Rays Close To Deal To Send Kazmir To Angels
Uncategorized August 28th. 2009, 4:26pm[Update] Joel Sherman of The New York Post is now reporting that Angels assume responsibility for remainder of Kazmir’s contract which is about $20 million.
[Update] Jon Heyman of SI.com is now reporting Rays will also receive a third prospect, a player to be named later.
Keep in mind that third player could be on Angels’ 40-man roster. This time of year if a prospect on 40-man roster is traded, he must first clear waivers. That is unlikely, so teams just wait until after the season to complete deal.
[Update] Marc Topkin is now reporting that the deal is expected to be announced within the hour.
[Update] Now, Joel Sherman of the New York Post says the deal is done and that Kazmir will “definitely” be traded to the Angels…And in other news, I need a beer.
[Update] Now MLB.com is saying the deal to the Angels has fallen through.
[Update] The LA Times also confirms the deal.
[Update] Let’s look forward and see what this means for the Rays both short-term and long-term…
Kazmir was scheduled to start on Tuesday in the opening game of the Red Sox series. James Shields is scheduled to go on Monday and the Rays have not announced a starter for Sunday, which would be Jeff Niemann’s normal spot. With the off-day yesterday, everybody is on an extra day of rest. Shields could get moved up to Sunday with Niemann held back for Monday or Tuesday. Either way it looks like the Rays will need a starter on Monday or Tuesday.
There are three options in Durham. Wade Davis and Andy Sonnanstine are on the 40-man roster. Jeremy Hellickson, who has been dominant in limited triple-A duty, is not. Those three also happen to be the next three starting pitchers for Durham starting tonight, and in that order. So whomever is skipped, will most likely be in a Rays uniform on Monday or Tuesday.
Also consider that the Rays may want to use a sixth starter in September on either a full-time or part-time basis. That means the Rays would need to promote two of these guys.
Finally, when we spoke with Andrew Friedman last year, the most telling comment he made was about no move is ever made in a vacuum. There is always a bigger picture.
This makes us wonder if the Rays may make another move in the next few days. We can envision a scenario in which Friedman wanted to add a player but couldn’t add payroll. Might the Rays bring in another starting pitcher, one they value over Kazmir? Just spit-ballin’.
Which leads to next year. Moving Kazmir will save the Rays $8 million in 2009. That alone would move the payroll in the range that may be more acceptable to Stuart Sternberg and means the Rays are far more likely to hold on to Carl Crawford.
[Update] Beto Duran of ESPN Radio in LA is saying it is a done deal. Scott Kazmir is now a member of the LA Angels.
[Update] Marc Topkin is reporting (via Twitter) that Kazmir is in Rays clubhouse and has not heard anything. He actually thought the writers were joking when they brought it up.
Also, Will Carroll is reporting that Kazmir will be used as a relief pitcher with the Angels.
[3:58pm] Lyle Spencer of MLB.com is reporting that the Rays are close to a deal that would send Scott Kazmir to the Angels for two prospects.
The Angels are on the verge of bolstering their beleaguered rotation for the stretch run by trading for left-hander Scott Kazmir from the Rays for a pair of prospects.
The Rays will get pitcher Alexander Torres and third baseman Matthew Sweeney in return in the deal, which is expected to be announced later today.
Torres is a 21-year old lefty that was recently promoted to double-A. He was 10-3 with a 2.74 ERA with 124 strikeouts in 121.1 innings at high-A. He is 2-1 with a 4.20 ERA in three double-A starts.
Sweeney, a third baseman, was an 8th round pick in 2006 and is hitting .299/.379/.517 with 9 home runs in 58 games at high-A.
Angels close to deal for Kazmir [MLB]
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WHAT??
There better be a giant bag of gold attached to that deal…
why trade a successful, young, underpaid middle of the rotation pitcher for mere prospects… u need at least 1 big-league experienced arm in the deal…
He might end up being like Edwin Jackson…
I don’t get this move…just when he was getting his groove on too! Not believing this yet.
Sevens nines come to us while theres still time
Wow. Didn’t see that one coming. I know they want to unload salary, but I’m surprised they would deal Kaz for a couple of middling prospects.
so with Price close to being shut-down (or headed to the ‘pen) and Kaz headed to LA what’s next?
Wade Davis?
This new Torres prospect?
Inquiring minds want to know…
C;mon, the team has no chance know unless they call up Davis
Huh? So….does this mean the front office has given up on this season? Trading a starter who has actually been pitching well for two players who will contribute nothing this season sounds like throwing in the towel. I really hope this is not true.
I just typed (and subsequently erased) the exact same sentiments over at my blog… the average fan will look at it that way I’m sure.
What do they want us to believe? That Sonny can pick-up where Kaz left off… fat chance.
almost forgot…Sonny again?
done deal. unbelievable.
Unless there is a second deal we are unaware of, this is the front office giving up on this season and playing for next year.
He will not end up like Edwin, he is already a 2 time all star and the best pitcher the rays have ever had. This is bad, I know the team needs to dump salary, but trade him on an open market in the off season where you can get great prospects.
ummm… CC is undoubtedly the Rays’ best player ever.
sorry didn’t see the word “pitcher”— thought it said player. oops
Very non-Rays-esque to keep Kaz in the dark right up until the end.
I’m disappointed on a few different levels…
Wait wait wait…these are the people who voted 80% in favor of trading Kaz 3 weeks ago?? Now, after 4 or 5 good starts…we’re giving up the season? C’mon now. Hopefully (and i dont know the skinny on these propects other than they have not reached AAA yet) we have faith in Friedman and he didnt trade low. After a couple of nice starts, hopefully we were able to get some value out of Kaz and this can open the door to extending someone with less cause for concern– Garza. We have pitchers that can step in for Kaz who are making much less.
I expected the Rays to try to move him after the season. They had to reduce payroll and Kaz made the most sense to trade since he still has some upside. I’m just shocked at the timing.
The “Ring of Fire” I guess means lighting the torch on the “Great Rays Fire Sale” as it is hard to see how this will play well in the Rays locker room or lead to a 2009 defense of the AL title (we’d face Kazmir in the 1st round of the playoffs).
This looks like an admission that the contract they gave him last year was a mistake. He’s been a total enigma the last two seasons. I’d start Hellboy/Davis whoever and I think from a pure baseball sense, you’d probably be okay (although I would have liked one more Boston start out of him).
Those prospects don’t look like much return and this looks like a total salary dump. Too bad they couldn’t dump Burrell’s 2010 contract as part of this. Embarassing to be a fan of an organization that is so broke that it has to do this. I understand why they did it, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I just don’t get what has changed so much that they could give PB $16M 9 months ago and then turn around and have to dump 2-3 years of Kaz because they own him $22M. I guess when your owner buys the team for only $65M or so, he doesn’t have the real $ to compete and he is really a phony swimming in the deep end of the pool where he doesn’t belong.
So in sum, this is kind of good for 2010 (unless he turns out to be Randy Johnson), not good for 2009, and totally embarassing for baseball that the defending champs, 3.5 games out of the playoffs with 5 weeks to go, essentially quit for $.
Lets look at this in it’s simplest form,
Carl?/Scotty? Carl?/Scotty? Carl?/Scotty?
CARL THANKS FOR PLAYING
FIrst of all NOBODY knows whether there is any truth to any of the “rumors”..just every media idiot wants to be the FIRST to report!
Remenber the Jason Bay deal….
But look at it this way:
Just as I had poster a few weeks ago you had to trade Kazmir while he was going good….during his down slumps he looks like shit!
Also, If they traded Kazmire for $ to Keep CC..I’m 100% behind the deal!
But, If they get rid of CC later because of salary…then thats BS!
Also Brad Peny is out there cleared waivers, and can be had for league minimum, $85,000. Same numbers…….Im dumb but thats interesting fodder.
Has Penny cleared waivers? I thought his situation was different because he was released. I read somewhere that he won’t clear until next week
A couple of points in Kazmir’s favor: he has youth on his side and it’s quite possible another team (in this case LAA) thinks they can get more out of him than what the Rays are getting. Also, Kaz has done well at Fenway which is very important since LAA can’t seem to get past the Sawx in the playoffs.
i think he is free to sign with anybody on Monday
I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that a NYC reporter breaks the story given that managment is closer to NYC than to the team or Tampa Bay.
Again, trading Kazmir in the abstract would be okay; it is timing and the lack of return (although PTBNL may change this calculus) that are alarming.
Kaz’s g/f told me at the trade deadline the Angels wanted Reid and Kaz! I guess the rays balked on Reid being included.
Ironic thing is that today is her birthday and she’s in NYC! She was really upset but, I said, “Hey, they have a great new ballpark, better fan base, they’re in 1st place AND its next to disneyland!”
I’m gonna miss one of our best pitchers ever. Good Luck Kaz!
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