Will Mets bring back Kazmir?
SCOTT KAZMIR | Drafted: 2002 | Debuted: 2004 (Rays)
2 teams - 2004-10: 179 G, 66-61, 4.14 ERA, 1,020 1/3 IP, 990 K
Kazmir was the best pitching prospect in the farm system before he was traded away for Victor Zambrano who bombed for the Mets in 2004. Kazmir has been a member of the Angles since August 2009. Credit: AP
General manager Sandy Alderson has pledged to look into the "possibility" of signing the recently released Scott Kazmir, but the numbers haven't been very encouraging for the Mets' former first-round pick.
Kazmir was 0-5 with a 17.02 ERA in five starts for Triple-A Salt Lake. He has allowed 22 hits and 20 walks in 151/3 innings with 14 strikeouts. Kazmir is owed $12 million this season -- the last of his three-year, $28.5-million contract -- but the Angels are on the hook for that.
Sound familiar? Despite the Mets' lack of pitching depth in the minors, Kazmir might be little more than a nostalgia signing. He was the team's first-round draft pick in 2002 before being traded to the Rays for Victor Zambrano in the infamous deadline deal two years later.
