The Saga of Scott Kazmir

Drafted, disciplined, traded, lionized, traded, released, finished.

The saga of Scott Kazmir is summed up neatly with that order of words.

With the news in this Jayson Stark piece on ESPN that his fastball is puttering in at 84-85 mph, he might be better-suited to begin throwing sidearm and marketing himself as a lefty specialist.

Because he was such a high-profile player and representative of so many different things—a questioned draft pick and trade; a falling star; trading a name player sooner rather than later; an attitude problem—it’s easily lost that Kazmir, with his draft status and subsequent salaries in mind, has been mostly a bust.

The Mets drafted Kazmir in 2002 and it wouldn’t have been as noteworthy had the process not been detailed in Moneyball. The Mets were going to draft Nick Swisher if Kazmir wasn’t available—and they didn’t think he would be—but he was and they took him.

In the minors, Kazmir had a reputation for swaggering arrogance and off-field mishaps. It drew the ire of the Mets’ influential veterans Al Leiter and John Franco when, in the team’s weight room, Kazmir changed their radio station and they told him to change it back.

Mets’ pitching czar Rick Peterson advocated the ill-fated trade the Mets made for Victor Zambrano in July of 2004 not because of disciplinary issues, but because of the cold, hard data that Peterson relies on in judging his charges. Zambrano would help immediately and Peterson felt that he could repair his mechanics and make him more effective; Kazmir was small, had a stressful motion and wouldn’t be a durable rotation linchpin for at least another 2-3 years and only that for a short period of time.

The Devil Rays acquired him while still being run by Chuck LaMar and brought him to the big leagues later that season. Opposing hitters were impressed and writers eagerly used the array of power stuff displayed by Kazmir to hammer the Mets decisionmakers for trading him. It was that Mets regime’s flashpoint and death knell. Zambrano went on the disabled list after three starts and the Mets came apart leading to the demotion of GM Jim Duquette in favor of Omar Minaya and the firing of manager Art Howe.

Peterson survived the purge.

Kazmir was impressive over parts of the next five seasons with his best and most durable year coming in 2007 with the rebuilding Rays. He struck out 239 hitters in 32 starts and made the All Star team. But there were warning signs. He had elbow and shoulder woes and, under the pretense of financial constraints and falling from playoff contention in August of 2009, the Rays made him available via trade.

The Angels came calling and dealt three prospects for Kazmir and the $20 million+ remaining on his contract.

In reality, the Rays saw that Kazmir was declining and an injury waiting to happen, so they dumped him and his salary and got some useful pieces in Sean Rodriguez and two minor leaguers in exchange.

Kazmir had a mysterious “back injury” in 2011 that was more likely a face-saving gesture from the Angels to let him try and straighten himself out while not enduring the embarrassment of a former All-Star being sent to the minors. While trying to come back, he got pounded in 5 minor league starts and the Angels released him.

After his release, teams considered Kazmir, but no one signed him.

As much as the Mets are rightfully criticized for that trade, it turned out that the mistake wasn’t dealing him, but what they dealt him for. Following that season, there was every possibility that they could’ve centered Kazmir around a deal for Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder or inquired about Ben Sheets. Instead, they got Zambrano; Zambrano got hurt; and there was a regime change in Flushing.

Kazmir is about done now. The next step is either have a surgery that he may or may not need to “fix” a problem that doesn’t exist and “prove” that he’s on the comeback trail and will again have that velocity and movement that made him such a coveted prospect to begin with.

My advice to Kazmir is, as I said earlier, become a sidearming lefty specialist. He’ll always have a job and might even be effective in that role.

But will his ego be able to handle it? Unless he’s remarkably stupid and wasteful, he has enough money to live the rest of his life, so it comes down to whether or not he wants to continue playing baseball.

It won’t be as an All-Star starter because that pitcher, along with the one who’s immortalized in print and perception for the right and wrong reasons, is gone forever.

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Doling Out Credit For The Rays Rapid Rise

After so many years of haplessness and embarrassment, the Rays have stunningly

clinched a playoff spot. While there was much press dedicated to the laughably naive and borderline inept new regime in Tampa----owner Stuart Sternberg; president Matthew Silverman and GM Andrew Friedman----if they're going to get the blame when

things go badly, they have to get the credit when things go well. In reality, though, how much of the sudden rise is due to the savvy of the front office? How much is due to luck? And how much is due to all those years of having the number one pick in the draft? Let's take a look at the roster and how they were acquired before running out to vote for Friedman as Executive of the Year:

• Players acquired by the previous regime of owner Vince Naimoli, Chuck LaMar:

Left Fielder Carl Crawford----selected in the second round of the 1999 draft.

Center Fielder B.J. Upton----selected in the first round of hte 2002 draft.
DH/OF Jonny Gomes----selected in the 18th round of the 2001 draft.
OF Rocco Baldelli----selected in the first round of the 2000 draft.
RHP James Shields----selected in the 16th round of the 2000 draft.
RHP Andy Sonnanstine----selected in the 13th round of the 2004 draft.
LHP Scott Kazmir----acquired from the New York Mets in July, 2004.
RHP Jason Hammel----selected in the 10th round of the 2002 draft.

• Players acquired by the new regime through smart moves:

Catcher Dioner Navarro----acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers in June, 2006.
Shortstop Jason Bartlett----acquired from the Minnesota Twins in November, 2007.
RHP Matt Garza----acquired from the Minnesota Twins in November, 2007.

OF Gabe Gross----acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in April, 2008.
DH Cliff Floyd----signed as a free agent in December, 2007.
INF Willy Aybar----acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers in June, 2006.
RHP Edwin Jackson----acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers in January, 2006.
INF Ben Zobrist----acquired from the Houston Astros in July, 2006.
RHP Dan Wheeler----acquired from the Houston Astros in July, 2007.
LHP J.P. Howell----acquired from the Kanas City Royals in June, 2006.
RHP Chad Bradford----acquired from the Baltimore Orioles in August, 2008.
LHP Trever Miller----signed as a free agent in February, 2008.

• Players acquired and successful through pure luck and high draft picks:

3B Evan Longoria----drafted in the first round of the 2006 draft.
RHP Troy Percival----signed as a free agent in November, 2006.

1B Carlos Pena----signed as a free agent in February, 2007.
2B Akinori Iwamura----purchased from Japan in December, 2006.
OF/INF/DH Eric Hinske----signed to minor league contract in February, 2008.
RHP Grant Balfour----acquired from Milwaukee Brewers in June, 2007.

With all due respect to what they've accomplished, this success isn't a function of manager Joe Maddon suddenly going from a guy who was too smart and too quirky for his own good and had a long run working for the Angels in various capacities; nor does it have anything to do with the new age, sabermetrics, and fresh eyes of the baseball neophytes who took over the team in 2005. It has to do with building from what was already there; having some luck with a few journeymen; and making obvious draft picks that a monkey could've picked out of a hat. Guys like Iwamura, Balfour, Hinske and Pena were guys who were given away and/or picked up because of their availability at a cheap price. Iwamura was a guy from Japan they probably hadn't the faintest idea about. The journeyman Pena was

almost released at the end of spring training in 2007 and had an MVP quality year. Balfour had a fastball and little else. Hinske has bounced from team-to-team as a guy who could provide some pop in a part-time role. Percival is injury-prone and they're lucky they've gotten as much as they have from him. Much of this success has been due to everything falling into place at once and (I believe) that veteran baseball man Gerry Hunsicker is finally having his suggestions implemented.
The Rays are going to go one of two ways in the playoffs. They're either going to go in without pretense and play with a carefree attitude not realizing the gravity of what they're up against going from where they were last season to where they are now; before they know it, they'll steamroll whoever's in front of them and just keep winning. Or they're going to get to the playoffs, be overwhelmed and get blasted out before they know what's happening.
The front office, manager, coaches and players can bask in what they've done for the next week----they deserve it----but before becoming too impressed with themselves as having been "proven" right, they'd better realize that there was a lot of uncontrollable aspects to this story that had nothing to do with intelligence and a lot to do with pure luck.

American League 4-National League 3 (15 innings)

• The game itself:
  

This was a beautifully played game; well-pitched; (mostly) well-defended; and (mostly) well managed as both sides walked the tightrope trying to win and get as many players into the game as humanly possible; but again, the whole problem of trying to walk that tightrope comes up repeatedly.
Miguel Tejada looked like a player on a mission to show the world that he didn't need

PEDs to perform at a high level; Dan Uggla's defensive gaffes proved why Joe Girardi wanted to play him in left field in the spring of 2006 and why his future is likely at a corner position on the infield or outfield; the pitchers wriggled in and out of trouble and picked up their teammates when necessary; and it ended appropriately on a close play at the plate on a sacrifice fly. Even though this was nearly a five hour marathon, it was only because it went fifteen innings and not because it was dragged out by interminable commercials and other delays like many of these games are; had the game ended in nine innings, it would've been an early end (time-wise), especially for an All Star game.
Despite the American League's supposed superiority after winning these eleven games in a row, the idea that they're the "dominant" league is a misnomer because the majority of the wins haven't been dominating performances; they've almost all been competitive and hinged on one or two plays or performances that they AL has gotten and the NL hasn't at crucial times.

• The management from the commissioner's office on down:

Jayson Stark's report on the game included this little nugget from the commissioner, relayed to the managers during the game:

"...the commissioner's people send word to your people that this game must be decided somehow..."

That's all well-and-good, but what would Bud Selig's suggestion have been to Terry

Francona or Clint Hurdle if it went much farther and either had run out of pitchers? If I were Rays owner Stuart Sternberg, I would've been on the phone with Selig after Scott Kazmir's second inning (especially since he started shaking his arm and losing the strike zone) and said in no uncertain terms, "my pitcher's not going back out there and I don't care what you do to me or what you have to do for another pitcher". Not only did Kazmir throw over 100 pitches on Sunday, he's got a history of arm problems and is on a reeling team that's in contention for a playoff spot. There was always a possibility, if left unchecked, that the adrenaline of the situation and desire to impress his teammates and fans that Kazmir

was going to go overboard and try to throw too hard as Pedro Martinez did years ago; Scott Kazmir's arm and career is more important than coming to a conclusion in the All Star game.
The fine line that managers try to walk in the new era of the All Star game "counting" does more harm than good. Joe Buck and Tim McCarver on the Fox broadcast brought up an excellent point about Francona having to be concerned with not only winning the game, but handling another team's players (especially a division rival) and keeping them healthy. Clint Hurdle handled the pitching staff for the NL better than Francona did for the AL; but I'm wondering why Hurdle didn't bunt in the ninth and eleventh innings when the NL got the leadoff batter on, but decided to bunt in the twelfth. It made no sense; why bunt at one point and not the other?

• The nonsense of the All Star game "counting":

The whole fallacy of the game "counting" for something is an attempt to trick people who don't pay attention to the game for its perceived lack of meaning into watching it. In reality, the home field advantage in the World Series is meaningless. This isn't football, basketball, hockey or soccer; baseball is not a sport in which simply playing at home is going to be a determining factor in the outcome of the game. Of course there are strategic decisions----the DH for example----that are affected by the venue, but it's way down on the list of reasons why a team wins or loses. We're talking about one game out of a possible seven; instead of three maximum games at home, the winning league gets four----it's not likely to make that much of a difference either way.
What the idea of making the game "count" for something has done is put the managers in the situation of having the straddle the line of trying to win for their league, protecting their players and getting everyone possible into the game. It's another half-baked attempt to drum up interest in what amounts to an exhibition game that should be taken seriously, but in a more lighthearted way than the suggestion of the game "counting" dictates.

An Interesting Memory About Bobby Murcer

• Bobby Murcer as an unintended witness:

One thing that sticks in my mind about Bobby Murcer was the incident in which he was unwillingly thrust into a position of explaining what he saw when John Rocker confronted the

reporter for Sports Illustrated, Jeff Pearlman, who had written the article that began Rocker's downfall----NY Times Article 6/6/2000. As Rocker got into Pearlman's face and began screaming at him, Murcer happened to be walking to the Braves clubhouse to pay a visit to his former Yankees teammate and Braves manager Bobby Cox. Later when discussing it, Murcer seemed completely bewildered at Rocker's behavior; bear in mind that Murcer had played for Billy Martin, and with Reggie Jackson, Lou Piniella, Thurman Munson and Dave Kingman, who either had the potential to be, shall we say, difficult and/or quirky with reporters. I can only imagine what Murcer said to Cox when he got to his office, but my guess is it was something to the tune of, "What the hell's wrong with that guy?", to which Cox probably shook his head in disgust.

• Indians 8-Rays 4:

Today's game is very important for the Rays to win. They have their supposed ace on the mound in All Star Scott Kazmir; they're reeling from six straight losses and are probably

beginning to doubt themselves even if they don't admit it; they don't want to enter a three-day break having lost seven in a row; they're facing a pitcher in Jeremy Sowers who's been horrendous this year; and the Indians are probably going to want to get this game over as quickly as possible to put their disastrous first half behind them, and because of that they'll be hacking away at anything close to the strike zone.
This game is going to be a test for the Rays from their manager on down. I'm still not sold on Joe Maddon and his unique, new-age way of

running his team and if he's unable to steer the Rays ship through this crisis, the team might have to seriously consider finding someone else in the future. (They're not going to do it unless the team completely collapses, but it's something to think about.) It's a perfect day for Kazmir to rack up a huge strikeout game and prove himself to be the legitimate star his potential indicates he can be. He should have some runs to work with and everything is working in his favor to portray that image; if he doesn't, the Rays could be in trouble.

• Aaron Harang goes on the disabled list with a strained forearm:

I've defended Dusty Baker's handling of his pitchers when he was blamed for the injuries to Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, but I have no defense for Aaron Harang being allowed to pitch on July 8th. Harang's start had been pushed back because of his forearm pain and now he's on the disabled list for the same problem. Reds GM Walt Jocketty is a smart guy; Baker's a smart guy; why risk injuring the pitcher worse by putting him out on the mound? I keep hearing how "bad" the Reds are, but they're 46-49 and if Harang's record were 8-6 instead of 3-11, the Reds would be in the middle of the playoff race. If they're going to move forward into contention as early as next year, they're going to need Harang to be healthy and the pitcher he was in 2006-2007; starting him last week made no sense.

• Pirates 12-Cardinals 11:

The leaks are beginning to show in the Cardinals foundation. Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan's brilliance can only go so far when a team's bullpen performs like this. Blowing 9-3, 10-6 and 11-10 leads because the bullpen can't get anyone out is a bad sign for the second

half of the season. Add in that the upper management doesn't sound all that enthused about increasing the payroll for an available starting pitcher and the same problem that was expected for the Cardinals before the season is popping up again----the upper management is pinching pennies and the manager wants to win right now.
Historically, Ryan Franklin was never as good a pitcher as he's been this year, especially since taking over as the closer; he was due

to hit a slump eventually. Jason Isringhausen looks mentally fried and the other pitchers out there couldn't get the job done either. (Although in all fairness, the game should have been over in the ninth inning when Kyle McClellan got Jason Bay to hit a sure double play ball to Cesar Izturis----then stumbled as he was running out of the box----and Aaron Miles was unable to get the ball out of his glove to get the out at first and the tying run scored.) Then the Cardinals get a game-saving homer from a resurgent Troy Glaus and Chris Perez comes in and blows it all over again by allowing a game-ending homer to Jason Michaels. This was a bad loss.
The Cardinals were one of the positive stories of the first half of the season, but La Russa's

brilliance has a limit when the talent's not there. Since the team was intent on having both Chris Carpenter and Mark Mulder be their mid-season "acquisitions" as they returned from injury and that's not going to happen, they're going to have to find outside help, but if they're not willing to spend any money then they're not going to get anyone of consequence. Those available third-tier pitchers----Paul Byrd, Randy Wolf, Miguel Batista----aren't the answer even with La Russa and Duncan's ability to maximize talent.
The NL Central is slipping away and they're probably not going to be able to secure the Wild Card either with the Brewers, Phillies and Mets all likely to be vying for it in one way or another. The fast start by the Cardinals did an effective job of covering up the rift in philosophies between the factions, but that chasm is widening and a patch job isn't going to hold things together long enough to make a difference.