Dodgers starter Scott Kazmir will begin the season on the disabled list, Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times tweets. “It’s something with the hip,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told McCullough.
Kazmir has dealt with hip tightness this spring, and his velocity was in the 82-84 MPH range less than two weeks ago. He pitched yesterday against Texas and struggled, allowing three runs, five walks and two hit batsmen over three innings.
The Dodgers have two open spots in their rotation behind Clayton Kershaw, Kenta Maeda and Rich Hill. Even with Kazmir on the shelf, there’s plenty of competition for those two spots — Brandon McCarthy, Hyun-jin Ryu and Alex Wood, all veterans with successful big-league seasons under their belts, are all in the running. Ryu has missed much of the past two seasons to injury, but has impressed observers in camp. Top young lefty Julio Urias appears set to begin the season in the minors as the Dodgers monitor his workload.
socalblake
Maybe the article should be written once he’s not on the DL.
RiseAgainst3598
Haha
Blue_Painted_Dreams_LA
Seems good to me stick him on the 60 Day free yourself up a roster spot. Let him take the full 30 day rehab and keep him out for 90 days. It’s not much return on the 16M against the threshold. That deferred 24M from 19-21 is looking like an ugly sunken cost.
outinleftfield
And so it begins. Can the Dodgers catch a break on the injury front or are they just signing too many often injured pitchers?
sufferforsnakes
No, and yes.
thegreatcerealfamine
Maybe they should sign a righty or two
sox91
I feel like at this point the strength/conditioning staff and athletic training staff might need to be checked into if they haven’t already. Their injury rate is always stupid high.
Dominic 2
The later!
amjr
Already in mid-season form. Way to go!
Psychguy
Even when healthy not Kazmir is not impressive. Never understood his signing. He did well 1/2 year with Astros, then melted down. Better to give opportunities to other guys.
redsfan48
He had a good 1.5 years with the A’s in 2014-2015. And if you go back to before 2010, he was one of the best pitchers in the game for years.
Psychguy
He was trending down. He was expected to help the Astros compete for division, but was a bust the second half of the year. There were no injury concerns at that time so still not sure why he warranted a Dodger signing. Anyway, glad he’s on the shelf and Wood and maybe Ryu can get a chance.
Ry.the.Stunner
You’re overselling his pre-2010 years. He had one year where he reached 200 IP. and sat around the mid-3 ERA range, which is decent, but certainly not in the “one of the best pitchers in the game” discussion.
thegreatcerealfamine
Yea @RytheSunner the guy has never been able to stay healthy even going back to his prospect days with the Mets.
johncena2016
He’s gonna be injured for most of this contract, I mean Kazmir isn’t that bad but he’s just always on the DL.
bleacherbum
Anddddd water is wet
Melvin McMurf
angels fans remember this all too well
SupremeZeus
An unexpected medical retirement might be the only hope for Dodger fans & that k. Not likely.
thegreatcerealfamine
Guy is a tumor that just grows and festers throughout the season.
ltroyce2020
No reason whatsoever to sign him in the first place! His record over the last five or six years is awful! A big mistake by Dodger management, they should have known better!
hojostache
His signing was a head-scratcher.
tommyLA
Made sense at the time signing him considering he had the opt out after year one and the market for starters was really thin this year. This is Jason Schmidt all over again…
rycm131
WHAT!!!!!???
gmenfan
Kazmir has purchased a summer home on the DL.