Tom Glavine can’t help but feel a tinge of envy as he watches his friend John Smoltz leave the Braves for the Red Sox.

“As his friend I’m happy for him,” said Glavine, a native of Billerica, Mass. “As a potential member of the Braves I’ll be sad not to have him in the clubhouse with me. I understand the business side of baseball. I know it’s going to be fun for him playing in Boston. I’m envious that he’ll be playing in Boston and I never got to play in Boston.”

Glavine — who returned to the Braves, his original team, last year after five seasons with the Mets — was interviewed by former New York Times baseball writer Murray Chass for a story on Chass’ new blog, which can be found at murraychass.com. He talked about the bad rap he feels Smoltz is getting from people who claims he’s being disloyal for leaving Atlanta.

“When you get in a situation in negotiations when a player who’s been there a long time winds up leaving, it’s the player who is greedy and not loyal,” said Glavine, a 22-year veteran who has been active in the players’ union. “But when the player wants to stay and the club doesn’t keep him it’s a business decision. You can’t have it both ways. Either it’s loyalty or not. You can’t blame a player when he makes a business decision and not say the same thing about the team.”

Chass reported the Braves offered Smoltz a one-year contract with a $2 million salary and a potential $8 million in bonuses, much of them based on roster time, for a possible $10 million total. The Red Sox contract has a $5.5 million salary with an additional $5 million in bonuses based on roster time. Smoltz viewed the Red Sox bonuses as more reasonable and more attractive.

“I understand the Braves are nervous about what John might be able to do,” said Glavine. “But when teams are a couple million dollars apart, they don’t do a good job of dealing with special guys.

“Maybe I’m naive in thinking this but if I’m an average guy and I come to an organization and I think I’m going to be treated like Smoltz, they’re unrealistic to think you’ll be treated the same way. No way that’s going to happen and it shouldn’t.”