Smoltz awarded two-year extension
Terms not disclosed, other than the contract length, two years with an option for 2007. It likely includes a renegotiation of his 2005 salary to get rid of the massive per-start bonus that the Braves were fearful of… If John can stay healthy and pitch through 2007, he’ll probably wind up with better than 200 wins. With his three-plus years as a closer giving him 154 saves, his postseason record, and his Cy Young, he’ll have an interesting Hall of Fame case.
This is great news! Smoltz doesn’t have to go out like Glavine and Maddux did. It will be so nice to actually root for him instead of against him at the end of his career. The Braves organization made a great move here.
Yeah, I think it’s a great move. We talk a lot about moving big contracts here, and I guess Chipper and Andruw have to be shipped or re-negotiated themselves at some point, but Smoltzie has really earned all he gets, and I’m glad he’ll be here for a couple more years.
I think he’s pretty much in the Hall. This contract, if he plays it out, will certainly get him there. Basically, my feeling is, Glavine and Maddux are gonna get in, and that’s gonna precipitate Smoltzie going with ’em. People will remember that he was a huge part (the only constant) in this historic Braves run of division champions.
Besides, he’s shown he can excel at the highest level BOTH as a starter and reliever, and the other thing that the stats don’t tell is that he’s got basically a whole extra season’s worth of postseason innings, again at a really high level (most wins in postseason history, anyone?). He’s considered on the fence, but by the end of this year I think we’ll all concede he’s a shoo-in for the Hall.
Emotionally I’m torn. I was happy with Smoltz as a starter when he was on a one year contract; if his arm blew out, he wasn’t locked in too long. But now they’re expecting him to start for three years, and that’s a lot more to ask.
Hey Colin, I’m not sure if it’s right but what I’ve read is that we’re only locked into Smoltz for 2 years – ’05 and ’06 – with an option on the 3rd. I think the renogiated contract replaced the option year on his previous contract entirely. Who knows – we might even be on the hook for less than $12mil for ’05 now.
It depends on the financial terms, of course. It may not be much more than he was going to get for this one year with all the starts, and there could be incentives and such. If he signed for market value right now, we’ll all be in trouble.
This makes me happy.