(Photo by Googie Man via Wikipedia)
In pretty much every pitching category tracked by baseball, Scott Kazmir is the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays' career leader. Starts, innings pitched, K's, wins. Kazmir was the face of hope. Sure, there was Carl Crawford or Rocco Baldelli to show the speed and athleticism that the farm system had but, with all respect to them, Kazmir was on a different level. Baseball people know that you can't really get anywhere without pitching. So even though you have horses at other positions, you need some guys on the bump to take care of you.
Kazmir was that guy from that fateful August day in 2004 when the skinny childlike sprout took the mound for the Rays for the first time. So understandably people were a little shocked to hear his name in the rumors surrounding the MLB trade deadline earlier this year. "Sure, he isn't pitching too well," you would hear, "but he'll straighten it out." Now he's out the door and people are shocked yet again. This time, though, there were some signs that Kaz still had "it" that we'd all come to love.
But such is life for a "small market" club. The circle of life, if you will. Kazmir came to the (Devil) Rays in a trade that saw fan-fave-who-just-couldn't-figure-it-all-out-or-stay-healthy Victor Zambrano head to the New York Metropolitans. Now Kazmir is gone and two young pups enter the (Devil) Rays farm system. If you'll allow me, I'd like to quote you the immortal words of Sir Elton John:
This article appears in Aug 26 – Sep 1, 2009.