The Mets in all their wisdom traded their best minor league pitching prospect, the lefty Kazmir for journeyman pitcher, Victor Zambrano. I believe if you look back to 2004, virtually every one in baseball skewered the deal and they were right.
Kazmir has built up a solid career, still going strong, with 108 career wins--three all-star game appearances and was the 2007 American League strike out leader. As for Zambrano, in his two and half years with the Mets, he was 10-14 with a 4.42 E.R.A. The worst part was that Zambrano was a bad pitcher when the Mets traded Kazmir for him. In 2003, he led the American League in walks, hits batsmen and wild pitches---the triple crown.
Kazmir is currently on the Dodgers roster and continues to be an effective starting pitcher in the National League. We Mets fans will have to wonder what it would have been like if we never made the trade.
Kamir's former teammate on the Royals, Eric Hosmer provides the Mets Birthday Quote of the Day,
"He hits spots and goes after you, attacks you with all three of his pitches. There's really no set pattern. He can throw any pitch, any time."
--Eric Hosmer, talking about the professionalism of Scott Kazmir
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