John Smoltz To Retire?

Written by Colin on June 4, 2008 – 10:37 am

John Smoltz is going back under the knife for season-ending shoulder surgery. It may also force him to retire.

After being on the DL for five weeks and coming back with a new arm slot to alleviative shoulder issues, Smoltz experienced significant soreness after a disappointing outing on Monday night.

The Braves have a press conference scheduled for 11:30 today and inside sources confirm that Smoltz is likely to retire in addition to announcing that his season is over.

More as it comes, but this could truly be a sad day in Braves history. Smoltz Retiring - I knew it’d come someday but I didn’t want it to be this soon.

Update: Season ending shoulder surgery is scheduled with James Andrews in Birmingham.  Smoltz could be ready for next spring if he doesn’t retire.  Smoltz says he fully intends to continue to pitch if he can.

Tags: John Smoltz, Retire, Retirement
Posted in Injuries, Speculation |

Hampton Ponders Retirement

Written by Jonathan on May 3, 2008 – 11:44 am

After his latest injury in Richmond, reaggravating his strained pectoral muscle, Mike Hampton found himself in a far too familiar position.  On the disabled list with a recommendation of not touching a baseball.  An MRI confirmed that it was just a strain and that the pectoral muscle was not actually torn.  Shortly after the reinjury, Hampton pondered whether or not retiring at the end of his current contract would be the best option.

Hampton’s in the final year of his $121 million contract.  Since 2005, he has made 12 starts in the majors and made $56 million dollars.  On that fact alone, he’ll always have the critics against him.  I don’t think he takes satisfaction in making multi-millions and not pitching at all, but rather he just is injury-prone and has had a series of bad luck.  He’s not giving up on it yet and is planning to continue working throughout the season before making a final decision on what to do after this season.  If he doesn’t pitch this season, however, I feel like he’ll have a tough time finding a new contract somewhere.

More to come on this one as we hear it, but I doubt there will be any developments on it anytime soon.

Tags: Injury, Mike Hampton, Retirement
Posted in Injuries |