Time to End the Smoltz Experiment

That's baseball for ya.

A few weeks ago, with the first discussions of the trade deadline warming up, the question for Red Sox fans was this: trade Brad Penny or stand pat? Then, when Roy Halladay became available, it was trade Clay Buchholz and/or Penny for Halladay.

Now, Penny is considered the third starter behind Josh Beckett and Jon Lester. Buchholz is still trade bait, but he's also the fourth starter now that Wakefield's back is acting up. Worst of all, John Smoltz seems to have permanently stalled in his comeback.

I thought I had the solution when I remembered how well Justin Masterson did as a starter, so why not swap Masterson and send Smoltz to the bullpen? Then I realized that Smoltz isn't good enough to make this team's bullpen. In the eight games the 'pen has played in since the All-Star break, they have not surrendered even one measly run. Smoltz would take care of that, pronto.

So here's what I think: Smoltz should shut himself down for the year and if he wants to have another go of it in 2010, that's his decision, assuming any teams would take him. But as it stands his 1-4 record and bloated 7.04 ERA make me miss Dice-K even though Matsuzaka went 1-5 with an 8.23 ERA. But Dice-K was injured and he'll recover. Smoltz, to me, just seems incapable of rounding back into form, despite occasional flashes of the old, er, young Smoltz.

Theo Epstein signed Smoltz as a low-risk, high reward gamble. Unlike Brad Penny, this one didn't work out. It's time to move on. This late in the season, a guaranteed loss every five days is unacceptable.

Theo, work your trade deadline magic.