When they first came together in the 1990s, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine gave the Atlanta Braves a starting rotation that was a huge factor in the team winning 14 straight division titles. Of course, as time passed, both Maddux and Glavine moved on to pitch in other places. Smoltz, on the other hand, was the constant of the Atlanta Braves pitching staff.
The only thing that ever changed for Smoltz was his role with the team, as he spent the three seasons from 2002-2004 as the team’s closer. That all could change next season, though, as Smoltz admits he may not be an Atlanta Brave when he returns from shoulder surgery next summer.”I say this for the first time, without reservation, if I’m going to bust my butt and if I feel like I’m good enough and it doesn’t work out here, I be pitching somewhere else … My dream scenario would be to pitch in the playoffs again, and that’s coming from a guy who’s been in 13 of them. (Smoltz missed the 2000 playoffs with Tommy John surgery.) To me, that’s what I’m about. So if the door gets closed here, it’ll have to be explored somewhere else.
“Make no mistake,” he said a few minutes later. “I am absolutely, 100 percent committed to playing the rest of my career for the Atlanta Braves. But this can’t be my only option … I may not be in the [Braves’] plans. It’s no given right, where I’ve spent 21 years here and [so] they owe me whatever I want.”Smoltz has an option for the 2009 season in his contract that would have kicked in had he hit 200 innings this year, but the shoulder surgery kept him well short of achieving that. Still, the Braves can pick up the option if they want to, but Frank Wren doesn’t plan on making any decisions about 2009 until the end of this season.
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