Braves Decide to Save Money, Release Injured Gant : Baseball: By letting left fielder go, Atlanta will not have to pay him almost $4.6 million of his $5.5-million contract.

Normally the most free-spending of clubs, the Atlanta Braves decided to save $4,593,340.60 Tuesday by releasing left fielder Ron Gant.

Coming off personal bests of 36 home runs and 117 runs batted in last season, Gant had signed the biggest one-year contract in baseball history, a $5.5-million deal, on Jan. 27, then his right leg was broken in two places in a dirt bike accident in suburban Atlanta on Feb. 3.

Rehabilitation will take three to five months.

“Since he is unavailable to perform as a result of this accident and, according to our doctors, will be rehabilitating for an extended period of time, we have decided to take this action,” said John Schuerholz, Brave general manager.

Schuerholz and team president Stan Kasten called Gant shortly before noon with their decision. Then they met with several players who are team leaders and Gant’s friends.

In the end, it came down to money and the fact that Gant, 29, can be a free agent at the end of the season. By releasing him before 2 p.m. EST Tuesday, the Braves are liable only for 30 days’ severance pay, or $906,593.40, though Kasten said that the owners’ Players Relations Committee had advised the team not to pay Gant at all because he might have violated his contract by being injured in a dangerous hobby.

Gant’s agent, Eric Goldschmidt, said this week that he would ask the Major League Baseball Players Assn. to file a grievance if Gant was cut, meaning an arbitrator might decide how much the Braves must pay.

The decision on whether to file the grievance will not be made until Gant clears waivers. Any club can claim him before 2 p.m. Friday at his full salary. Otherwise, he will be a free agent.

The Braves will try to win their fourth division title in a row with Tony Tarasco, Ryan Klesko or Chipper Jones--all of whom are having good spring trainings--in left field.

“I’m sad and upset,” Brave Manager Bobby Cox said. “He’s going to be a tough guy to replace.”

Gant has spent his entire career in the Atlanta organization.

“It is emotional for me thinking about not being a Brave. But I realize baseball is a business,” he said earlier this week.