"I think we're all in agreement there," third baseman Chipper Jones said. "You bring a guy in who's the quality of Glav, and take him away from one of the key [opponents] in our division, yeah, the balance of power could certainly shift in the National League East.

"He's a guy who's going to go out there for 35-36 starts and give you quality innings. That's what we have sorely missed at times this year."

The Braves could trade for a starter, perhaps dangling veteran shortstop Edgar Renteria, since they have a capable replacement in rookie Yunel Escobar.

But it's uncertain whether they could trade for a quality starter without giving up a solid prospect in addition to Renteria. The Braves might be reluctant to give up their standout shortstop and No. 2 hitter along with more young talent, after trading several top prospects in July for first baseman Mark Teixeira.

The free-agent pitching market will be thin and prices high for the few top arms available, who are likely to command long-term deals.

Glavine won't seek a long contract and might possibly take a discount to return to Atlanta, where he could finish his career while spending more than just weekends with his wife and children at their home in Alpharetta.

"I'd love to see Glavine come back," Braves right fielder Jeff Francoeur said. "From what I hear there's no reason he doesn't want to come back — his house is here, his kids are here, he loves it here.

"If you start to think about a rotation with Smoltzy, Hudson, Glavine and Hampton, with our lineup, I don't see any reason we couldn't win the East."

Glavine won 242 regular-season games for Atlanta during 1987-2002, with five 20-win seasons and two Cy Young Awards. He notched his 300th win this season.

The Braves and Glavine flirted last winter when he was a free agent, but he returned to the Mets when the Braves failed to make an offer before Dec. 1.

"Absolutely we [wanted Glavine]," Schuerholz said last winter. "We spent a lot of time trying to create a situation where we could bring Tommy back. That means we were trying to make deals that would free up space on our payroll to fit him in. ... And it just didn't work. It might have in a day or two."

They've had all season to size up the current state of the rotation. Their starters are 57-54 with a 4.41 ERA, after finishing 54-60 with a 4.71 ERA in 2006 — their highest starters' ERA since the 1980s.

The starters could finish with fewer than 60 wins for a second straight season, after totaling fewer than 65 just once in the previous 13 completed seasons — 64-51 in 2001, also their only season with more than 50 losses from 1991-2005.

Braves starters are 111-114 with seven complete games during two seasons under pitching coach Roger McDowell, or 21 wins more than Braves starters posted in 1998, when they were a remarkable 90-40 with 24 complete games.

Pitching coach Leo Mazzone's starters were at least 20 games over .500 in 12 of 15 seasons from 1991-2005. But for most of that span Atlanta's payroll was higher and its rotation usually had four proven pitchers.

For the past two seasons, it's been two veterans and an assortment of youngsters and journeymen.

Whether the Braves make a competitive offer for Glavine may again depend on the size of next year's payroll and their ability to "free up space" in it.

The Braves already have $42 committed next season to Hampton, Smoltz and Hudson, including pro-rated portions of signing bonuses. If Hampton isn't able to return, part of his salary might again be covered by insurance.

They won't know about Hampton's viability for next season until after he pitches in winter ball.

Team president Terry McGuirk has indicated payroll could be raised a bit under the new Liberty Media ownership group. The Braves had a payroll in the low-$80 million range for four seasons under Time Warner ownership, dropping to the middle of the pack after a free-spending era under maverick owner Ted Turner.

"If I'm Tommy," Smoltz said, "as bad as I want to be here, I'm not going to be an idiot and take a slap in the face [contract]. ... We've been assured [payroll] is not going to be a problem. So if that's not going to be the problem ..."

If it is, the Braves may have a big problem again in 2008. The rotation. A weakness that used to be their greatest strength.