Scott Kazmir

Last Saturday, we saw Scott Kazmir take the mound in an MLB game for the first time since 2011. What we saw was nothing short of scary. 

For me to sit back and criticize is not right. I’ve endured brutal experiences on the mound and completely understand the feeling you get when you work so hard for something have nothing to show for it. 

Scott Kazmir wants to be the fifth starter for the Cleveland Indians.

After Monday’s four–inning, scoreless performance against the Los Angeles Angels, he may have made a successful case.

The comeback continues, and for the second time this spring Scott Kazmir has held his opponent scoreless. 

It’s a long shot that Kazmir could make the starting rotation, but there is also nothing that says he can’t. 

Against the Chicago White Sox Friday, Kazmir went two innings, struck out three, gave up one hit and for the second time did not walk anyone. That, in my eyes, is the biggest factor. 

The Cleveland Indians signed left handed starting pitcher Scott Kazmir to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training, according to Paul Hoynes of The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

It appears the comeback is complete. 

After spending time in the Independent Leagues with the Sugar Land Skeeters and more recently in the Winter Leagues honing his craft, Scott Kazmir is back. 

The spring training struggles for Scott Kazmir translated into an awful performance in his first regular season start. 

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are looking at 2011 as a rebirth of sorts. The former dominant team in the American League West has a pretty solid lineup anchored by Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells and a solid rotation led by Jered Weaver. 

When Los Angeles Angels' manager Mike Scioscia announced last Thursday that starting pitcher Scott Kazmir would open the season as a member of the starting rotation, he was asked by reporters whether or not Kazmir had earned the spot.

“Earned?” Scioscia said. “Define ‘earned.’”

Not exactly a stirring vote of confidence.

However, Kazmir, who struggled last season with a 9-15 record and a 5.94 ERA, is owed $14.5 million this season.

It is not the season that will determine Scott Kazmir’s future with Anaheim, its Spring Training. That’s not easy for someone who is typically penciled into the starting rotation. 

So far he’s 50/50 on appearances which it a big improvement on last years numbers. I will not get into the specifics, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, baseball is about numbers.   

When Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Scott Kazmir walked Juan Pierre on four pitches to start yesterday’s spring training game with the Chicago White Sox in Tempe, AZ, the 5,100 fans in attendance at Temple Diablo Stadium were probably thinking, “Oh, great, another stinker of a year from Kazmir.”

It’s a fickle life in Major League Baseball. Here today, gone tomorrow is a phrase often used when referring to ballplayers who had a quick run of success before seemingly losing it altogether, or players felled by injuries who were unable to make it all the way back.

The stories of great fame and then injury go back many years in baseball, especially among pitchers. Dizzy Dean was a classic example.

Known as the Ace of the Gashouse Gang for the St. Louis Cardinals, Dean was the last pitcher to win 30 games in the National League, reaching that mark in 1934.