Kansas City Royals Options to Fix the Rotation

Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Trade for Scott Kazmir from the Oakland A’s.

When we last saw Scott Kazmir, it was during the Three Days Hate known as the Kansas City Royals series against the Oakland A’s from April 17th through 19th. Kazmir hit Lorenzo Cain in the foot on a 0-2 pitch, which eventually led to a fastball behind Brett Lawrie and Kelvin Herrera being ejected. Those were fun times.

While Kazmir may not have a strong fanbase among Royals faithful, he would be an interesting target to upgrade the rotation. He had worked his way back from being out of baseball at the age 27 after suddenly losing his ability to pitch, signing a minor league deal with the Indians after pitching well n the Winter Leagues. His performance in Cleveland was enough for the A’s to sign Kazmir to a two year contract, making him a free agent after this season.

So far in 2015, Kazmir has produced a 2-1 record with a 2.75 ERA and a 1.017 WHiP, striking out 40 batters in 39.1 innings of work. Unlike pitchers like Vargas and Guthrie, Kazmir would be another strikeout pitcher to pair with Duffy and Ventura, potentially giving the Kansas City Royals a formidable front four to the rotation.

Unlike Leake, Kazmir does not have any discernible tendencies with the batted ball. Over his career, Kazmir has given up a fly ball on 41.3% of balls put in play, and has a 39.8% ground ball rate. With the Royals stellar defense, Kazmir’s solid numbers, just like Leake, could only improve.

The only question is, how well would Kazmir fit in to the Royals clubhouse after the debacle in April? It may not be worth finding out, especially given the perfect chemistry that the Kansas City Royals seem to have.

Next: Might as well dream big