Mar 15 Brittany Ghiroli, of MLB.com, reports Tampa Bay Rays SP Scott Kazmir (elbow) will not pitch in the team's season opener as a result of his recent delay in returning to action.
rotoworld is now reporting that he could start the season on the DL:
Rays manager Joe Maddon said it was "probably more than likely" Scott Kazmir (elbow) would be sidelined at the start of the season.
The Rays do not currently have a set date for Kazmir's return to the mound. They're insisting that he hasn't had a setback, but it seems a perfect term for what's happened with him. Speculation is that he's still feeling some discomfort in his elbow while throwing his slider. Even Kazmir, who was completely gung ho for an Opening Day comeback, now believes backing off was the right plan. "I'd rather miss just a couple starts early in the year than miss a couple months during the year," Kazmir said. "I just want to make sure we get it right." Mar. 16 - 1:46 pm et
I've owned Kazmir in at least one league for the last three years, and the Rays have never been straightforward about Kazmir's health - they always are overly optimistic. Won't be long until we hear this short DL stint has become a longer one.
This is why I don't own Kazmir anywhere this year. I also finally gave up this year on Sheets, not that there's any new bad news out of him. Watch, now both will post Cy Young campaigns.
Here is the latest news.... Not sounding all that bad. But early injuries to SP's are always bad news I guess. Remember last year how Carpenter's "elbow hinge" or whatever just continued to spiral downwards?
"Even if Kazmir (elbow) starts the season on the DL for the Rays, the team feels there's a decent chance they could activate him as soon as April 6, the Tampa Tribune reports. Spin: According to the report, the Rays could put Kazmir on the 15-day DL during spring training and activate him on or about April 6, allowing them to carry another pitcher for the first week while also protecting themselves against the possibility that Kazmir still might not be ready by then. Such a strategy would cost Kazmir the team's Opening Day start, but that's about it, and would also allow the team to carry any remaining competition for rotation berths into the first week of the season. Note that under this approach, the Rays would have to put Kazmir on the DL by Friday or so, which would limit his spring outings after that date to "B" games, intrasquad games, or minor-league contests."
For some reason, I am not very encouraged about this.
After partaking in Wednesday's drills, Kazmir reported his arm to be the "same old" it has been in the past few days. The lefty said he played catch for about five to 10 minutes, and reported no pain and minimal soreness.
I take it you're a Kazmir owner... I'm going to drive myself nuts with all of this... basically we won't know until Kaz throws a batting practice or something more intensive than "catch."
Soreness in the elbow (or all over) is very natural for pitchers in spring training... the Rays are being cautious and overly ambiguous in there press reports, I think there's a very good chance he misses 1-2 starts but there's also a chance he misses none and starts at the end of the rotation OR the Rays are hiding something serious here, then owners of Kazmir like me are up shits creek and get to sweat for awhile while the smoke clears...
all in all, it's premature to worry, BUT if I were a betting man i'd say count on 1-2 missed starts... the Rays may actually contend in the near future and won't sacrifice their ace's future!
Cyclone177 wrote:Yep, Kaz owner. In fact, I think he was the first pitcher I drafted. It would be just my luck, I took Carpenter as my first pitcher last year.
Exact same situation as me. Kazmir was my first pitcher taken this year and Carpenter was my first pitcher taken last year.
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by mcd285 » Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:23 pm 
