John Smoltz

Wishy-Washburn: Randy Johnson ($15.1M)Mike Hampton ($15.975M, courtesy of his monster Rockies deal) John Smoltz ($14M)Josh Beckett ($10.1M)Carlos Zambrano ($16M)Mark Buehrle ($14M)Javier Vazquez ($11.5M)Jose Contreras ($10M)CC Sabathia ($11M)Jake Westbrook ($10M)Roy Oswalt ($13M Gil Meche ($11.4M) Jon Garland ($12M)Jason Schmidt ($15.2M) Derek Lowe ($10M)Ben Sheets ($10.1M)Johan Santana ($16.9M)Pedro Martinez ($11.8M)Andy Pettitte ($16M)Mike Mussina ($11M)Carl Pavano ($11M)Matt Morris ($10M)Greg Maddux ($10M) Barry Zito ($14.5M)Chris Carpenter ($10.5M)Vincente Padilla ($11M)Kevin Millwood ($10.3M) AJ Burnett ($13.2M)Roy Halladay ($10M)

Continue reading "Washburn's Farewell"

Eric Gagne and John Smoltz have both threatened to unseat Thigpen, each coming within two saves in 2003 and 2002, respectively.

The latest guy to challenge Thigpen is the Anaheim Angels’ Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez, who has been their closer since taking over in 2004 from Troy Percival. Since then, he’s notched 178 saves for Anaheim, including a 47-save 2006 and a 45-save 2005, and has averaged 32 saves throughout his career (including about two seasons as Percival’s setup man).

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But this year, luck may be catching up with him. On the DL right now are: John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Mike Hampton, Rafael Soriano, and Peter Moylan.

And that's only the pitchers. They're also missing Matt Diaz, Martin Prado and Mark Kotsay, while Chipper, Esco and now Infante are all aching in one way or another without (yet) going to the DL.

Continue reading "Not Your Daddy's Braves"

efore, these are the key questions facing each team.

Atlanta Braves

How much do Tom Glavine and John Smoltz have left?

The Braves figure to be loaded on offense and their pitching could potentially be pretty strong depending on how this pair of 40 year-olds fair this season. Smoltz, who will turn 41 this season, is the safer bet as he has pitched over 200 innings in each season since returning to the starting rotation in 2005, each time with a sub 3.50 ERA. At his age though, a pitcher can rapidly begin to decline and he has experienced some shoulder problems already this spring. Nonetheless, I would expect him to put up another solid year.

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Season Preview: National League East"

der.  The big question again lingers with their rotation and mostly their third starter.  John Smoltz and Tim Hudson will be very good again this year, which means things, come down to Tom Glavine.  He was brought back to sure up the rotation and that’s exactly what he must do.  One person to look out for is Mike Hampton, yes that Mike Hampton.  He is healthy (for now) and if he stays that way he could become a key player for this team.  The bullpen is also a concern because Rafael Soriano has struggled to close games and everyone else seems to be a young kid.

Continue reading "First of a Seven Part Series-NL East Preview"