Rangers general manager Jon Daniels confirmed team officials met with recently released left-hander Scott Kazmir this week in Houston.
Kazmir, a 27-year-old Houston native, was released by the Los Angeles Angels in early June. He made one start this season, went on the disabled list and was released without appearing again in the majors.
Kazmir won 45 games and had a 3.51 ERA for Tampa Bay from 2005-08 but is 19-24 with a 5.54 ERA in 299 innings since the start of 2009.
“We’ve talked with him, doing our due diligence,” Daniels said. “Not sure if anything’s going to come of it, but we try to look at every opportunity to see if someone can help us.”
Baseball is full of examples of clubs weighing risk vs reward. I spend weeks at spring training each year watching all of the 'walkon' free agents trying to find jobs. There are many examples of guys like Bartolo Colon, etc. that are resurrected. Colon won the Cy Young in 2005, was in AA baseball by 2008. The Red Sox and White Sox both tried to help him, but he failed. This year he signed a minor league contract with the Yankees and it was a great gamble.
Alexa Ogando was a washed up outfielder for the A's before Daniels took a minor league chance on him. Darren Oday was released by the Mets, but Daniels took a chance. Kasmar is young, it could be mechanical with his problems. What is the downside if they sign him for RoundRock? I would love to see him pitch at AAA. You never know when someone will bounce back. Most gave up on Kerry Woods, but he is fighting back, as is local Chris Young who was considered done. I would rather five of these than signing one Chan Ho Park .
The Rangers have a stable full of pitching horses just like this- old, broken down, used up. It is sad that the Rangers have a reputation for signing this type of non-major league quality material. Get hurt, get cut? Call the Rangers! We need some young, healthy pitchers who can throw heat that opposing batters have trouble knocking out of the park.
No comments:
Post a Comment