Smoltz To Come Back As Reliever

John Smoltz believes that when his DL stint is over, he'll be in the bullpen. (From MLB.com) "I'm coming back as a reliever first and then we'll see what happens," Smoltz said during a late Wednesday afternoon telephone conversation. "I'm content with this."

What this does is makes Mike Hampton and/or Chuck James much more important and means Glavine has to be healthy the rest of the season. Hudson is fine as the #1. Jurjjens has exceeded even the loftiest projections. Glavine has pitched pretty well when healthy. That leaves two spots to be covered though. Chuck James will almost assuredly be called on to fill one of them. That leaves Jeff Bennett, Buddy Carlyle, JoJo Reyes and Mike Hampton to fight it out for the last one. Hampton likely is AT LEAST two weeks away from returning, if at all.

I like Jeff Bennett the best out of those options, although JoJo will get a chance to prove himself tomorrow.

While one problem crops up, it is possible that Smoltz moving to the bullpen, along with the eventual return of Soriano will solve what has been the biggest problem so far (as I type this the braves just blew another late inning lead). I'm not saying I think Smoltz can just jump into being a dominant closer, but the transition is substantially easier from starter to reliever than the other way around.

Do I think the Braves can win this way? Enough for now, but a move will need to be made if one of the guys competing for the fifth spot doesn't step up.

The offense seriously needs to get in gear. Specifically Francouer and Kelly Johnson, who other than a couple of one game outbursts, have been pretty anemic thus far. With the pitching the way it is, the Braves are going to have to score a lot of runs.