There continues to be rumblings about the Mets interest in John Smoltz. First, Tim Dierkes of MLBTR predicted that Smoltz would wind up with the Mets, and then Matt Cerrone of Metsblog reported yesterday about the clubs interest. Cerrone indicates the Mets would be interested in seeing him either in the back half of the rotation, or bullpen.

I think bringing Smoltz on to pitch out of the bullpen would be a great move. Right now you have two “high reward” candidates in Ryota Igarashi and Kelvim Escobar. If either, or both, fail they would have to turn to Bobby Parnell, Sean Green, Brian Stokes, or Pedro Feliciano, who is more of a lefty specialist. It wouldn’t hurt adding another experienced power arm to the bullpen mix, and allow the aforementioned to play more of a situational role.

Even at the advanced age of 40, Smoltz showed he can still pitch effectively. It was a well known he was tipping pitches in the American League, not to mention coming off surgery the year before. Once he went to St. Louis you saw more of what can be expected out of him. As a starter, Smoltz is probably, at best, league average, but for his career he has a 2.41 ERA, and almost 10 strikeouts per nine innings out of the bullpen. Not to mention right handed batters don’t exactly light him up (career .216 BAA). This is a perfect guy to throw gas in the late innings, plus he has big game experience. His 2003 bullpen performance (1.12 ERA, WHIP less than 1, ERA+ of 383) was right up there with Mariano Rivera, and Dennis Eckersley circa early nineties.

The best part of Smoltz coming to the Mets and succeeding would be sticking it to the Braves. Watching Bobby Cox squirm as Smoltz blows away the middle of his order would be worth the price of admission for Mets fans.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com

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Tags: Atlanta Braves, Bobby Cox, Bobby Parnell, Brian Stokes, Dennis Eckersley, Francisco Rodriguez, John Smoltz, Kelvim Escobar, Mariano Rivera, Matt Cerrone, Mets Bullpen, Metsblog, MLBTR, New York Mets, Pedro Feliciano, Ryota Igarashi, Sean Green, Tim Dierkes