Scott Kazmir isn’t getting a lot of attention from teams as he attempts to make a comeback, and understandably so.
He hasn’t pitched in the majors since April 3 of last season, when he lasted just 1 2/3 innings and gave up five runs for the Angels. Before that, he had fallen off badly after the Tampa Bay Rays traded him to Los Angeles in 2009.
He’s getting a little bit of attention now, however, from his original team, reports the New York Daily News.
The Mets planned to send a scout to a scheduled showcase in Houston for the team’s former top draft pick, Scott Kazmir, a club insider said Wednesday.
The story contains no quotes from the Mets’ “club insider,” but this is probably little more than a courtesy call. Kazmir hasn’t been good in a long time. Then again, the Mets don’t have a whole lot to lose just by looking.
The Mets drafted Kazmir in the first round in 2002, then sent the promising young left-hander to Tampa Bay in what became a notorious trade (from a Mets perspective) for mediocre veteran Victor Zambrano in 2004. It would be a heck of a story for Kazmir to make a triumphant return to New York, but it’s probably more likely that a point guard from Harvard will come out of nowhere to light up the NBA pigs will learn to fly.
A minor-league deal with a spring training invite is about the best Kazmir can hope for at this point.
