OAKLAND — Left-hander Scott Kazmir resurrected his baseball career last year, winning a job with the Cleveland Indians in spring training then going 10-9 with a 4.04 ERA after spending nearly two full years out of the major leagues.
Kazmir parlayed that bounce-back season into a two-year, $22 million deal with Oakland. And, ironically, he’ll make his A’s debut Tuesday night against the Indians at the O.co Coliseum.
“It’s fun,” Kazmir said Monday before the A’s 2-0 loss to Cleveland. “I already talked to the guys yesterday during the off day and caught up a little bit. A little trash talking in between. It was fun.”
Kazmir said he’ll try to focus on his catcher’s glove and avoid looking at his former teammates when they step into the batter’s box.
“They already know my tendencies, so they’re going to try to mess with me,” Kazmir said, laughing. “I’ve got to just focus in on the mitt and stay focused. A lot of jokesters. I could see all those guys doing some stuff to mess with me.”
Kazmir was released by the Angels on June 5, 2011, and spent the 2012 season pitching for Sugar Land of the independent Atlantic League. The Indians invited him to spring training last year, and he treated every appearance as if his career depended on it — which it did. This year, with a two-year contract secured, Kazmir used spring training to hone his skills and prepare for the regular season.
“I still came in in shape, as I was last year, just ready to go, but once the games began it was more of preparing myself and working on things that I wanted to work on with live hitters,” Kazmir said. “That’s something I just couldn’t do last year. Last year was pretty much just get outs. That’s all it was, which is understandable. I was fighting for a job.
“Coming in a little more relaxed and being able to work on my secondary pitches and stuff, it’s huge to be able to get that many reps in before the season starts”
Kazmir said he had some talks about a new contract with Cleveland, which earned a wild-card playoff berth in the American League.
“Just didn’t happen,” he said. “One of those things. But I enjoyed my time there. Can’t take back that year. It was a great year, great to be with all those guys. A lot of good friends over there, so I was happy for that.”