John Smoltz ready to sign with BoSox
Posted on January 8, 2009
Filed Under 2009 Season | 2 Comments
We reported a few weeks ago that it would be pretty cool if John Smoltz came to Boston. He could potentially be a terrific 5th starter (if someone told me a decade ago that John Smoltz would be pegged as a possible #5 guy..) or he could possibly be used in the bullpen.
Well great news, the rocket scientists over at ESPN (Buster Olney) have reported that Smoltz is going to sign with Boston. The contract will be for 1 year at $5.5m with a possible $5m in incentives.
This would put the rotation at something like this:
1. Josh Beckett
2. Jon Lester
3. Daisuke Matsuzaka
4. Tim Wakefield
5. John Smoltz/Brad Penny*
If neither Penny nor Smoltz end up panning out because of injury issues, then Buchholz and Bowden are both waiting in the wings. Sounds good.
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2 Responses to “John Smoltz ready to sign with BoSox”
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I wouldn’t count on Smoltz being in the rotation any earlier than May… and even then I could see him sliding into the bullpen in an effort to protect his health.
Of course, if Penny or Wake struggle, Smoltz, Bucky, Bowden and maybe even Daniel Bard could fill in.
The rumor is that his rehab went better than expected and he should be in a 2008 Bartolo Colon type shape (except a million pounds lighter obviously ;X) So yeah, hopefully he’ll join the rotation a month or so in.
On a separate note, I think (hope) they’re prepping Bard for some type of setup role in the pen. He has the perfect arm for it and Papelbon will be asking for $$$$ pretty soon so we’ll need some more relief heat and maybe even someone to step in just in case Paps leaves (fingers crossed that he doesn’t.)