Has it come to this?

The St. Louis Cardinals are contending for a pennant and believe John Smoltz can help.  Which could mean a number of things.

The Cards number five starters have been really, really bad.

They are spending entirely too much time reading Dave Duncan's press clippings and consider him the Helen Keller of pitching coaches.

Somewhere Jim Bouton is tuning up his knuckle ball and waiting by the phone.

The front office is afflicted with a mysterious disease that results in an inability to read statistics.

Statistics like these:

Smoltz allowed eight home runs in his last twenty innings with the Red Sox.

Didn't have a single quality start in eight trys.

The RedSox, a championship caliber team, lost six of his eight starts.

The toothpick just popped out.

Smoltz is done.  As a starter.

I'm hedging my bet on Smoltz the reliever, because of his 33/9 strikeout to walk ratio in forty innings, and the stretches within games where his stuff has been commanding.

Then again, the walks are deceptive.  Nobody takes your pitches when they are always right around the plate begging to be driven from the field of play.

So, why is Smoltz not in the bullpen?

Smoltz has a reputation as being one of baseball's good guys and is well known for his charitable work in the Atlanta area.

But he's human and stubborn.  One of only two pitchers with twenty win and fifty save seasons to his credit, Smoltz feels like he's earned the right to come back as a starter.  St. Louis is giving him that chance.

The RedSox offered Smoltz a chance to go to minors, get some work, and return to the bullpen down the stretch.

Did he owe the RedSox?

Boston management won't say it, probably because Smoltz looks better going out the door than coming back in.  But if the RedSox were sincere in thinking he could contribute in the bullpen later this year, it hardly seems gracious to abandon them.

The Braves were right.

Over the winter the Braves front office was criticized by Smoltz, Chipper Jones, and many fans for not outbidding the RedSox to bring him back. 

Atlanta was offering a pitcher coming off shoulder surgery who cost them $14 million in 2008 for 28 innings work a $2 million contract with incentives.  The RedSox offered $5.5 million and incentives. 

Smoltz was offended.

You have to wonder.

The Atlanta Braves had paid Smoltz over $130 million over the years, including $14 million for essentially nothing in 2008.

So he leaves over the chance to make $3.5 million?

It shouldn't have ended this way.

Smoltz should have taken the Braves offer and gotten in shape for whatever role he could fill with Atlanta.  Worked with their young pitchers, enjoyed his status as elder statesman.

If things didn't work out there would be the big farewell send off before a packed house at Turner Field and offers to work with the team in some other capacity.

Instead Smoltz went to Boston and became the equivalent of a 42 year old Willie Mays hitting .211 with 6 home runs with the 1973 Mets.

It won't get better in St. Louis.

The best thing anyone has said about Smoltz signing with the Cardinals was that he possibly, just possibly, could give them five innings of three run ball now and then.

There is also a pretty good chance he won't be able to do that and we'll be writing blogs in a couple of weeks about his retirement from the game.

I've been wrong before.

Not this time.  Buy some replacement scoreboard lights for the Cardinals.

The old ones will be burning out soon.