Atlanta Braves: Should John Smoltz be re-signed to help Braves bullpen?
The Boston Red Sox cut John Smoltz Friday after the veteran pitcher, signed as a free agent this past January, managed only a 2-5 record in eight starts with an 8.33 ERA.
YOU TELL US: Do you think Smoltz, who racked up 154 saves from 2001-04 as Atlanta’s closer, should be re-signed to help in the Braves bullpen? Or is he, at age 42 and coming off shoulder rehab, simply out of gas?
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352 comments Add your comment
PTC DAWG
August 10th, 2009
2:46 pm
Smoltz could have been a Brave…frankly, I’m glad he chose no. Let him retire.
taxman kenneth
August 10th, 2009
2:46 pm
No way. He took his millions from the Red Sox and then thrashed the braves as did worn out ailing Chipper. Let him try and get his millions from some other sucker. We have enough sickly players now especially Chipper who is always straining something except his bank account.
hall county observer
August 10th, 2009
2:47 pm
i think bravesfan79 must really be bobby cox. that comment sounds like some of the meaningless junk that comes out of the mouth of cox. so many times after he has a pitcher just got torched cox will say that the pitcher only made a couple of bad pitches and really threw the ball pretty good. bravesfan79 claiming that only a few “real fans” understand what is really going on is a joke. how about understanding this…i havent seen any other teams knocking smoltz’s door down after he got lit up in boston.
Edie Chase
August 10th, 2009
2:47 pm
He’s done…time to retire
Cow-a-Commie
August 10th, 2009
2:49 pm
Lidge has been bad lately, … what if the Phillies pick him up as a closer?
CallUpConrad
August 10th, 2009
2:49 pm
The Braves will eventually bring back some of the heroes of the past as pitching coach and even manager. I would be a waste of talent not too. Guys like Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Eddie Perez are good baseball people, not just good players. I would love to see Perez get the chance to manage in the minors to see if he is ready for that and groom him or someone like him to take over the reigns when Cox retires. Chino Cadahia is the bench coach and unless he has learned a ton in the last 10-15 years, it is hard for me to see him being considered in the future. I had some exposure to him as a manager in the past in the minors and he just wasn’t very good at that time. I said it before and I’ll say it again about Cadahia, if you can take Sammy Sosa, Juan Gonzalez, Dean Palmer, Roger Pavlik, Kevin Brown and Rob Nen and finish last place, you’re not a very good manager.
liquid3
August 10th, 2009
2:52 pm
YES YES YES, Smoltz can replace Acosta in the bullpen, enough said!!
milesarcher33
August 10th, 2009
2:57 pm
Yes! Yes! Yes! He’s the greatest!! Welcome him back as either a starter or reliever (Hopefully a starter), we can use his wisdom, experience and loyalty. He can do nothing but Help!!
tralfaz
August 10th, 2009
3:00 pm
NO
Green Tea
August 10th, 2009
3:00 pm
I’d have Chris Reitsma or Dan Kolb close, those two were awesome.
baseball fan
August 10th, 2009
3:03 pm
NO don’t sign Smoltz unless he’s super cheap and only for the bullpen. He is out of gas!
Brave1240
August 10th, 2009
3:11 pm
Bring him to help in the bullpen! Smoltz has been lights out for the first couple of innings and has only seemed to lose the bite off his slider and the location of his fastball after the first few innings.
bravefalconhawk
August 10th, 2009
3:13 pm
NOPE
submariner
August 10th, 2009
3:15 pm
Why not? If you told him to give you 3 outs in the ninth vice 27 over a start, don’t you think he’d be good for it? It isn’t like he was getting lit up in the first innings. I think if you could get him to agree to come out of the pen, and hand him the ball in the ninth, he could give you 3 or 4 batters. His velocity is good. His location is what gets erratic after a couple of innings. What’s it gonna hurt? We need another arm. What better an opportunity to save some face with Atlanta and inject some fans at the park. All the while making a legitimate run at October. I’d like to see him come back and help us get deep into the playoffs. Everyone wins. Consider this. He’d be back with McCann, who knows how to work with him, back in familiar scenary under Cox, and only have to give you 25 to 30 pitches per appearance.
ATLawk
August 10th, 2009
3:15 pm
For crying out loud, have you all seen how he’s been pitching this season? It’s over.
Doc
August 10th, 2009
3:20 pm
Hell Yeah!! Just maybe Wren could make one right decision!
BBuckaroo5
August 10th, 2009
3:20 pm
Bring John Smoltz back if he drops the attitude at the gate and comes in to help teach the young guys about getting to the post-season with his mentality and work ethic.
halbert
August 10th, 2009
3:20 pm
pay him per out
HomerTheBrave
August 10th, 2009
3:21 pm
Who is Tom?
Matt Gerig
August 10th, 2009
3:21 pm
Don’t care if he actually bolsters the bull pen or not. BRING JOHN HOME!!!!!! He deserves better. Let him finish out the year with us and with dignity!! He is a Brave at heart and he will play better at his real home!
JDG
August 10th, 2009
3:26 pm
Even when (not if) he clears waivers, there are several other NL teams more hard-up for bullpen pitching who would almost certainly make more enticing offers to Mr. Smoltz. My guess is that he still has some decent relief work in that arm, but regardless, I see neither how the damage from the past year can be undone, and I don’t think the Braves would be willing to pony up as much money as he’d want. My personal opinion is that unless he’s willing to come pitch on the cheap and accept a rather minimal role, all parties are best off with him pitching somewhere else – or his simply retiring.
LKS
August 10th, 2009
3:28 pm
Smoltz doesn’t deserve anything from the braves. I say NO!! He left b/c he just KNEW he was going to come back strong as a starter and was mad b/c FW didn’t think so hince the incentive contract. He has too big of an ego. Then was all about trashing the braves all season. Good Riddance!
LKS
August 10th, 2009
3:29 pm
and Frank Wren has been right about every move he has made this year and the offseason!! Except overpaying for KK.
Paul
August 10th, 2009
3:30 pm
Last Thursday he went 3.1 innings with 8 ER, but his first two innings were scoreless. He seems to pitch the first two innings well. In the first two innings of his last three starts, he has only given up 1 run. They could give him a shot.
Chief
August 10th, 2009
3:32 pm
JEFF FRANCOUER HAS JUST BEEN TRADED!
Neil
August 10th, 2009
3:39 pm
The Braves should absolutely look into this as a possibility. Even if Smoltz doesn’t have the chops to go six or seven quality innings these days – which is understandable at his age – I have no reason to suspect that he can’t still come out of the pen and string together three outs. As Braves fans, we’ve seen the extra gear Smoltz displays while coming out of the pen too many times to believe otherwise. And, even if he can’t be relied upon in the gravest situations anymore – and I’m not convinced he can’t – his arm would still be a meaningful addition.
BravesLover
August 10th, 2009
3:40 pm
Don’t see Smoltz accepting a minor league assignment…not for one day, not for one month. Other teams will vie to sign him. The Braves offer of the minimum will, once again, insult him (in his opinion). Best not to go there as the team needs to concentrate on winning. His harsh words sealed his pitching fate here. Can’t wait for the retire the jersey ceremony. Glad he was here for so long, sad to see him go, but none of us can roll back time. Didn’t Cher sing that song?
Mitchell
August 10th, 2009
3:48 pm
Bring him back, Frank. Let’s go.
I’d take an economy sized pouch of Big League Chew for Manny Acosta.
Manny, Norton and Diory need to hit the road.
Come back Johnny. Come on back.
DirtyDawg
August 10th, 2009
3:50 pm
If Smoltz were smart he would petition MLB to ‘forgive’ him this last, vain, attempt at a comeback and forgetabout his having pitched this season. That way he, Glavine and Maddux could all go into the HOF together – that assumes Smoltz is good enough.
David
August 10th, 2009
3:59 pm
I respect the man. Even grew a beard in his honor. But the past needs to stay in the past. Fault Wren all you want for how Smoltz and Glavine were handled, but in the end Wren did the best thing for the organization, there’s no doubt that has been proven.
The bullpen will be fine. Medlen is finally trusting his changeup and I think he will be a LOCKDOWN middle reliever down the stretch, which should take some of the load off Moylan/Gonzo/Soriano. Plus I think you’ll see Hudson or Kawakami in the pen before it’s done.
Anyway, I don’t think Smoltzie’s pride would allow him to discuss a possibility of coming back and dealing with Wren.
outtopasture
August 10th, 2009
4:02 pm
let him try then let him retire in a braves uni
David
August 10th, 2009
4:03 pm
CallupConrad,
I too would like to see Eddie Perez be the next manager. I don’t think Pendleton has the people skills to get it done. I think you’ll see Chipper as the batting coach in ATL after he’s done. If you read any of the beat blogs, it sounds like he’s already doing part of Pendleton’s job anyway.
CallUpConrad
August 10th, 2009
4:06 pm
I love John Smoltz as a player and even more as a person. Having said that, I think he’s done. I don’t want to see Smoltz go through the pain of hanging around too long. He deserves better than that. I think Frank Wren could have handled his situation better but Wren was right. Smoltz wasn’t ready to pitch. I hope John retires with his resume as it is and heads to the Hall of Fame. As for those riding Manny Acosta, have you forgotten that he has gotten better as the season has gone on? Over the weekend, he pitched some very meaningufl baseball and did pretty well. He’s young. Why are fans so quick to cast young players on the scrap heap and want to recycle players?
dap01
August 10th, 2009
4:12 pm
His talent is worth a shot. He was well liked while here. But he did prove to be a turd when he left and decided to run his pouting mouth.
Steffon
August 10th, 2009
4:14 pm
In the immortal words of Whitney Houston – HEEEEELLLLL to the NAAAAWWWWWW. Smoltz time has passed and there is no need to bring his old arm back to the A.
Ernesto
August 10th, 2009
4:16 pm
If this team is serious about winning then NO. There are many other available pitchers available that can come and help. He took the money and cried that the team dis-respected him. The Braves were right when they offered him what they believe (and I too) he was no longer the same pitcher. It was a gamble that the Red Sox took and they lost. It will be a gamble for the Braves if they take him. The best the Braves could do is to sign him to a minor league contract and send him to Gwinnet and see how he responds.
JH
August 10th, 2009
4:19 pm
Evidently we are all mistaken – Perry Laurentino says we need to wait until Leo Mazone gets back from Maryland before we claim Smoltz is done. It might just be something mechanical that explains why he has the highest ERA in the big leauges.
Braves Fan Since 1974
August 10th, 2009
4:26 pm
I respectfully say “No”. But my reason for answering this way may be a little more selfish than maybe some of the other posters to this question.
Listen everyone, I have been an absolute die-hard Atlanta Braves fan every since my dad drove me down here from N.C. in 1974 when I was 12 years old to watch the Braves for the first time. It was the last year that Hank Aaron would play for the Braves and I consider myself blessed to have watched him play, although he didn’t hit a home run in that game!
But, every since that day I have lived, breathed and ate Braves Baseball. And no matter how bad the year or how good the year was, I still supported them faithfully. When they won a record high 106 wins during the 1998 season, I was there pulling for them, and when they won a record low 54 games during the 1988 season, I was there pulling for them as well. I even remember back in the 1970’s and 1980’s when the Braves were so bad, that merchants around Atlanta were actually giving away free tickets to the ballgames if someone wanted to go just to boost attendance. Don’t believe me? Count the years between 1970 to 1990 that the Braves either finished dead last in their division or next to last. A total of 14 times! But guess what? I was still a fan there with them any way!
Thus, my objection to Smoltz coming back is not just limited to him not having his stuff any more, which he doesn’t. (He admitted that himself just a few weeks ago in an interview up in Boston). But rather I think that somewhere as modern baseball has evolved something has been lost in the process – true allegiance to one team throughout your entire career. Long gone are the days when players loved their team so much that they would stick by it no matter what. And long gone as well are the days when management did the same for their players. Now players are nothing more than giant dollar signs running around playing a game that is supposed to be fun and is supposed to be played for the love of the game!
Thus, I conclude that if a player leaves a team he has been with for all his career, or at least most of his career, of his own violation because the almighty dollar is more important to them than team loyalty, that he should not be allowed to come scampering back just because he didn’t do as good as he thought he would with his new high dollar team! (Now I do not feel this way at all if it was the team that booted them and then wants to bring the player back because it was not the player’s greed that caused him to leave the team.)
In closing, before I start getting slammed by other posters, please be aware of some things. (1) I have always loved John Smoltz’s pitching. (2) I have always deeply respected John Smoltz the man due to his personal integrity and community involvement. (3) I have no ill wishes for John Smoltz. And (4) I know that players have to try to take care of their families and make as much money as they can before they have to retire. But I ask in return, what good does it do for a player’s family if the player moves from team to team in search for the almighty dollar, meanwhile either leaving their family behind at home while they are gone for most of the year? Or uprooting them and moving them to a new city every year or every other year? Like I said, for me, it all comes down to loyalty. Both to your team and also to your family. But, that’s just one man’s opinion. And everyone knows that opinions are like the sands of both the seas and deserts of our planet. There are more grains of sand than anyone could every begin to count in a million lifetimes!
Erica
August 10th, 2009
4:39 pm
Yes!! I LOVED watching Smoltz in relief at Turner Field. They should bring back the same intro, too, with the video graphics then fade to black as the camera shows him jogging in from the outfield. That was one of the most exciting intros in sports I’ve ever seen. You just knew the game would be saved after he ran out to the mound!
Thomas
August 10th, 2009
4:40 pm
If John Smoltz can still pitch in the low 90’s with movement, Management should give him a shot. If he cannot obtain those statistics, he should not play and retire.
Joseph Muncey
August 10th, 2009
4:44 pm
Yes i think the Atlanta Braves shold give John Smoltz another chance I think they were dumba**es for letting him go they never gave he a chance to prove himself.
John Gallman
August 10th, 2009
4:48 pm
Don’t be surprised if the management and Bobby Cox re-sign Smoltz, afterall, they love operating at the empty side of the tank and have a long history of adding tanted gas. Nothing against Smoltz, he has had a Great career but should focus on announcing the game.
Cruzin
August 10th, 2009
4:58 pm
No it’s over. He couldn’t help the Bosox, why would it be any different for the Braves? He WAS a good closer for the Braves, but those days are gone and can never return. Why pay for someone who was good but isn’t now? He is done, had a great career, time to move on.
Big B CH 99
August 10th, 2009
5:05 pm
If the Braves were going to give him a shot, he would have to start out in Gwinnett, & then maybe give him a shot to replace Accosta in the pen, the real problem being the Braves already have 2 decent Closers (Sori & Gonzo), & is Smoltzy really interested in being a set up man, he hasn’t proven that he can still pitch at a high enough level to be a closer.
I don’t think it’s gonna happen.
GF72
August 10th, 2009
5:06 pm
Who is the idiot that says send Jurrjens to the bullpen on page 1? First off Spell his name right and second off, are you stupid or something? Jurrjens and Vazquez are carrying this freaking team!!!!
Aggie Pride
August 10th, 2009
5:11 pm
Are you crazy? After the way he ripped the Braves, then proved he can’t pitch anymore! Why would anyone sign him??? He’s a Hall-of-famer, but his best days are gone, left on the operating table.
Gabron Salome
August 10th, 2009
5:19 pm
If we can get him for a good price, why not! We dont have anything to lose, when has too much pitching ever been a problem? How did Tom Glavine get into the discussion? Someone must’ve smoked there lunch.
Smooth
August 10th, 2009
5:28 pm
Everybody remember, Hudson will be back soon and that is going to give us another arm in the bullpen. Please let Smoltz got back up North to the Dirty water City.
Ocee
August 10th, 2009
5:29 pm
let john coach little league
Todd
August 10th, 2009
5:33 pm
Can he help? If so, Yes, regardless of alll the politics. Players go under circumstances and teams get rid of players under circumstances. In the end, each does what best for them [Team and the players].
If he cna show good in a pitching session, let him do a stint at Gwinnett (home games only
) cause I live in Dacula and have season tickets…