Last Friday's player movement may just have been the beginning of this season's transition in baseball.

Today, the Boston Red Sox designated 42 year old John Smoltz for assignment. That means they have 10 days to trade or release Smoltz. It also means that the last of the fantastic trio of future Hall of Fame Atlanta Braves pitchers including Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and Smoltz are on the outside looking in. It means the end of an era. That's what happens when age knocks on your right arm and creeps through the rest of your body and sends you a message. That's what happens when a team is in a pennant race and watches as you struggle to retire big league hitters like the New York Yankees. It means your era has ended. Respectfully, the Red Sox informed Smoltz they were moving on without him.

I have tremendous memories of those three pitchers. To me, they were like surgeons that methodically approached each hitter with thoughtful precision. Each pitch had a purpose. Each pitch was thrown with the intent of flirting with the strike zone but not quite landing within those boundaries. Each pitch was released with the deft mastery of an operating room doctor. Their environment just happened to be the batters box and the pitcher's mound. Glavine, Smoltz and Maddux prepared for every assignment. They knew the strengths and weaknesses of the hitters they would face, the nuances of the park in which they were pitching and the tendencies and sizes of the strike zones of the umpires calling their games. They left nothing to chance. Changing speeds. Changing hitters eye levels. They threw each pitch a centimeter or two further away from the black of home plate. They would find out how far outside was too far outside for that particular umpire. Black was their favorite color every fifth day. Each of these doctors owned the black. Each of these three guys made Leo Mazone appear to be a great pitching coach. Each of them was a master of his craft.

Today, the trio's last standing surgeon was asked to remove his scrubs and take a seat and wait for the Hall to call along with his two pitching and golfing buddies.

In Oakland, the A's said farewell the Jason Giambi. He was hitting .193 with 11 home runs and 40 runs batted in. He was 38 and his bat speed had slowed. A designated hitter has to hit. Giambi didn't produce the type of power and offense projected for him in his return to the A's.

History may judge Giambi kindly for his quasi-candor. Then again, they may not. I look at Giambi's best years with a jaundiced eye. I can't help that. I wish him well.

Carl Pavano proved to be a good acquisition for the Cleveland Indians. In fact, to date he was their winningest pitcher. He is now the 7th Cleveland Indian to be traded during a flurry of money saving and organizational roster building moves. Pavano was traded to the Central Division contending Minnesota Twins for a player to be name soon. Pavano joins Rafael Betancourt, Ryan Garko, Victor Martinez, Mark DeRosa, Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco as Cleveland Indian alumni. Actually, there have been so many deals I may have missed one or two. Indians ownership has announced they will lose 16 million dollars this season, and yes, these deals will help financially with the construction of the 2010 roster.

So, this date saw the end come for John Smoltz and Jason Giambi unless they are picked up by another club. This day saw Carl Pavano land with the Minnesota Twins to help them win the same Division in which the Indians play. It's a day that may just signal the beginning of additional waiver deals that may be announced. Stay tuned. The pennant races will continue to be great. But John Smoltz won't be part of it. I'll miss seeing him pitch, but I'll remember his greatness from those remarkable years with his doctor friends on the Atlanta Braves.