Tampa Bay Rays to trade Scott Kazmir to L.A. Angels

August 28, 4:32 PMTampa Bay Rays ExaminerRob Quinn

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Tampa Bay Rays Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Goin' to California - Kaz is head to the Angles AP/Darren Calabrese

With September call-ups on the horizon, the Rays will reportedly send Scott Kazmir to the Angels for prospects Alexander Torres and Matthew Sweeney. Lyle Spencer at MLB.com broke the story this afternoon.

What does this trade mean for the Rays? Are they giving up on 2009?

The Kaz-to-the-Angels rumors had been swirling since before the July 31 trade deadline, which would have made perfect sense at the time because Kazmir was struggling mightily and the Angels were (and still are) desperate for starting pitching.

The timing is a little bit questionable now, though. Kazmir has produced a quality start five of his last six times out and he’s coming off his best performance of the season with 10 strikeouts in six innings on Wednesday against the Blue Jays. The Rays are in the thick of the wild-card hunt, 3.5 games behind Boston with over a month to go so now does not seem to be an ideal time to be dumping salary.

Kazmir is due to make $8 million in 2010 and $12 in 2011. The Rays will have to pay him $800K for trading him though. So the Rays saved $20 million over the next two years. But how much does this hurt the team’s chances at getting to the World Series this year? What kind of message does it send to the guys in the clubhouse?

More on this later tonight, including a look at the two prospects coming to Tampa Bay.

Scott Kazmir leaves the Rays as the franchise leader in wins, strikeouts, innings pitched, and games started.

What are your initial thoughts on the Kazmir trade? Let me know in a comment.

Jason Bartlett hits: 132

Jason Bartlett groundball singles between short and third: 27

Follow the Tampa Bay Rays Examiner on Twitter.

Have a great Rays' story idea for me? Are you looking forward to seeing Andy Sonnanstine against Boston on Tuesday? E-mail me at raysexaminer@live.com