Tampa Rays block Kazmir from WBC

PORT CHARLOTTE, Florida (AP) Scott Kazmir will not pitch for the United States in next month's World Baseball Classic because the Tampa Bay Rays were concerned about the risk of injury to the All-Star left-hander.

The American League champions petitioned to have Kazmir removed from Team USA because the 25-year-old missed the opening month of last season with an elbow strain suffered during spring training and then pitched through October because of the playoffs and World Series.

"With health issues that he had last year, coupled with the fact he played an extra month, we felt the prudent thing to do would be to push him back a little bit in spring, as we're doing with some of our other pitchers as well," Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said on Tuesday.

Kazmir, a two-time All-Star, was 12-8 with a 3.49 ERA in 2008. Even though he just turned 25 last month, he's already Tampa Bay's career leader in wins, innings pitched, strikeouts and ERA.

Last May, the left-hander signed a three-year contract extension that guarantees him $28.5 million. The deal through 2011 includes a club option for 2012 and could be worth up to $39.5 million.

Updated February 17, 2009