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I’m not sure if any move can sum up the San Francisco Giants willingness and desire to buy as many scratch off tickets as the store will sell them than their signing of left-handed pitcher Scott Kazmir.
Scott Kazmir has agreed to a minor-league deal with the San Francisco Giants, with an invitation to big-league camp. His fastball velocity reached 92-93 mph in his most recent bullpen session.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) February 23, 2021
Here’s the good about Kazmir: In his last three years of MLB pitching, he has a 3.66 ERA, a 3.88 FIP, 453 strikeouts to 161 walks.
Here’s the bad about Kazmir: He hasn’t pitched in an MLB game in 1,614 days.
So yeah.
Kazmir is, not surprisingly, signing a Minor League deal with the team, and it will be a bit of an uphill battle for the three-time All-Star to earn a spot on the club. But we’ve seen crazier things, and the Giants sure love their formerly good players that they can try to fix.
Trying that again! If Scott Kazmir makes the big-league team, he will earn a base salary of $600,000. He does not have an opt-out.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) February 24, 2021
At 37 years old, Kazmir has been out of MLB mostly do to injuries. He briefly pitched in 2020 in an independent league called the Constellation Energy League, which sounds pretty cool. He struggled there though, allowing 20 baserunners in 15 innings while striking out just 10.
Welcome to the Giants, Scott.