Sunday, May 12, 2013
Fangraphs: Cameron: Welcome Back, Scott Kazmir
(www.fangraphs.com)
Read More...Kazmir threw 73 fastballs yesterday [against Oakland], and they were getting progressively harder as the game wore on. The last three fastballs he threw were all 96 mph, and they were pitches 101, 102, and 103 on the day. A guy who lost his spot in Major League Baseball because his fastball was sitting at 86 ended yesterday throwing 96.
Kazmir hasn’t thrown this hard since his early days with Tampa Bay, and yesterday, we saw what Scott Kazmir with a lively fastball can look like. 72 of his ...
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1 2 >I don't know; he proved he could pitch here. Then he got hurt.
He didn't end up being remotely worth his contract -- 668 IP of league average pitching over 6 years -- so I suppose that would qualify as a "bust" but he clearly had skills. Had he been able to (1) stay healthy and (2) cut off 1 walk per 9 he'd have been really good. Yeah, you can say that about scores of pitchers. Still.
Even just staying healthy would have made the contract okay. I recall that there was worry about how many pitches he had thrown in Japan, but while Japan does things a bit differently with respect to that it's not like US pitchers (and pitchers from other countries) have a known amount of wear on their arms.
His H/9 were all over the map in Boston, I presume because of the injuries. But humorously he went from leading the league one year (6.9) to a wild 12.3 hits allowed in the following partial year (60 innings).
other than that, he was back-of-the-rotation materialthen he blew out his arm.He had zero great seasons (167 IP with a K/BB well below 2, and a fluke good ERA isn't great).
And why does the underline code exist but not work.
Is there anything left here, or is Dice-K done?
[strike]Gyroball[/strike]GyroballHe didn't show anything good in his cameo in Boston in 2012. Then again, neither did anyone else.
Short answer: he's probably done, but you never know with pitchers.
He'll fit right in with the Indians rotation!
GiddyupOk, that works.
Now that is a helpful intro!
no writing anything new here. just that i won't be sad if he no longer comes across my television as a pitcher in action
I'm not convinced that the ERA was totally a fluke. He had the .260 BABIP, which looks flukish, but he was a guy with very good stuff and an aversion to throwing pitches in the strike zone. If there was someone who could maintain a low BABIP, you'd think it would be a guy like that. It's worth noting that his ISO-against dropped 46 points from his rookie year to year two, and his HR/9 almost halved. He wasn't just lucky on balls in play; batters weren't getting good contact on him.
But I'd agree that with the low IP (due to the walks and the endless 3-2 counts) you can't call it a great season. And it was nightmarishly dull to watch.
And predictions
Player ERA RA9 ER/RA IP Years RoleGabe White 4.51 4.62 0.976 570.7 1994-2005 Mostly reliever
Grant Balfour 3.38 3.47 0.975 410.3 2001- Reliever
Brandon Backe 5.23 5.36 0.974 525.3 2002-2009 Mostly starter
Carlos Villanueva 4.26 4.38 0.972 657.3 2006- Mostly reliever
Keith Foulke 3.33 3.43 0.970 786.7 1997-2008 Reliever
Scott Baker 4.15 4.28 0.969 958.0 2005- Starter
Mike Oquist 5.46 5.64 0.968 555.0 1993-1999 Mostly starter
Daisuke Matsuzaka 4.52 4.67 0.968 668.3 2007- Starter
John Patterson 4.32 4.48 0.965 454.3 2002-2007 Starter
Frank Wills 5.06 5.25 0.965 435.7 1983-1991 Mostly reliever
Luis Vizcaino 4.33 4.50 0.963 546.7 1999-2009 Reliever
Kevin Slowey 4.66 4.85 0.962 532.7 2007- Starter
Joel Peralta 3.94 4.10 0.962 457.0 2005- Reliever
Arthur Rhodes 4.08 4.25 0.961 1187.7 1991-2011 Reliever
Also above 95%: Bryan Hickerson, Jeff Francis, Al Reyes, Todd van Poppel, Rafael Soriano, Jon Lester, Hideki Irabu, Don Wengert, Masato Yoshii, Ken Burkhart, Bob Patterson, Tom Niedenfuer, Jason Frasor, Roger Pavlik, Jason Grilli, J.J. Putz, Alan Mills, Curt Schilling, Justin Speier, Joe Borowski, Blake Stein
And every fifth day for Indians fans time stops.
I'm shocked its with Cleveland though. I never got the sense that he and Francona had the best relationship and that it was a two way street. I wouldn't have expected them to reunite.
Jose, you seem like a decent guy, but Phil Coorey and I must respectfully disagree. The dude just nibbled, nibbled and nibbled some more. I found the 5 1/3, 110 pitch 6K, 4BB outings to be painful to watch. With his stuff early on you'd thought he'd just challenge hitters not nibble around them. Did I suggest he nibbled a bit...
Has to be Trachsel because when Matsuzaka was on his pitches were fun to watch.
I'd say it comes down to Matsuzaka or Mike Hargrove.
1) His third or fourth start in MLB, against Toronto. His slider was completely unhittable, and he struck out ten in seven innings. It looked like he was about to find himself as an MLB ace.
2) Game one of the 2008 ALCS. By the end of 2008, I had grown inured to his insane walk everyone until the bases are loaded, then get a pop up and a k and a grounder to get out of the jam style. He seemed to be on the way to doing that again when he walked the bases full in the 1st, but he just dominated the Rays after that, commanding his fastball like the pitcher we wished he could be and killing the Rays with breaking pitches when they expected the fastball. It was his second-to-last start before his arm gave out in 2009 (he had a bad start in Game 5), and it was the best I'd seen him throw since early 2007.
i don't think bbtf has done that 'team' yet.
1b: adam laroche/dick stuart
2b: ron hunt
ss: rafael ramirez
3b: wes helms
c: brian harper
lf: greg luzinski
cf: alex sanchez
rf: dante bichette
i left off pitchers because i could list 20 easy
it's a list biased against them in some ways
On the other hand, whereas Trachsel was slow between pitches, I don't think he had quite the combination of working very slowly and nibbling to the point of madness, which made Matsusaka at his worst the most godawful pitcher I've had the misfortune of seeing play.
1B: (Tie) Mike Hargrove and Jack Clark
2B: (Tie) Petunia and Alfonso Soriano
SS: No-Mas
3B: A-Rod (when he's in a funk)
OF: Vince Coleman
OF: Dave Kingman
OF: Pete Incaviglia
C: (Tie) Thurmon Munson and Jason Varitek
SP: Joaquin Andujar
RP: Armando Benitez
MGR: (Tie) Tommy LaSorda and Whitey Herzog
Fans: The tomahawk zombies
hating guys on your own team? guess that makes sense since familiarity can generate some real angst
hence my pick of wes helms who was an abomination in a brewer uniform and a disgrace to his profession
Surprised the Padres or some other WC NL team with a big park did not tale a chance on him. Little risk here on a minor league deal.
hating guys on your own team?
Not really hating, just extreme annoyance at times (A-Rod) or a general dislike of players who carry chips on their shoulders (Munson). I reserve my real hating for the 1985 Cardinals, from their whining manager on down to about half their starting lineup and rotation. Creepiest team in my entire lifetime, bar none.
Wait, what?!?! You disliked Munson, Andy?? I don't think I've ever heard a Yankee fan say that.
A) Don't hit homers
B) Don't run fast
C) Walk all the time
D) Strike out looking all the time
Pat Burrell hit 27 homers a year, but he also hit only 27 doubles a year. It was pretty hard to watch him hit if he hadn't hit a homer in the previous 5 games to remind you that he was still a power hitter.
you don't remember the early 70's indians? ugliest starting pitchers with one guy known as a greaser and the other who gained fame for his nickname of 'dirt'. you had all kinds of creepy looking guys like frank duffy as starters to bench players like john lowenstein.
then they had guys like chris chambliss who weren't creepy as much as eerie since chambliss never seemed to make a facial expression.
early 70's indians were a spooky team
I certainly understand people finding Three True Outcomes hitters to be boring, but I don't feel that way. It's not so much that walks themselves are exciting, although there is something to be said for an offensive rally that builds slowly. It's the idea that the pitcher does have to throw this guy a strike to get him out, but if it's too much of a strike, it's gonna get launched into orbit.
I'd have to think hard about my all-time least favorite to watch team, but it'd probably consist of either guys who were just no good (e.g. Yuniesky Betancourt, Kim Batiste, 2009-10 Oliver Perez) or who had zero on- or off-field personality (e.g. Mark Teixeira).
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