Is The Great John Smoltz Experiment Finally Over? It Shouldn't Be…

It says here that a trip back to the minor leagues may be just what the doctor ordered for John Smoltz… SOX1FAN photo

Everyone in Red Sox Nation had enormous hopes that John Smoltz would prove to be the second coming of Curt Schilling, that he would find his groove after a couple of starts in the major leagues and prove to be an invaluable contributor to a world championship team.

But that hasn’t happened. Quite the contrary, Smoltz has been downright awful in his brief stint with the Red Sox… he has looked like a shell of his former self. So the question begs: Should the Great John Smoltz Experiment be ended?

It says here it should be… but maybe not in its entirety.

Look, the team is struggling and everyone is impatient, but the truth of the matter is that the guy had major shoulder surgery and is STILL recovering and building up his arm strength. The ballclub had some issues with the starting pitching and rushed him to the big leagues after an abbreviated rehab program and FOUR minor league starts.

He SHOULD have been left in the minor leagues to build up his arm strength and to figure out how he would get opposing hitters out. It is obvious to anyone who’s paying attention that he doesn’t have the stuff he used to have, so he needs to determine HOW to approach the science he once mastered.

It should have been about innings and pitches thrown in the minor leagues, not about getting hitters out in the major leagues.

The organization had an obligation to bring him along slowly and build a foundation for success, not throw him to the wolves. The front office is supposed to KNOW what most of us BELIEVE — that a pitcher who suffers major shoulder surgery will need a year to eighteen months to recover. And in consideration of the fact he wouldn’t have eighteen months to work with, they needed to give him more time in the minor leagues to get prepared.

After all, weren’t we told all spring that Smoltz wasn’t brought here for June and July… that he was signed for August and September? Shouldn’t he have been allowed to throw innings in the minors, in an environment where it wouldn’t matter if he surrendered eight runs in the fourth inning because all that mattered was getting the work in?

Yet he was brought to the big leagues and thrust into the savior’s role… and now after eight major league starts The Nation wants to cast him aside?

Beautiful!

I say he should be sent back to Pawtucket to do what he was signed for… to pitch innings, get his work in, and see if he can figure things out (and build arm strength) before September 1st. And at that point, if he hasn’t built sufficient arm strength he should be brought up and put into the bullpen.

I know. Wakefield is hurting… Matsuzaka is three weeks (+/-) away… Byrd was just signed and sent to Florida (a sign of extraordinary desperation!)… Masterson is gone… Bowden has been struggling at Triple-A… and Tazawa has only been in the United States for four months and has made a grand total of TWO starts at Triple-A.

We need John Smoltz!

Yes, we do… but not THIS John Smoltz!

He needs to be in Pawtucket. He needs to throw a hundred pitches EVERY start — regardless of the results (a luxury the BOSTON Red Sox don’t have).

The team needs to do what it should have done all along.

The future Hall-of-Famer hasn’t quit on himself… the Red Sox shouldn’t quit on him either. After last night’s debacle at Yankee Stadium, he said: “I knew coming into this that everything was going to be a little more challenging and I was ready for it, so back to the drawing board to make some changes. Nobody’s worked harder or tried more things than I have, but this is a results-oriented business. This is an organization that expects high standards and I expect them of myself”.

He was promised a chance to work his way back. He was promised he would be given every chance to succeed in this arduous undertaking. The Red Sox DID NOT give him the foundation he needed to succeed. It’s time to take a step back and give Smoltz a do-over.

It’s the least the organization can do.