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Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Smoltz pulls up shorts (and socks), goes to work
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Editor’s Note: Someone using the name U Kno Who jumped into this blog and offered some interesting - and quite revealing - information about the Braves and popular infielder Chipper Jones.
It was later discovered that U Kno Who was none other than the Braves’ All-Star.
Jones spent a few hours chatting with fans on a variety of subjects ranging from the biggest hit and worst error of his career, life after baseball and gift advice for Valentine’s Day. Scroll down to Feb. 6 at 7:56 p.m. to read the start of Chipper’s conversation.
It ain’t easy looking either venerable or old-school in the baggy, knee-length shorts favored by the current generation of athletes. But John Smoltz managed that trick Tuesday.
OK, maybe he just looked old, not old-school. But since the bearded Braves icon is a few years younger than me, I’m going with old-school.
Anyway, Smoltz made his initial appearance Tuesday at the Braves’ voluntary pitching camp, which began Friday at Turner Field (Smoltz was in Arizona for Super Bowl weekend).
When the aging ace enters the clubhouse on such occasions as this, conversations stop and all attention turns to the Braves’ elder statesman, who strode through the clubhouse just after noon Tuesday, carrying hangars with a jacket, slacks, tie and shirt, which he’d brought for another of the endless commercials or public-service spots he’ll be asked to do from now through spring training.
He was running late, so he hurriedly dressed at his locker, raced to a room where the camera crew was set up, then hurried back and spoke to a couple of writers as he changed from his jacket-and-tie into workout gear.
And here’s where we ran into old, er, old-school.
A few (far) younger Braves were still hanging out in the locker room, having finished their workouts and in the process of dressing and leaving, when Smoltz held court with us.
About 10 feet away, if Smoltz had looked out of the corner of his eye, he might have caught Jo-Jo Reyes watching him closely as Smoltz, who’s been in the majors since Reyes was 3, handled another interview as easily as he always does.
When Smoltz had answered all the questions, he had also finished dressing for what would be his first throwing session off a mound in four months, since the season ended.
He walked across the clubhouse toward the indoor batting cage wearing those blue shorts, which, to begin with, he wears an inch or two higher on the waist than Reyes and most Braves wear them.
Most others taking part in this camp do so in loose, untucked T-shirts of all varieties, and short socks that either barely rise above their shoetops or stop below the calf.
Not Smoltz.
The 40-year-old wore a baseball undershirt, tucked neatly into his shorts, and had on the blue, knee-high socks that are worn with Braves uniform pants. His were pulled almost to his knees.
In a matter of 20 minutes, he’d arrived, changed clothes, done his public-service spot, changed again, answered State of the Smoltz questions, laughed at a reporter’s suggestion that Smoltz might demand a contract renegotiation in light of Johan Santana’s Mets deal, discussed the status of his beloved Michigan State basketball team and the teams that represent two reporters’ alma maters (Kansas and Dayton), and revealed plans for playing golf as he makes his way down the Atlantic coast before reporting to spring training next week.
Now, Smoltz had on proper gear and was headed to the mound to shake off rust as he prepared for his whopping 20th season in the majors, all with the Braves (not including the whole season he missed recovering from the most severe of his four elbow surgeries). No other active player has been with his team as long.
As he headed across the clubhouse, the eyes of a few young pitchers were on him.
Smoltz has a plan: In his ongoing, annual evolving effort to find the best formula for remaining healthy all season, Smoltz plans to approach spring training a bit differently this season, with less emphasis on Grapefruit League games.
“I’ve got a plan, as usual, going into spring training,” he said. “Things I want to work on. There might be a lot of behind-the-scenes work, rather than pitching in games. I want to take it slow. It might not follow protocol.
“I want to execute this plan, hopefully have a longer year.”
By that he means pitch all season and into the playoffs, where Smoltz longs to return to the big stage he most enjoys, the pressure-filled postseason.
He said he planned to discuss with manager Bobby Cox and pitching coach Roger McDowell a plan that would probably have Smoltz pitch in a handful or so Grapefruit League games and a few simulated games instead of taking each of his would-be turns in exhibition games in Florida.
Smoltz said at this point of his career, it’s more important for him to work on the things he needs to during spring training than to pitch in games every fifth day. He’d still pitch in plenty of games, just not every fifth day.
The way he figures, the plan makes sense this spring for two reasons: It would better allow him to work on the two-seam fastball and curveball he wants to hone; and would allow the Braves to get some starts for the several pitchers who will likely compete for one or two jobs at the back of the rotation.
Smoltz said the Braves’ improved depth should help him and Tim Hudson feel less pressure to carry so much of the load for the pitching staff. He thinks it might allow Smoltz or Hudson to skip a start or two, if one of them has some soreness, the kind of soreness they wouldn’t have let keep them out of a start when the short-handed Braves relied on them so heavily for each start in recent seasons.
“I’m not a ‘glass’ player, I’m not fragile,” said Smoltz, who pitched 205-2/3 innings last season and had his first DL stint since 2003, for an inflamed shoulder after he slipped while making a warmup pitch in an early season game.
“But at the same time, if I make some adjustments - I can’t avoid a slip, but I can be economical in my work,” Smoltz said. He added that he wanted to be “proactive” in hopes it would allow him to be at his best for the stretch drive and into the postseason, where he and the Braves aim to be.
Smoltz, who pitched 229-2/3 innings in 2005 and 232 innings in 2006 in his first two seasons after moving back from the bullpen, said he wants to pitch 200-plus innings again this season. He just wants to be more attuned and careful in doing so.
He’s confronted his baseball mortality the last couple of seasons, conceding he’s not the same overpowering pitcher he used to be. It took him longer to recover from the strains and pains of the 2007 season, hence the pace of his throwing program being a few weeks behind past winters.
But Smoltz seems to be intrigued and stimulated by the challenges his age presents, seems almost like he enjoys the necessity of confronting the twilight of his career with an intelligent approach that could extend his effectiveness a year or three longer than most of us expected.
“Last year we didn’t have the luxury of me or Hudson skipping a start,” he said. “This year, we might.”
Again, he praised GM Frank Wren for making moves to develop depth in the starting rotation, something sorely lacking a year ago. Smoltz believes it’ll help beyond taking pressure off the bullpen. “It’s going to help the offense beyond belief, not having to blow an engine trying to score enough runs.”
As for the trade that sent Santana to the Mets from Minnesota, he joked that Glavine was to blame. Glavine’s exit from New York opened the hole in the Mets rotation that they were desperate to fill — and which they did, quite impressively.
That’ll do for now. I’ve got some other notes from my visit to pitching camp today, including some stuff plenty of you will be interested in from my interviews with Phil Stockman (yes, the big Aussie reliever is finally healthy) and prospect Charlie Morton (the 24-year-old flamethrower we saw give up no hits in an Arizona Fall League start).
But I’ll save some of that for another blog later in the week. I need to get this posted. Besides, I’d like to know what denizens think about Smoltz and his place in the Braves pantheon, all that kind of thing. Can you imagine him finishing his career elsewhere? Personally, I can’t.
OK, Here’s a tune by the great J.J. Cale, one that Skynyrd covered quite well.
“CALL ME THE BREEZE” by J.J. Cale
They call me the breeze,
I keep blowing down the road
They call me the breeze,
I keep blowing down the road
I ain’t got me nobody,
I ain’t carrying me no load
Ain’t no change in the weather,
ain’t no change in me
Ain’t no change in the weather,
Ain’t no change in me
I ain’t hidin’ from nobody,
Ain’t nobody hidin from me
I got that green light, baby,
I got to keep moving on
I got that green light, baby
I got to keep moving on
Well, I might go out to California,
might go down to Georgia,
I don’t know
Well, I dig you Georgia peaches,
makes me feel right at home
Now well, I dig you Georgia peaches,
makes me feel right at home
But I don’t love me no one woman
so I can’t stay in Georgia long
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