Red Sox release John Smoltz

by Randy Booth on Aug 17, 2009 3:07 PM EDT in News

Officially, John Smoltz is no longer a Red Sox. Smoltz was cut earlier today:

Smoltz, 42, does not intend to retire and is open to joining clubs as a starter or reliever, a source told Rosenthal over the weekend.

The Red Sox are now obligated to pay the remainder of the one-year, $5.5 million contract Smoltz signed in the offseason.

If Smoltz signs with another team, Boston would receive an offset of the pro-rated minimum salary. Under that scenario, Smoltz's new team would not pay him any bonuses related to incentives in the original contract, as the bonuses are negated once a player is released.

I'm still really surprised at how badly Smoltz pitched as a Red Sox. There were so many high expectations when he signed on the dotted line during the winter, but nothing worked for Smoltz. It's another piece to the puzzle that just did not fit at all ... not even a little bit.

I'm sure we'll hear in a couple days where Smoltz will continue his big league career.

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Comments

Unfortunate.

Man I love that tuna casserole.

by Bloggy on Aug 17, 2009 3:18 PM EDT reply actions

A little Surprising

I thought Smoltz had refused to go to the pen for the Sox? Now he is open to being a reliever? I don’t really want him in the pen, its not like he was dominate for the first couple innings and fell apart, he fell apart at all different times, I was just surprised by this.

We are not normal. We are legends.

by NittanyAlum02 on Aug 17, 2009 3:20 PM EDT reply actions

Just my opinon...

but I think the whole “going to the pen” thing is kind of sour grapes on his part. Of course he won’t go to the pen for the team that cut him. His feelings/pride were hurt. But by going somewhere else and being active, in any role, especially if he’s effective kind of says “I told you so.” to the Sox, whether it’s actually true or not.

by AJBlue7 on Aug 17, 2009 3:39 PM EDT up reply actions

What the hell did he expect?

He can’t blame the Sox for not continuing to give him and his 8.XX ERA starts, can he? He just looked bad.

by Ben Buchanan on Aug 17, 2009 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions

He didn't just look bad.

He WAS bad. Leaving pitches right down the heart of the plate to be CRUSHED is not a recipe for success in the AL.

"It's just a tiny little nick, but it hurts when I get champagne in there."
- Jason Bay, on getting spiked scoring the winning run in ALDS Game Four.

by 0157H7 on Aug 17, 2009 3:52 PM EDT up reply actions

Pretty sure that was never offered to him.

There was no room for him – unless you wanted to send Bard down to AAA. If Smoltz sucked in the pen, then we’d have to pull Bard back up or search for another reliever to fill the spot that Smoltz took from Saito/MDC/whoever.

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by bdalebs on Aug 17, 2009 7:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Smoltz' K/BB #'s...

were good with the Sox,but he was also hit hard. Must have been just missing his spots too often. Makes you wonder if it was just rust,and he can make it back and be productive for someone a while longer?

by havildar on Aug 17, 2009 3:50 PM EDT reply actions

K/BB numbers only work

If you’re not serving up a meatball once per 10 pitches.

by Ben Buchanan on Aug 17, 2009 3:53 PM EDT up reply actions

No

Thanks

by vivaelpujols on Aug 19, 2009 8:54 AM EDT up reply actions

Doubt he will do much more...

…unless he can some how master the knuckleball.

by ericsoderstrom on Aug 17, 2009 4:12 PM EDT reply actions

I do not think anyone thought it at the time BUT

that was way too much to pay him. Looking at what other FA’s got in the winter, it was too much to pay for a question mark. I hope wherever he goes he gets lit up and doubles his hefty ERA.

DFA Nick Green

by gizmosandy on Aug 17, 2009 5:32 PM EDT reply actions

I think the majority of people including Theo did not really see him as a question mark.

by upCHUCK on Aug 17, 2009 5:49 PM EDT up reply actions

True

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on Aug 17, 2009 5:51 PM EDT up reply actions

40 +, bum shoulder, couldn't pitch till June, lifelong NL pitcher

if that is not a question mark wht the hell is?

DFA Nick Green

by gizmosandy on Aug 17, 2009 5:58 PM EDT up reply actions

Can't dispute any of those points.

But the stats he put up in 2007 and 2008 before surgery and his HOF credentials overshadowed all of that.

by upCHUCK on Aug 17, 2009 6:02 PM EDT up reply actions

Hopefully Theo has learned from these mistakes.

We can’t pick out of the garbage and hope for the best going forward.

DFA Nick Green

by gizmosandy on Aug 17, 2009 6:08 PM EDT up reply actions

We would have been fine if Dice-K didn't show up to ST fat.

Even if he regressed from his extremely lucky season last year, he would have been an above average #3.
Still not sure why Bowden hasn’t gotten a shot.

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by bdalebs on Aug 17, 2009 7:15 PM EDT up reply actions

No we would not have been "fine"

These guys cannot hit. Too many question marks going into this season not addressed.

Lowell’s hip
Ortiz overall
Varitek
The black hole and revolving door of injury at SS

DFA Nick Green

by gizmosandy on Aug 17, 2009 7:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Well, if not "fine"...

…then certainly much better off. There was no way of knowing that Dice-K was going to shit the bed so completely this year. There are problems all over, absolutely, but at the beginning of the year we were hoping that Penny would pitch well enough to be dangled as trade bait, not to count on him as our #3 pitcher.

Man I love that tuna casserole.

by Bloggy on Aug 17, 2009 7:31 PM EDT up reply actions

Dice k will return and contribute big time

DFA Nick Green

by gizmosandy on Aug 17, 2009 7:34 PM EDT up reply actions

Hopefully.

I lack your faith, though.

Man I love that tuna casserole.

by Bloggy on Aug 17, 2009 7:36 PM EDT up reply actions

Derosa was the perfect fit for this team

DFA Nick Green

by gizmosandy on Aug 17, 2009 7:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Meh.

Indians might have demanded more from us than they got from St. Louis – we’re not sure.

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by bdalebs on Aug 17, 2009 11:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Lowell was a question mark...

but he had a good chance of coming back well, and if not, we had Youk or Lowrie to play 3B.
Papi looked fine at the end of last year, and came into ST in great shape, by all reports. They could not have seen his eye issues coming.
Tek was the only viable option they had, and we had a couple of young catchers fighting for a spot (Bard, Kott, Brown, etc.)
SS was really messed up – they should have let Jed get the surgery so that they would know for sure that’d he’d be back and able to play at least half of the season. Lugo’s been an issue for a while, and Green really has been a great signing considering what was expected out of him.

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by bdalebs on Aug 17, 2009 11:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Oh well...

One of my good friends is a Braves fan and didn’t seem at all surprised by the lack of success enjoyed by an old smoltz returning from injury. I still believe it was a solid gamble for the sox to take given their financial stability, however.

Also, did ya’ll see the top five red sox fights on Red Sox Monster? I was at Fenway for the Varitek/A-Rod fight. Gosh I miss Bill Mueller….

http://blog.masslive.com/redsoxmonster/2009/08/the_5_top_fights_in_recent_red.html#more

by M. Katz on Aug 17, 2009 6:05 PM EDT reply actions

Don't let the door hit you on the way out smoltz

CYA LATER SMOLTZY! I love this and I think it’s safe to say that his career is over.

by Redsox Nation on Aug 17, 2009 7:50 PM EDT reply actions

No, he's going to sign somewhere else.

He wasn’t pitching horribly, but the hits were falling through the defense and he was giving up way more homers than he should have been, based on the number of fly balls he was giving up.

@bs_uf15bosox9be The Original Gameday; Learn to use SB Nation

by bdalebs on Aug 17, 2009 11:27 PM EDT up reply actions