Sunday (if all goes right) The Mets will face the man whom many (including myself) dubbed as the savior of this Mets franchise. That person being Pedro Martinez. Now obviously he didn't do much on the field but his off the field contributions made him worth the contract that the Mets gave him back in the winter of 2004.

July 30, 2004... A day that most Mets fans recognize as the day our "illustrious" General Manager Jim Duquette orchestrated one of the worst trades in Mets History. The Mets had a record of 49-53, and were in fourth place in the NL East, sitting 7 games behind the division leading Atlanta Braves. At this year's trading deadline, the Mets thought that they were still contenders in what was an already disappointing season. It was announced that day, that the Mets had traded highly touted prospect Scott Kazmir and minor leaguer Jose Diaz to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for the injury prone and ineffective Victor Zambrano. And the rest is history... Zambrano continued to be mediocre at best, and couldn't stay healthy enough to pitch very many games, while Kazmir went on to flourish into a top pitcher for the Devil Rays.

It was a day that I myself hate reliving, but even I had to chuckle when today I had discovered that Jim Duquette, now the Assistant General Manager of the Baltimore Orioles, has once again acquired Victor Zambrano from the Pittsburgh Pirates for CASH...

Will September 9, 2007 be remembered as the day Orioles fans wish they had their cash back? Probably not, but they will regret ever hiring Jim Duquette as their Assistant General Manager. What the hell does this guy see in Victor Zambrano? Zambrano wasn't good enough to pitch for the Pittsburgh Pirates who are arguably the worst team in baseball. Last season, Zambrano had an ERA of 6.57 for the Mets, which is absolutely horrendous. But Zambrano wanted to prove he was even worse than that... This season, his ERA with the Blue Jays was 10.97.

Certainly, Zambrano must have pitched better in the minors this season right??? WRONG... Zambrano started the season with a 4.50 ERA in single A ball, and followed that up with a 6.00 ERA in double A. not to be outdone, Zambrano continued his mediocrity with a 7.46 ERA in triple A, before finally being released by the Blue Jays. He then had a brief stint in the Pirates minor league organization before Jim Duquette came calling for his favorite player of all time.

The only winner here is the Pirates, who at least got some compensation for their Victor Zambrano experiment. But hey, good luck to you Victor, I'm sure your luck will change with the Orioles. As for you Jim Duquette... get ready to find a new job.
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When I write my article next Thursday all the MLB trade rumors will be over and done with, due to the Non-Waiver Trade Deadline passing this upcoming Tuesday. This means no more thinking that the Mets will acquire Dontrelle Willis for Scott Schoeneweis (hahahaha); or something else wild that we can only dream about. Of course with the trade deadline coming, the debate of "Do we trade prospects for ballplayers that are established?" will come into play. Will players like Lastings Milledge, Carlos Gomez, and Fernando Martinez be a Met after July 31st? I most certainly hope so.

While thinking of what to write about before the deadline, I came across a great article on the SNY website; written by Ted Berg. It's almost like we share a brain, because I agree 110% with what he is saying. While we have our share of veterans like Delgado, Green, and Lo Duca, we also have a lot of up-and-coming players that have already contributed. Players like Gotay, Gomez, Reyes, Milledge, Maine, and Perez--all of which are between the ages of 22 and 26--could help out the Mets for a while to come. In addition to these ballplayers who have contributed, we also have Mike Pelfrey, and Mike Carp waiting in the wings.

Why trade any of these ballplayers for a guy who might only be here for 3 months, and then go back to his old team (Mike Bordick anyone)? Of course it's hard to tell if Gotay will pan out to be a great, like Wally Backman; or a dud, like Carlos Baerga. Will Lastings Milledge be the next Dave Kingman, or the next Alex Ochoa? Let's not make the same mistake that Jim Duquette did in 2004, by trading our stud Scott Kazmir for a broken Victor Zambrano. Let's make it so that we are not just contenders in 2007, but contenders for years to come.

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