Chances are, you need a few pitchers on your fantasy baseball roster that can eat up innings. You know, that silly rule that prevents you from loading up on closers? Well, here is a list you could use, especially if your team if floundering and you need some steady pitchers to deliver quality innings of work. This is the list of active leaders in innings pitched. Some of the names will surprise you, but certainly not all of them:

1. Jamie Moyer, Philadelphia Phillies (3966 innings)—Remember when Jamie Moyer pitched for the Cubs? Yeah, neither does anyone else. He was a rookie in 1986, the year Mookie Wilson hit the ball through Bill Buckner’s legs. I know, most of you don’t remember that, either.

2. Andy Pettitte, New York Yankees (2984)—Though it’s early, Andy Pettitte is having a career year at age 38. And I’m just glad I had the foresight (errr, luck) to draft him for my fantasy team.

3. Tim Wakefield, Boston Red Sox (2980)—Remember when Tim Wakefield pitched for the Pirates? Seriously, he started out there in 1992 and joined the Sox in 1995. And dude is still beloved by the chowder heads.

4. Livan Hernandez, Washington Nationals (2795)—Two things are baffling. One, that Livan’s age is listed as 35. Thirty-freaking-five! Um, no. And two, that this guy is still getting hitters out with that blistering 80 mph fastball of his.

5. Javier Vasquez, New York Yankees (2532)—So this guy has banked $92 million in his career to date for losing as many games as he wins (145-144). That’s proof right there that innings eaters are worth something, but still sounds like highway robbery to me.

6. Jeff Suppan, Milwaukee Brewers (2437)—He’s relegated to the bullpen for the most part, but still racking up innings of work.

7. Kevin Millwood, Baltimore Orioles (2382)—Remember when Kevin Millwood was the fourth starter behind Smoltz, Maddux and Glavine in Atlanta? That was in 1997 but seems like it was 50 years ago.

8. Derek Lowe, Atlanta Braves (2191)—He may have peaked a few years ago, but this guy still has some of the nastiest stuff in the game.

9. Tim Hudson, Atlanta Braves (2124)—Through all of the injuries, it’s truly amazing that Tim Hudson has pitched that many innings. And hey, Javier, put this in your pipe and smoke it—a 153-79 career record.

10. Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies (2123)—This dude just keeps winning, but even he’s only got 154 wins to date. Does that seem right?

Source: Baseball Reference

According to FOX Sports Ken Rosenthal, pitcher Tom Glavine is considering filing a formal grievance against the Atlanta Braves for his release from the team last Wednesday.

Glavine feels his release was done for financial reasons and not to clear a spot in the rotation for hot prospect Tommy Hanson, who is making his major league debut today against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Rosenthal asked Braves general manager Frank Wren for his reaction:

Wren said the decision was made for performance reasons, not business reasons. The team promoted top prospect Hanson rather than activate Glavine.

According to the MLB collective-bargaining agreement, no player can be released from a team because of financial reasons. Glavine would have received a $1 million bonus if he had been activated from the disabled list for Sunday’s start.

John Smoltz ripped his old team recently after the Braves released his former teammate Tom Glavine.

“I’m using a very soft word in ‘disappointed’ because that ain’t right,” said Smoltz, a teammate of Glavine’s for 16 years. The duo won 454 games and three Cy Young Awards as Braves.

Glavine, who had been rehabbing from shoulder and elbow surgery, was released Wednesday — “a performance decision,” according to Braves General Manager Frank Wren.

“To go that far in your rehab, and then right before the time, to do that?” Smoltz said following Wednesday’s Red Sox game in Detroit. “Well, it’s not my problem anymore, I just feel bad for a teammate of mine that I had for a long time.”

Asked if he thought Glavine’s release was financially motivated, Smoltz told reporters, “Yeah, I know too much, let’s just put it that way.”

He’s doubtful his old teammate will pitch for another team.

When a team releases a player that helped them win at some point throughout the years, it’s always a dicey situation. The team wants to remain loyal to that player, but the ultimate goal is to always be building for the future.

So when a player like Glavine is released by an organization like the Braves, it’s going to get kind of ugly. I don’t disagree with what Smoltz says because after all, he knows the situation better than I do. But the bottom line is that the Braves are trying to move forward and they don’t see Glavine helping them in the future and therefore decided to part ways.

It’s just the nature of the beast.

Some pitching statistics are not very complimentary, most of all the gopher ball line….that is, for pitchers who have a penchant for throwing that big fat pitch that a hitter tends to crush over the fence. Here is a list of the active pitchers who lead the majors in this category, and only includes players who are currently on a major league roster:

1. Jamie Moyer, Philadelphia Phillies (474)—Okay, so he’s been pitching since 1986 and throws mostly slow junk, but Moyer has given up double digits in gopher balls 16 times, including FORTY FOUR in 2004 while with Seattle, the fifth highest total for a single season in baseball history. And he is only 31 behind all-time leader Robin Roberts, who gave up 505 long balls. Way to go, Jamie.

2. Randy Johnson, San Francisco Giants (399)—We can pretty much give the Big Unit a pass, because he’s struck out 4,819 batters and is closing in on 300 wins.

3. Tim Wakefield, Boston Red Sox (363)—All you can say is that sometimes the knuckleball is completely baffling, and sometimes it looks like a soccer ball to the hitter.

4. Tom Glavine, Atlanta Braves (356)—As good as Glavine is and has been throughout his illustrious career, he has always had the penchant for giving up the long ball.

5. Javier Vasquez, Atlanta Braves (304)—Since breaking into the big leagues in 1998, Vasquez has AVERAGED 29 homers given up per season…he’s been as low as 20, and as high as 35. Batter up!

6. Livan Hernandez, New York Mets (301)—I read recently where Livan’s pitches were clocking in the 62 mph range…..are you kidding me? Yet, he’s still getting hitters out with regularity.

6. Jeff Suppan, Milwaukee Brewers (301)—Jeff Suppan has always had decent control, averaging 68 walks per season since breaking in with the Red Sox in 1995. But he’s also given up an average of 27 homers per season. Sometimes control means you leave it out over the plate.

8. John Smoltz, Boston Red Sox (277)—Smoltz has only averaged 16 homers given up per season, including a few years as the Braves’ closer, but still—you pitch since 1988, your numbers are going to add up.

9. Bartolo Colon, Chicago White Sox (245)—In 2004, Bartolo won 18 games but gave up 38 homers. Somebody must have inspired or bribed him with cheeseburgers the next year when he went 21-8 and won the AL Cy Young.

10. Andy Pettitte, New York Yankees (235)—For all those years with the short porch in right field in the old Yankee Stadium, Pettitte gave up a career high 27 homers while pitching for the Astros in 2006.

Source: Baseball Reference

Glavine seems a bit wider than I remember.

Here’s a little news Yahoo! Sports picked up from The Associated Press:

PEARL, Miss. (AP)—Atlanta Braves left-hander Tom Glavine ended his minor league start with Double-A Mississippi early on Sunday after experiencing shoulder discomfort.

The 43-year-old Glavine had expected to throw 50 to 60 pitches, but left after only 36 in two innings. He gave up three hits, including a solo home run, with one walk and no strikeouts against Carolina.

Glavine earned a spot in the Braves’ rotation in spring training but began the season on the disabled list until the Braves need a fifth starter.

He’s returning from offseason surgery to repair a torn tendon in his left elbow. He also had what was regarded as a less serious surgery to clean out his left shoulder.

The Braves said Glavine’s condition would be evaluated following his return to Atlanta.

While this would appear to be a pretty mundane story, I think it again opens up the long-running debate over whether players should retire at the height of their career, wait until a downward trend is obvious, or continue playing until the last of their dignity has been eaten away by injuries and poor performances.

Here we’ve got Tom Glavine, a guy I grew up watching pitch for the Braves, back when I was eight. Don’t get me wrong, I loved him growing up, but watching (or at least reading, since they don’t televise Mississippi minor leagues in Los Angeles) him now feels like going to a Van Halen concert. Who the heck is that guy up front? Something’s wrong.

Now let’s be honest, who am I to tell someone to stop playing the sport they love? Would I be any different in the same situation? Probably not. If a team is willing to start the guy, let him start. But we should also consider his legacy. Glavine’s not going to do anything now that he’s going to be remembered for later. He’s already going to be a hall-of-famer after he retires and plenty of people like me will remember him fondly.

Baseball has lots of stories of players throwing themselves at whatever team will have them, just so they can stay in the game. Ricky Henderson is a recent example of that. It’s sad to see these men playing past their prime for fractions of their previous salaries, but perhaps my knee-jerk reaction to hearing this story is misplaced.

If they still have enough skill to contribute positively to the sport, there’s no reason we shouldn’t let them. Perhaps instead of viewing people like Brett Favre as foolish codgers stealing jobs from newer, younger stars, we should see men fighting against the passage of time. Athletes not looking necessarily for one last shot at glory, but simply one more year before they have to give up the ghost and unlace their cleats for the last time. Joy and regret mixed in equal parts.

This past week, John Smoltz officially signed with the Red Sox and the Braves inked Derek Lowe to a four-year, $60 million deal, something Atlanta’s rival New York Mets could not match. Imagine that. But what runs deeper here is that the second and even third tier of pitchers continue to be signed and many position players remain team-less.

Less than a month before pitchers and catchers report, here are some of the big names still available: Manny freaking Ramirez, Adam Dunn, Bobby Abreu, Ken Griffey, Orlando Hudson, Frank Thomas, and to a lesser extent, Kevin Millar (20 homers last season) and Orlando Cabrera. To put this in perspective, the Astros signed pitcher Russ Ortiz to a minor league deal a few days ago, the Dodgers signed reliever Guillermo Mota, the Angels inked Darren Oliver for one year, and the White Sox brought back a Bartolo Colon who is on the downside of his career. Clearly, it’s a pitchers’ market this off-season, and it’s almost mind-boggling that Ramirez has gone almost three full months without being signed.

Part of the problem here is that the big spenders (ahem, New York teams) have blown their collective load on the likes of CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Mark Teixeira, Francisco Rodriguez, etc., leaving a team like the Dodgers the likely scenario for Man-Ram in 2009, which at the end of the day is probably best for both sides anyway. But some of those other guys are going to have trouble finding work, or they are going to take a recession-friendly deal from a team they wouldn’t have signed with otherwise. It’s already happened with Pat Burrell in Tampa and Jason Giambi with Oakland.

In other more recent news, the Red Sox avoided arbitration with Kevin Youkilis on Thursday, agreeing to terms on a four-year deal. And the Dodgers finally released beleaguered outfielder Andruw Jones, who the Braves are considering bringing back for the league minimum salary. The Braves are also mulling over whether to bring back injury-plagued LHP Tom Glavine for one more season.