The final image of John Smoltz’s career may be of him on the Yankee Stadium mound searching for answers in the marathon fourth inning Thursday night.
The Red Sox designated the 42-year-old right-hander for assignment yesterday, hours after the Yankees battered him for eight runs in 3 1/3 innings. It could be the end of Smoltz’s career. He has 10 days to either accept a demotion to the minors or the team must release him, trade him or put him on waivers.
Boston general manager Theo Epstein flew here to deliver the news to Smoltz in person at the team hotel. Smoltz was not at Yankee Stadium last night, though his jersey still hung in his locker.
“[It’s] never easy to tell someone that they’re designated for assignment, especially a Hall of Fame pitcher like that,” Epstein said. “It was certainly time to try something different. John understood. We asked him just to go home for a few days and think about what he wants to do, think about if he can still help.”
Smoltz’s comeback from shoulder surgery has been rocky. He made eight starts for the Red Sox with mostly disappointing results. He went 2-5 with an 8.32 ERA.
After 20 seasons with the Braves, Smoltz signed with the Red Sox in the offseason for $5 million plus incentives. He received $35,000 for each day he was on the roster.
Smoltz worked hard to recover from major shoulder surgery but never found the results he was searching for. After Thursday’s game, Smoltz clearly was frustrated with his failure.
“He didn’t let us down as far as a person, his work ethic,” Sox manager Terry Francona said. “He gave us everything he had. It just got to a point where we thought we had to make a change to help our team do better.”
If this is the end for Smoltz, he winds up with a career record of 212-152 with a 3.32 ERA. He also saved 154 games, numbers likely to get him into the Hall of Fame.
“The man has put in a tremendous amount of work to even be where he was and that’s commendable in itself,” Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek said. “I can’t tell you in the Baltimore start what he even went through to even take the ball for six innings. That should be recognized no matter what happens.”
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