Oakland A's agree to terms with lefty starter Scott Kazmir
Posted: 12/02/2013 12:03:43 PM PST
Updated: 12/02/2013 12:12:09 PM PST
OAKLAND - The A's settled their pitching rotation plans a week before the start of the Winter Meeting by signing a two-year, $22 million deal with left-handed starting pitcher Scott Kazmir.
The deal essentially puts an end to the A's hopes of bringing back Bartolo Colon for the 2014 season.
Kazmir, 29, pitched for the Indians last year, going 10-9 with a 4.04 ERA. He was particularly impressive in the second half with Cleveland in the hunt for a playoff berth, going 5-5 while lowering his ERA from its first-half level of 4.60 to 3.38. Along the way, Kazmir brought his strikeouts up while lowering his walks.
The A's had wanted to bring 18-game winner Colon back for 2014. He is 40, though, and the A's didn't seem to like the level of salary jump Colon wanted from last year's $3 million.
Kazmir, a former No. 1 pick of the Mets, was a promising young starter with Tampa Bay, but after he wound up with the Angels in Anaheim, he was never able to recapture that early dominance and wound up pitching in the independent leagues in 2011.
The comeback he made in Cleveland was an eye-opener for the A's and his showing the second half of the season suggests he may be ready for a return to his early promise.
The addition of Kazmir would give the A's three left-handed candidates for the rotation, joining Brett Anderson and Tommy Milone, but persistent rumors suggest that Anderson would be available in the right trade. The A's also have good young right-handed starting pitching returning in Jarrod Parker, A.J. Griffin, Dan Straily and Sonny Gray, none of whom are older than 26.
Terms of the salary, first announced by ESPN's Jim Bowden, will make Kazmir the most highly paid A's starter by a substantial margin. The money is approximately the same as the offer the club made to former A's starter Tim Hudson, who ultimately left the Braves as a free agent to join the San Francisco Giants.
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