kaz is broken, but not trash

Obviously, I've been putting off writing about Kaz for a while now. It's actually been a lot longer than July 1st, when I promised a Kaz post. In fact, it's been on my mind since early-June, when Kaz's "progress" was clearly slow-moving. After each shaky start I kept hoping, "hey, maybe he'll turn it around in his next start." And since that disaster in Boston, he had generally spared me the indignity of admitting just how wrong I was. But as Kaz continued to dovetail, it became obviously apparent just how cowardly I have been.

Well I suppose that it's better that I just get it over with.

This post?

Yeah, I was wrong.

Frankly, Kaz hasn't been ace-like. Not even close. He hasn't been close to worth his contract this year ($8M this year, $12M next) nor has trading for him been really a win (SRod has improved and is doing passable in Tampa Bay - the Halos certainly could've used him for infield depth). Kaz has been frustratingly tantalizing - good and bad, and always prone to a bad inning. And then he and Butch would discuss trying/working on something new. After all the promise of his offseason workouts, the sum of him this season has ranged from mediocre to spectacularly bad. That's probably a part of why he's been a target for fan disenchantment - he's been an epitome of a disappointment, and a summation of the team as a whole.

I know I can't defend his play. And I know that his results do not justify his pay.

But whether it's pride, stubbornness, faith, or complete idiocity, I'm still optimistic.

Oh, I'm still massively disappointed that he hasn't lived up to his previous talent and potential. But Kaz had shown flashes of progress. There've been starts where he's lasted in the 7th inning, starts where he's walked less than 3 batters, and starts where he's given up 2 runs or less. Of course, he's yet to put all those things into one start (Closest? in Chicago against the Cubs: 6IP, 2ER, 3BB - 1IBB). Some starts begin promisingly, but he somehow manages to include a discouraging meltdown in each of them. And of course, I don't have anything to add about that start in Oakland.

Kaz lacks consistancy. Not just consistancy from start to start, but consistancy from inning to inning. Admittedly, I haven't seem Kaz pitch since his game at Dodger Stadium, but from what I can gather from gameday and Terry, Kaz still can't throw strikes. Increasingly, it's been easy to reasonably say that he's up there pitching scared. (Though, I should point out that it's easy for us fans to chastise him. It's not us up on the hill in front of thousands, well aware that our career depends on our performance.) Why did Sosh need a closed-door meeting to convince Kaz to throw his slider? Common sense says Kaz was too scared to throw it. I'm sure he's acutely aware that his career, not only his place in the Angels' rotation is in jeopardy. So in the game, when one thing seems to go wrong, Kaz seems to implode and before long, a hard-fought good 2 or 3 innings is wasted.

There's no doubt in my mind that Kaz wants it. He wants to recapture his glory. After all, it seems like he's been willing to do anything (offseason workouts, tinkering with his mechanics, changing his pitch selection) to be sucessful.

There was an article at HardballTalk early in the season comparing Hayward and Francoeur and the differences between the football and baseball mentality. I didn't quite understand it at the time. But I think I might now. In football, brute strength is often good enough - it's an extremely physical sport. But in baseball, a saavy mental approach is the most important factor. Where the article makes some good points on purely relying on natural ability, it failed to consider the flip side.

Kaz is residing there.

I agree with the Angels. Kaz is thinking too much. It seems to me that Kaz is just trying anything to see if something will stick. He alluded to as much when he told Mark Saxon that he's been pretty much been doing short-term fixes the entire season. Kaz might be relying on his brain rather than his natural ability, but he was doing the programming equivalent of a brute strength algorithim - just try anything (and everything) until something works. If Kaz is going to find success, he needs to reboot with a new, more elegant mental approach - one that allows him to fall back on his natural ability.

Hopefully Kaz is taking this DL stint to just.. take a step back and take a breath.

What I would like to see from him when he comes back? Just go out there on the mound and play. Have fun. Crack a smile. Shed all those worries about your mechanics, about your rotation spot, about performing for the fans. In other words, stop caring so much.

Because Kaz has been around so long, people forget just how young he is. He's only 26 - not even in the so-called prime years. I still think he can recapture himself. I just hope he heeds Ervin's words:

"F--- it, let's pitch."