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Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Smoltz, Schuerholz hash things out
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Braves Nation can rest easy, for J.S. and J.S. have had their summit meeting and both the pitcher and the GM (aka “Homeboy”) came away smiling.
I know Tuesday’s almost gone with the wind here, blog’s a bit late, but I wanted to wait to post it after heard from Johns Smoltz and Schuerholz regarding the infamous “Homeboy” reference the pitcher made to the 65-year-old GM in Jeff Schultz’s column in Monday’s AJC.
Anyway, brief synopsis (sorry, but I don’t have much time): Schuerholz called Smoltz today, had him come up to his office this afternoon for a meeting, and things are swell now. Or, swell enough not to interfere with business.
Smoltz told a few of us reporters after the meeting that he shouldn’t have said “Homeboy,” that he wasn’t expecting that to be in the column, but otherwise what he said was accurate, all the stuff he told Jeff about how he felt slighted and didn’t understand why the Braves would make him wait until after the season to exercise his $8 million option for 2007.
Smoltz wouldn’t say if Schuerholz gave him any assurances in the meeting, and Smoltz said only that he agreed he wouldn’t talk anymore about his contract publicly because he understands the Braves do everything privately and he should respect that and blah blah blah.
An hour or so later, we talked to the GM and he said it was a “very good” meeting and that he’s always respected John’s commitment to winning and intensity and blah blah blah, and that nothing has changed.
Asked if he’d spit up his coffee when he saw the “Homeboy upstairs” reference from Smoltz in the Schultz column, Schuerholz smiled and said, “I don’t drink coffee.”
When someone said, “So you weren’t offended?” Schuerholz smiled and said, “I didn’t say that.”
I asked John (GM … the actual GM … this gets confusing, doesn’t it?) why the Braves wouldn’t just tell Smoltz that they’re going to exercise his very reasonable option, whether the ownership change had anything to do with it, etc, and GM John told me that’s just the way they’ve always done things and that the ownership situation has “zero” to do with anything.
Folks, the Braves are surely going to pick up the option. And John Smoltz, by the way, when I asked him directly if he cared to answer to any of those fans _ i.e. certain bloggers _ wondering whether he might be angling for a trade or trying to get out of here, said he absolutely isn’t angling for anything, that he wants to win, that there’s time left this season to win if they get going, and that he wants to finish his career as a Brave.
He didn’t roll his eyes, smile, make any kind of signal to indicate he was being anything less than sincere when he said it.
OK, gotta get going. But first, I had to share the highlight of the day with you. Came during interview with Schuerholz on the dugout steps. He does have quite a sense of humor, hard as it is for some of you to believe.
I asked him if we should still call him John, or Mr. Schuerholz. He smiled, knowing what I meant, and said, “You can call me HB. I’ll know what you mean.”
I smiled and said to him, “Word.” And as he walked up the stairs, he smiled and _ I kid you not _ pounded his left breast with his right hand and said, “Word.”
I would not make something like that up. Several bystanders just about fell down laughing.
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