When the Sox signed John Smoltz in the off-season, it was with October in mind. He's a proven post-season performer over his long career. That being said, he's also 42 years old and trying to come back from major shoulder surgery. The Braves, for whom Smoltz has played for his entire career up until now, elected to pass on offering him another contract to try and come back from injury and surgery. The Red Sox, who have a penchant for low-risk, high-reward experiments, thought that there was a good enough chance Smoltz would return to his Hall of Fame-bound form just in time for the stretch run and the post-season. Hope springs eternal for the likes of the Red Sox front office. After all, he was much cheaper than, say, Mark Teixeira.
Fast forward to today, July 26, after Smoltz has made his 6th start as a Red Sox. The picture is not so pretty. He is 1-4 with a 7.04 ERA and has given up 6 runs in each of his last two starts, digging the sluggish Sox offense into a hole they cannot climb out of, especially against those big, bad rookie righties. Now, if he were with a team like the Royals, the Padres, or the Nats, they could afford to give him the whole rest of the season to try to work out the kinks. There's no pennant race to worry about for them. The Red Sox, on the other hand, are battling it out in the toughest division in baseball for two (or possibly only one) playoff spots. The have lost the division lead to the Yankees and the Rays aren't too far behind them. They can't afford to throw out a guy every five days who is likely to give up a bunch of runs, especially with the lack of firepower in their offense. With Wake on the DL right now, there aren't a whole lot of options, since Buchholz is already filling one spot in the rotation. That's why a Halladay deal, as unlikely as it is to happen, is very appealing. A rotation with Halladay, Beckett, and Lester as the 1-2-3, would be fierce and could tip the balance of power in the division in the Red Sox' favor, not to mention their chances of winning another World Series or two in the next two years. With Wake and Penny filling the bottom two spots, the Sox would no longer need to continue the Smoltz experiment.
However, with the offense lacking a certain amount of oomph (and suffering a baffling case of rookiephobia), it would appear a big-name, sexy bat would be the priority. V-Mart and Adrian Gonzalez are the two that seem to be on the top of Epstein's list and those would be some sweet additions to the lineup. Sox newbie Adam LaRoche, if his second half numbers hold true, could help them out as well. In his first two games, LaRoche has three hits, including a two-run dinger last night that put the game out of reach for the O's. If the Sox were to land V-Mart or Gonzalez, however, the new #23 might not be in Boston for long. He could end up being flipped to the Tribe or the Pads in a deal for one of those prized sluggers.
Speaking of wearers of #23, Julio Lugo, now a St. Louis Cardinal, has started off hot for his new team. He hit a triple and homered his first game, and has gone 8-for-14 in the series against the Phils, including a 4-hit game yesterday. He has traditionally been a Philly-killer, however, so it remains to be seen how well he'll do from here on out. Sometimes, though, a change of scenery makes a huge difference for a player. New team, new fans, new management styles, all of those come into play and I wish Julio the best. Another Sox castoff, David Aardsma, has thrived in Seattle after struggling mightily in Boston.
The A's are coming into town this week for a four-gamer. Come on, boys, let's try to at least take 3 of 4.
LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!
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