Kazmir traded to Angels??

[raysnbran]

Some reports now say the deal for 2 minor league prospects and a PTBNL is off. Jon Heyman says it is still on. I think once it's out there, maybe not the same players involved for Kazmir, but some combo, it still gets done.

I don't know what to think of this deal. First, how can he be traded August 28th anyways? The trade deadline was 7/31, wouldn't he have to pass through waivers first? Is that how the Angels got the option to do a deal, claiming him on waivers? Someone explain it to me please.

Is this the Rays waving the white flag in the wild card? They're only 4 games out behind Boston. What kind of signal does this send to the other players?

The word being floated here in Tampa Bay is they are trading Kazmir now while he has had 3 good outings in a row and his value is high (though they are rumored to be getting 2 prospects not even in the Angels top 10). That they are only getting these prospects and not a proven MLB player is that the Angels would be taking on $22.5M in Kazmir's salary over the next 2 years. Is this the first salary dump since the new owners took over?

But is the purpose to use the savings on Kazmir's salary and funnel it towards Crawford's impending 2010 option, for arbitration hearings upcoming for Bartlett and Garza, and to bring up top prospect Wade Davis now in his place? If that's the case, I'm OK with it, as long as it's made clear to the players that this is for the long term good of the team.

It remains to be seen how this plays out but it appears Kazmir has pitched his last game in a Ray uniform

[Fuzzy Bear]

Apparently, the deal has fallen through.

I can't see trading Kazmir. He's having an off year, but he's the kind of guy the Rays need if they're going to keep winning.

[9&10]

I thought it was official, no?

[Evangelion]

I thought it was official, no?

It is.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...=.jsp&c_id=mlb

[raysnbran]

The Rays have called back up Andy Sonnanstine from Durham to replace Kazmir on the roster, instead of Wade Davis. Maybe Davis still comes up after Tuesday, I hope. Sonnanstine is at best a #5 starter. Davis has the potential to be a #1 or #2.

At least for today, it looked like the Rays were ready to play after last night's sorry effort. It was odd to see Kazmir still in the dugout in the 8th inning talking to pitching coach Jim Hickey. What will be even odder, is if the Rays somehow win the wildcard, we would face Kazmir and the Angels in the ALDS.

I don't know if Longoria's hamstring never got back to 100% but he has been terrible since the AllStar break. He looks lost at the plate, but we have to keep running him out there. At least we got Aki Iwamura back to play 2B, he's way better than Aybar at 2B, and Zobrist can go back to the OF instead of the Gabe platoon.

[SDL]

Thanks for conceding at least the wild card to my BoSox.

I'll admit, I was out all day Friday, not near a TV/radio and I doubt they would've announced the trade over the PA sytem at CrueFest, so it wasn't until yesterday afternoon that I read about in the Times.

They said money was a factor...what are they doing...trying to emulate the Marlins/Pirates? I can see if you guys were at the bottom, but you guys are still in the race. Concede 2009 now for guys who aren't really top tier propects?

People crucified the Mets front office for getting rid of Kazmir in the Zambrano deal. I won't be surprised if it happens again, only with Friedman as the recipient.

i'm sorry...I just can't see you trading one of your top hurlers while you still have a good chance to make the post-season.

[raysnbran]

Kazmir has been, by and large, a disappointment for nearly two seasons. If not for his last few starts, he would have hardly any trade value at all during the regular season. Yes, it is to save money, but if it means keeping an every day player like Carl Crawford here over a guy that throws 100 pitches by the 5th inning every 5th day, I can see the logic of using the pitchers salary to keep the position player. That's what small market teams have to do. They can't simply keep buying and adding new players when they see a need, like your team. And if a guy like Wade Davis comes up in September and shows he's the real deal, Kazmir will be missed even less.

[raysnbran]

The PTBNL is Sean Rodriguez, a 2B-SS who hit 29 HRs with 92 RBI batting .299 in AAA, not a bad pickup for Kazmir. He might be the replacement at 2B for Iwamura in 2010 if they don't pick up his option. Excellent move IMO

[Imgran]

Whoa. That sure puts the Kazmir deal in a new light all right!!!!

[SDL]

Whoa. That sure puts the Kazmir deal in a new light all right!!!!

I know LaMar was a lousy GM, but did they want to go as far as to get rid of the only good thing he ever did?

[SirBLaUghs]

There was a slight babble about Kazmir coming back to the Mets, like the prodigal son returns and all that drama lol. But hey, i know he'll help the A's as he's motivated again, to win a ring. He'll help the Angels no doubt.

[SDL]

Wasn't tonight supposed to be Kazmir's turn in the Rays rotation?

[raysnbran]

So was tonight, and go check out Wade Davis' line for this game and come back and tell me how much we will miss Kazmir, and especially his $22M due in salary...

[raysnbran]

What we saw last night from Kazmir versus the Yankees in the ALCS is what Rays fans had been seeing for a while now. Deep pitch counts, high number of pitches in a low amount of innings, a pitcher who has let the mental side of his mechanics take over his physical abilities to throw the baseball. Kazmir needs to be broken down and built back up again. He has listened to so many people telling him what he is doing wrong he has no confidence in anything of how to get it fixed.

Well, it's not the Rays problem anymore

[Fielding Marshall]

What we saw last night from Kazmir versus the Yankees in the ALCS is what Rays fans had been seeing for a while now. Deep pitch counts, high number of pitches in a low amount of innings, a pitcher who has let the mental side of his mechanics take over his physical abilities to throw the baseball. Kazmir needs to be broken down and built back up again. He has listened to so many people telling him what he is doing wrong he has no confidence in anything of how to get it fixed.

Well, it's not the Rays problem anymore

Truly a shame he hasn't put it all together. He's always been quite a talent, shabby control or not...