How Bad is it to Lose Smoltz?
On Sunday, the Hardball Times asked Are we sure John Smoltz ages? Of course, we found out that, yes, yes he does. Smoltz is out for at least one start. He’s headed back to Atlanta to visit the doctor to find out if it’s more. Considering how well he’s been pitching, it’s a pretty big hit. But is it a disaster?
Well, that really turns on far too many questions that can’t be answered just yet.
Huddy is the real question mark right now. He’s been off for his last three starts, with poor results in two of them. With Smoltz’s history, his missing a start here and there shouldn’t come as any surprise. But Hudson needs to stay healthy to provide the kind of consistency at the front of the that the old farts can’t.
Tom Glavine is back in the rotation tomorrow. Except for the start in Washington that put him on the DL, he’s been as effective as Smoltz, if not quite as dominant.
So, if Glavine and Hudson can stay healthy and effective, with Jurrjens’ performance thus far and a stockpile of back of the rotation guys doing long relief and waiting in Richmond, we can easily weather a week or two without Smoltz.
And I don’t even have to mention Hampton’s once-again-imminent return to make that proclamation.
Of course, I’ve said before, we have a lot of options for the back of the rotation, but we can’t afford more than one of our front of the rotation guys to be out for any length of time.
Amusing that the Chop Chick at the AJC see this as a sign that we should go to a six-man rotation. I can think of a lot of reasons that’s a bad idea, the main one being that a six-man rotation would almost assuredly give a spot to the Chuck James Experiment.
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