COMMENTARY Kazmir comes cheap, could be priceless

— This trade might refuel the Los Angeles Angels, or it might fool them.

It might bring the Angels a No. 1 starter for years to come, or it might bring them a player to be defamed later.

It is a major hedge against free-agent events of the winter. It also might be just the right jolt for the here and now.

What you do know is this: Two years ago, no one in baseball would have ever dreamed you could get Scott Kazmir out of Tampa Bay for a Class AA pitcher, a Class A third baseman and a chest protector.

In 2007, Kazmir led the American League with 239 strikeouts, went 13-9 for a Tampa Bay team that finished 66-96, had 28 saves and was 23 years old.

Now he is 8-7 with a 5.92 ERA and has 91 strikeouts in 111 innings. He is coming off forearm problems, and the plate keeps moving on him, and he is both the victim and the spreader of doubt.

And he is 25 years old.

The Angels got him Friday night forleft-hander Alex Torres, their fastest moving pitcher up the minor league chart, third baseman Matt Sweeney, and an unspecified warm body.

"It made a lot of sense for us," said taciturn General Manager Tony Reagins, whose mood was soiled by the sight of his Angels hitting Kleenex to Oakland fielders again. Or by the sight of Trevor Bell, the former fifth starter, falling down the stairs in his second tour through the A's lineup.

But then the Angels shook off their stupor and won 11-7, and they moved five games ahead of the Texas Rangers, who keep sitting there, like a bounty hunter.

"This is not something we often do," Chone Figgins said Friday afternoon, when Kazmir was still a rumor. "Anything we can do to improve, I'm for it, but sometimes you feel like the guys in here who have been battling should battle to the end."

But the battlefield and the diamond don't let you call timeout. The Angels have been dragging a bit. And Kazmir is pitching fresh. He has given up seven runs in his past three starts, including six brisk innings in Torontoon Wednesday, featuring 10 strikeouts, 1 walk and a 95 mph fastball in the sixth.

Mike Butcher, who was his pitching coach in Tampa Bay before returning to Anaheim, charted more than 200 of Kazmir's most recent pitches on video and pronounced him back.

Kazmir is not the most fuel-efficient vehicle.

You might not want to watch him on a school night, because his style will lengthen your ballpark experience. But he's easily worth this price. As Hugh Alexander, the last of the great scouting characters, once said, "You don't get them pitchers when they're pitching good."

Kazmir was a Houston high school prodigy and was 20 when he debuted for Tampa Bay (the New York Mets drafted him but, inexplicably, traded him for Victor Zambrano). He got a grounder from his first opponent, Ichiro Suzuki. He also struck out 15 Boston Red Sox batters in Fenway Park.

Eventually his delivery escaped him, other Rays pitchers passed him, lefties started hitting him better than righties, and Tampa Bay needed his money to pay others. So Kazmir was traded out of one pennant race and into another.

This was both tactical and strategic for the Angels. With Kazmir aboard for $8 million next year, $12 million in 2011 and $13.5 million (at the club's option) for 2012, they have insured themselves against John Lackey's possible free agent defection. No one on the winter market will be as good and as reasonably priced as Kazmir.

But the Angels also thought of the very near future.

"If we're solid throughout the rotation," Mike Scioscia said, "then he can provide some innings and the bullpen can stay within its roles."

Against the New York Yankees he's 6-4 with a 2.53 ERA and a .218 BA-against.

And, against Kazmir:

Boston's David Ortiz is 9 for 44.

J.D. Drew is 1 for 7.

The Yankees' Derek Jeter is 4 for 33.

Alex Rodriguez is 3 for 24.

Hideki Matsui is 5 for 26.

Melky Cabrera is 1 for 17.

Robinson Cano is 3 for 23.

Texas' Hank Blalock is 1 for 11.

Ian Kinsler is 2 for 19.

Detroit's Miguel Cabrera is 3 for 11.

Magglio Ordonez is 1 for 11.

Clip and save, when the Angels get to the seventh inning of a playoff game.

You don't get Kazmir when he's good. But when you sit and watch Kendry Morales spend an evening playing pepper with the top of the right-field scoreboard, you realize your personal moratorium on second-guessing the Angels should be extended.

Sports, Pages 24 on 08/30/2009

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