5 pitchers the Los Angeles Dodgers should pursue

Scott Kazmir

The 31-year-old Kazmir turns 32 in January, but the left-hander, after injury problems that lingered through 2012, has turned around his career quite nicely over the last three seasons. He finished this past season with just a record of 7-11, but a 3.10 ERA and 155 strikeouts in 31 starts. It was his second consecutive season that he’s made more than 30 starts.

On July 23rd, before this year’s Trade Deadline, the 2014 All-Star was traded from the Oakland Athletics to the Houston Astros in an effort for the Astros to bolster their rotation to make a postseason run. The Astros succeeded, finishing 86-76 and made the postseason for the first time since 2005 as a Wild Card, but Kazmir struggled in Houston as he finished with a 2-6 record, 4.12 ERA in 73.1 innings pitched down the stretch with the AL West runner-up.

Kazmir provides a steady, veteran presence in any rotation, and is arguably the top starting pitcher remaining in this year’s free agent crop. Kazmir would provide the Dodgers with a stable, top-of-the-rotation arm, but having another lefty at the top of LA’s rotation may prove too redundant and risky from the Dodgers standpoint.

Last year, the Dodgers made a splash in Free Agency when they signed Brandon McCarthy – who had revived his career down the stretch with the New York Yankees in 2014 – to a four-year, $48 million contract. Before his 2014 stint with the Bronx Bombers, McCarthy had bounced around teams from the Texas Rangers to the Oakland Athletics to the Arizona Diamondbacks, all the while battling injury concerns. While McCarthy’s situation has no bearing on Kazmir’s, Kazmir has followed a similar career path, although with much more success.

Kazmir is an innings-eater, but LA has seen this story before. One that may have the team going in a different direction.