by David O'Brien; Staff , The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Braves dropped the 43-year-old left-hander and announced that top pitching prospect Tommy Hanson would be brought from Class AAA Gwinnett to take the rotation spot that had appeared earmarked for Glavine once he was healthy.

"All of our player personnel [officials] made a unanimous decision to go in the other direction, of youth," Braves CEO Terry McGuirk said Thursday. "That's good enough for me."

It wasn't good enough for John Smoltz, the former Braves pitcher who weighed in Wednesday by insinuating the decision on Glavine was financially motivated and that the treatment of his former teammate "ain't right."

Glavine, a 305-game winner and two-time Cy Young Award winner, was told of his release Wednesday during a meeting with Wren, manager Bobby Cox and president John Schuerholz, the longtime former general manager.

"That was a big organizational moment," Schuerholz said. "It was appropriate and respectful of Tom that we were all there."

Glavine pitched six scoreless innings for Class A Rome on Tuesday in what he thought would be his final rehab start before being activated. He was on the disabled list recovering from shoulder and elbow surgeries.

He signed a one-year, $1 million contract in February, and would have received a $1 million bonus if he'd been added to the active roster, with bonuses of $1.25 million if he stayed on the roster for 30 days and 90 days.

Wren said Wednesday it was a "performance decision" and not a business decision, and that scouts and team officials had determined that Glavine no longer had the pitches to succeed against major league hitters.

The Braves will give the rotation spot to Hanson, a 6-foot-6 right-hander who has a 1.49 ERA in 11 starts at Gwinnett, where he's piled up an International League-leading 90 strikeouts.

"The decision was clear as a bell," McGuirk said.

"That doesn't take anything away from what a great guy Tommy [Glavine] is, or our respect for him. . . . It's not the way we had it charted out with Tommy. It's just the way of Baseball.

"It may be hard to believe, but it was on the merits. The $1 million, I wasn't too worried about that. . . . Hanson needs his time."

When asked why the Braves couldn't have given Glavine at least one major league start to show what he could do, McGuirk said, "We're sort of at the point where every win counts."

Glavine has not spoken with reporters since the move, other than through text messages in which he said he was surprised and disappointed and was "ready to pitch." He's scheduled to discuss the situation today in a media conference after an appearance on a local radio station.

"I wish we were spending all this time talking about how to celebrate Tom Glavine's 305 wins, instead of the other side of it," McGuirk said. "There's no joy whatsoever in this situation.

"A lot's been written about the business of Baseball. This is one of those times where trying to make our team better and win causes this result."

Smoltz, who is coming back from June 2008 shoulder surgery and hopes to be healthy enough to soon pitch for the Red Sox, criticized the Braves' treatment of Glavine after Boston's game in Detroit on Wednesday.

"Like a lot of things lately, they handled it --- let me just say, in a very interesting way," Smoltz said, according to the Boston Globe. "... Because that ain't right. You go that far in a rehab and then right before the time they do that."

Asked if he thought the decision was financially motivated, Smoltz said, "I know too much. Put it that way."

Smoltz has expressed frustration in the past that the Braves' efforts to keep him this past offseason weren't more aggressive.

The Boston Globe contributed to this article.

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