Philly columnist: Braves screwed up by keeping Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz together

Someone must have slipped me some bad liquor or something, because I’m sure I didn’t just read an article by Sam Donnellon of the Philadelphia Inquirer saying that the Braves would have won more titles in the 90s if they hadn’t had Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz. I mean, that would be, like, the stupidest thing ever:

Yes, the Braves cut loose some stars along that 14-season run. But they also did exactly what the Phillies resisted doing this winter. They already had John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine when they signed Greg Maddux before the 1993 season . . . Did keeping three future Hall of Famers for all those years cash-strap them out of multiple world titles? It’s a thought.

Yes, bringing together three Hall of Fame pitchers to form the best starting rotation of all time was what prevented the Braves from winning more World Series. Clearly the team would have been better off if they had avoided splurging on Greg Maddux and, rather than have him post historically awesome seasons throughout the 90s in a Braves uniform, spent the money on a lefty specialist.

And if you think I’m taking this quote out of context or something, here’s the windup:

So be careful with our hearts, fellas. We’ve made you The Show in this hard-to-please town. Maybe we can’t be the Yankees, but we sure don’t want to be the Braves for the next decade either.

Yeah, winning the division every year would be, like, a total downer.