There was some unexpected drama on Saturday that had nothing to do with the Yankees split squad 8-3 victory over the Braves. After left-hander Scott Kazmir pitched one inning in relief of starting pitcher Julio Teheran, he came out of the game with apparent arm discomfort. After the game, he told the press that he had thrown 90 to 100 pitches in a bullpen session on Wednesday and was not anticipating on pitching Saturday.
A few hours later, Kazmir was given his unconditional release.
To be fair, Kazmir has shown very little this spring, and his release may have had nothing to do with his comments or the situation around his Saturday appearance. However, it is an eyebrow-raising series of events from an organization where miscommunication has been an unwelcome, but regular occurrence.
Rotation
Locks: RH Mike Foltynewicz, RH Brandon McCarthy, RH Julio Teheran, LH Sean Newcomb
Likely 5th Starter: RH Anibal Sanchez
Injured: LH Luiz Gohara
Reassigned: RH Aaron Blair, RH Lucas Sims, RH Matt Wisler
Released: LH Scott Kazmir
In addition to Kazmir’s release, three other potential options in Blair, Sims, and Wisler were optioned to Gwinnett early Saturday. All three were also options for the long relief spot in the bullpen. All of this would seem to make the recently signed Anibal Sanchez the prohibitive favorite to start for the Braves the first time the team will require a fifth starter, likely April 10 on the road against Washington.
On a positive note, it was reported Saturday that Gohara seems to be ahead of schedule in his recovery from his sprained ankle. The time-frame for his potential return has been moved up from mid-to-late May to late-April-to-early-May.
That said, the inability of the organization to come up with any young starter to back-fill the fifth starter spot this spring has to be the main disappointment of camp. The starting rotation for Gwinnett will be well worth attention over the first month, because a pitcher that gets hot may get a fast promotion to the majors.
Bullpen
Locks: RH Arodys Vizcaino, RH Jose Ramirez, LH Sam Freeman, LH A.J. Minter, RH Peter Moylan, RH Dan Winkler
Last Spots Candidates: , LH Rex Brothers, RH Shane Carle
Injured: RH Chase Whitley
Reassigned: RH Aaron Blair, RH Lucas Sims, RH Matt Wisler
Returned: RH Anyelo Gomez
Released: LH Scott Kazmir
The bullpen situtation got rapidly clearer this week. On Tuesday, the Braves returned Rule V draftee Anyelo Gomez back to the New York Yankees, the team the Braves drafted Gomez out of back in December. After initially showing good results against mostly against minor league hitters late in spring training games, Gomez showed he wasn’t quite ready from prime time when challenged against major leaguers.
Whitley is still recovering strength after a nasty bout with a staph infection in his foot, and wasn’t able to get back into a spring game this week as was hoped and will start the season on the disabled list. None of the rotation candidates such as Blair, Sims, or Wisler could pitch well enough to give hope they would be successful at this time in a long relief role, and Kazmir was cut rather than trying to make him a reliever for the first time this late in his career.
Somehow that leaves the less-than-impressive Shane Carle and Rex Brothers as remaining candidates for the last two spots in the Opening Day bullpen. It shouldn’t be surprising to anyone if the Braves look to make a deal or a waiver wire claim within the next few days to address the matter.
Bench
Locks: IF Charlie Culberson, IF Rio Ruiz, OF Preston Tucker, C Kurt Suzuki
Last Spots Candidates: OF Lane Adams, OF Ezequiel Carrera, , UT Danny Santana, C Chris Stewart
Unlikely: IF Sean Kazmar,
With presumptive starting third baseman Johan Camargo slowed by an oblique injury and likely to start the season on the DL, Rio Ruiz will almost certainly now make the team and probably start at third base on Opening Day. While Ruiz has had a tough spring overall, he and his revamped swing has looked stronger of late, making him an easy choice over defensive specialist Culberson or the 0-for-spring Ryan Schimpf.
In the outfield, Preston Tucker has had an impressive spring, and has likely locked up the big half of a left field platoon, if not the whole thing, until top prospect Ronald Acuña, Jr. has been sufficiently developed enough on April 13 to be promoted.
That likely leaves two or three spots open. Lane Adams has had a tough spring, but seems likely to hang on to a spot with a small recent resurgence. The Braves are toying with taking Chris Stewart as a third catcher for the first couple of weeks, which would permit the luxury of using Suzuki or Tyler Flowers late in games as a pinch hitter. If that happens, Carrera or Santana will get the final spot, with Santana seemingly having the inside track due to his positional flexibility.
BONUS CONTENT!
Here is the entry for Scott Kazmir in the recently released 2018 Atlanta Baseball Preview, written by contributors from Outfield Fly Rule and Walk Off Walk and on sale for the low price of only $9.99 at Amazon.com.
Kazmir is a former Mets top prospect. He was traded as a prospect to Tampa Bay for the legendary Victor Zambrano, a trade that Mets fans still look back on less than fondly. Kazmir was an All-Star twice with the Rays and signed an extension with them. However, he started to get hurt, which lead to poor performance, and this downward spiral led to first a trade to the Angels, then to being released in the middle of the 2011 season.
Kazmir didn’t get picked up, and entered the 2012 season without a contract. He worked on getting healthy, getting his mechanics back in order, and ended up pitching for the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League. The Cleveland Indians brought him into camp on a minor league deal in 2013, he made the team and pitched effectively enough to secure first a two-year deal with Oakland, then a three-year deal with the Dodgers.
In the second year of that contract, Kazmir developed hip issues, which led to mechanical issues, which lead to him missing the entire 2017 season. Now he’s with the Braves, mostly as financial ballast to make the Matt Kemp trade work. I bring all this up to show that Kazmir has been in weirder situations before and come back strong. No one, including Kazmir, has any idea what he has left or if he will a factor going into another free agency off-season for him, but I wouldn’t count him out on being a contributor.
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