The Scott Kazmir Trade is the Rashomon of modern Mets moves. That comes from the criminal nature of the transaction for Tampa Bay, or perhaps the many points of view produced when so many people were in the room at the time vital decisions were made.
But Adam Rubin’s piece today detailing the team’s decision not to pursue action against the then-Devil Rays is far from shocking- I’ve heard the same thing myself. Still, I am glad he reported it, and with Kazmir’s recent release, we can take a look at the revisionist history some have tried to perpetrate- namely, that the Mets were somehow right to make this deal.
The deal encapsulates so much of what the Mets have failed at in recent years- proper evaluation of prospects, evaluating injury risks, due diligence on injuries, failure to properly assess where the team is in the success cycle. That Kazmir, after years of strong pitching (years, incidentally, where he probably makes the difference in the 2006 NLCS, along with assuring playoff berths in both 2007 and 2008), eventually broke down is no answer to those failures.
Mark Prior broke down. Stephen Strasburg broke down. This doesn’t mean their teams should have traded them for an older pitcher with control issues who, by the way, also broke down. This doesn’t validate the Mets- it means pitchers are risky, and they traded the one with far higher upside who went on to accomplish far more.
The trade was ridiculous at the time. But trying to justify it now based on results? Comical. Here’s a simple comparison for anyone who wishes to attempt this:
From July 30, 2004 to present:
Scott Kazmir WAR: 16.9
Victor Zambrano WAR: -0.9
You make the call.
7 Comments
The issue was more about why he was traded not so much that we got only Zambrano for him. If it was not Zambrano it would of been somebody else. The Mets wanted to move him because Franco and Leiter did not want him here. The Veterans ruled the roost then
I’ve stated elsewhere that the pieces of trade were defensible. There was worry (rightly as it turned out) that Kazmir had a throwing motion that would lead to injury. Zambrano had great stuff and no command. So there is no problem with wanting to trade away Kazmir or wanting to trade for Zambrano.
The first problem was in trading Kazmir for Zambrano. Kazmir had much greater trade value if the Mets had made it known he was available. And Zambrano had a lot less trade value (no command and injury risk).
The second problem was in the way that the entire Front Office backed away from the trade about 3 seconds after it happened. It almost seemed like no one wanted to take any responsibility for anything related to the trade. If you are a GM and you can’t defend the trade as it’s happening, then there is a huge problem.
Davis is correct. Kazmir had the rep of being a know-it-all smart alec and a wise guy, (radically) disliked by managers and teammates.
A character like that will do nothing but drag a team down. He could “win” fifteen games and still be a net-net liability.
Poison, have to assume you didn’t watch Brian Lawrence pitch. Kazmir in that rotation means two more playoff berths and a probable World Series appearance. To eliminate the value of all that, the music he played in the clubhouse had to have been pretty terrible.
We need more then just Kazmir to make the playoffs. Lack of offense lost those late in the year games, not to mention and non-existent bullpen, and starting pitching injuries took there toll.
I understand what you are saying, but look at the pitchers they threw out there- Kazmir was easily worth several wins above them in both 07 and 08. Considering they finished a game out each year, I think the conclusion is pretty clear.
And with Kazmir in the 2006 rotation, maybe Minaya doesn’t insist that Olliver Perez is thrown into the Nady-Hernandez deal….Oh to dream….