The Red Sox had signed John Smoltz for his pedigree, his past
and his right arm, but finally decided that two out of three were
not enough. Following the pounding he took from the Yankees on
Thursday night, the Red Sox on Friday designated Smoltz for
assignment, quite possibly ending a Hall of Fame career.
By Mark Herrmann, Newsday
NEW YORK
The Red Sox had signed John Smoltz for his pedigree, his past and his right arm, but finally decided that two out of three were not enough. Following the pounding he took from the Yankees on Thursday night, the Red Sox on Friday designated Smoltz for assignment, quite possibly ending a Hall of Fame career.
General manager Theo Epstein flew to New York from Boston on Friday morning to tell Smoltz, 42, about the move in person. “It’s never easy,” Epstein said late in the afternoon at Yankee Stadium, “but we had to try something different.”
Epstein’s slumping team had fallen 3 { games behind the Yankees after the Thursday night game in which Smoltz looked immensely overmatched, especially against lefthanded batters. Coming off shoulder surgery, he left the Braves for the Red Sox this past winter with hope from both sides that his personal history _ in the postseason he is the all-time leader in wins and strikeouts _ could give Boston an extra edge. But after he allowed eight runs and nine hits in 3 1/3 innings, his record was 2-5 and his earned run average was 8.33.
“I think we appreciate what his pedigree and past are,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “We respect it a lot. And he didn’t let us down as a person, (with) his work ethic. He gave it everything he had. It just got to a point where we needed to make a change to help our team do better.”
Red Sox captain Jason Varitek said Friday that outsiders have no idea how hard Smoltz had to work just to get back on the mound. As for the results, the catcher added, “I think it was just him adjusting to his new shoulder.”
The Red Sox have 10 days to release or trade Smoltz. Epstein said it is possible that Smoltz could continue with the organization after he takes some time at home to sort things out. If Thursday was his finale, though, his career will have ended in the same city in which it began, 21 years and two weeks earlier _ a sterling 6-1 win over the host Mets on July 23, 1988.
“He was one of my favorite teammates,” said Chris Woodward, a former Brave who joined the Red Sox on Friday. “He’s such a competitor. I’ve seen him play basketball, I’ve seen him throw a football around. He’s just one of those guys that, whatever he would have done, he would have been good at.
“If he had a bad outing, he was just so determined to get out there again. I can’t imagine what this is doing to him. Obviously, there are a lot of guys who have great arms, but he somehow put himself over the top with that determination.”
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