Speaking of the trade deadline…
In 2004, on the trade deadline, Mets GM Jim Duquette traded a 20–year-old LHP Scott Kazmir to the Rays for Victor Zambrano, who had gone 21-17 in the previous two seasons.
Kazmir had been 25–17 with a 3.49 ERA in 358 innings, during which he struck out 405 batters.
However, this season, in which he has spent time on the disabled list, he is just 4–6 with a 6.69 ERA, and just 58 strike outs.
…and, of course, zambrano was last seen hopping in pain off the mound in Shea Stadium, in what has got to be the most bizarre exit from a team ever…
This afternoon on MLB Network, Duquette was asked why he made this deal, to which he responded:
“I’m still answering questions about the Kazmir trade. It was six years ago… Kazmir, here’s a guy that what we talked about in the evaluation he turned out exactly like we thought; his stuff, his makeup, his desire, all the things that Kazmir turned out to be we had right… What we didn’t have right was the guy we got back, Victor Zambrano. In that, when you’re sitting in the GM chair, and you’re going, ‘What were we looking at, what were our scouts looking at.’ It ended up, he was broken.”
…like i said the other day, the buzz around kazmir is that his elbow may be a ticking time-bomb, and that he may not put in the effort to raise himself from this level pitcher to the next level… i guess what duquette is saying is that, it is these concerns that were of concern to the Mets… and so, today, duquette is comfortable with how they evaluated him… in addition, though he is confused by recommendations made to him about zambrano, he believes zambrano was damaged goods when they got it…
The 25–year-old Kazmir will earn $20 million through 2011, after which he could become a free agent.
{ 24 comments }
He should have just said:
“Because NY fans want GM’s to make trades, regardless of what they may be giving up. They can’t stand to lose, so I pulled the trigger. I was dumb because I listened to the fans and didn’t use common sense. Omar is smart for not pulling the trigger on anything over the top because he cannot bargain with guys like Delgado, Reyes, Beltran, Maine, Putz, and Sheffield on the DL. This team, with a couple of FA pick-ups this offseason, can come back healthy and again be the favorite in the NL.”
every fan involved enough to know kazmir’s name thought this trade was a DISASTER the moment it was announced. there were no fans calling for victor zambrano in 2004.
regardless of whether he was right about kazmir and regardless of what anyone fed him about zambrano, duquette completely failed to shop kazmir for a better pitcher. and that his why he has not been a GM since.
Ding Ding Ding. To be fair, he was the GM of the Orioles for a short while, but I agree.
Duquette = Fail.
This has nothing to do with the fans are you kidding me? He got bullied by his own people, and made one of the dumbest moves in the history of the franchise.
He deserves grief, then, now, and freaking forever.
Right, so had he not made a trade, nobody would have stood up and said “Why isn’t this moron making any moves? Fire him!”
I’m not defending the move, and yes, I believe he was forced to do it as well, but when you’re the GM you don’t have to listen to anybody but the owner. My point is that people give Omar too much grief now because he didn’t pull off a trade.
You have no idea what you are talking about. Duquette got BENSON first without giving up kazmir and everyone let out a sigh of relief bc no one wanted to lose kazmir, but we needed help. So the fans were satisfied at that point then suddenly we find out they traded kazmir for zambrano. Do not blame the fans for poor judgment by GMs. Pat Gillick is a fine GM he built two WS champions in two very different cities in regards to their fan base. Either you are a good GM or not. There is a reason Steve Phillips and Jim Duquette are both on TV and will never be in a major league front office again, its not bc of us.
Haha, okay I know nothing.
But let me say something before I quit. If the fans aren’t happy with the GM’s performance, he will probably be fired. End of story. Some GMs do things their way, while others give in to silly demands just to keep people happy so they won’t lose their job. That’s what Duquette did, and that’s what Phillips always did before him.
Omar, on the other hand, seems to do things his way. It’s a GOOD thing he doesn’t listen to the fans’ rants and demands because almost all of them think it is fantasy baseball and just want the biggest names all on one roster.
That’s my point: Omar takes too much grief when in actuality he is the best GM we have had in forever. I never listen to a word either Phillips or Duquette have to say because they were GMs for outside influences (like the fans) and not for the Mets.
I get so sick of hearing (reading) too many fans on here wanting Omar to be fired. He’s doing the right thing.
you really dont know what youre talking about. its ok though this organization needs people like you to overlook their incompetence and continue to support them while making excuses for all their mistakes. I mean the fact that you are trying to say that it was you me and our fellow met fans’ fault that we traded scott kazmir and not the mets/jim duquette themselves is laughable.
By contrast in 2004, The Phillies were 4.5 games out of first on July 31st and did not make any trades in order to make a run for the division and they had the minor league goods to pull something off. In the minors at the time for them were pitchers, Cole Hamels, Ryan Madson and Gavin Floyd, 1B Ryan Howard, tearing up AA that season, and OF Michael Braun. In the long term, not making a trade might have been the best move they ever made.
^ One of the best points I’ve seen in a while.
That’s the point I’ve been trying to make…what if Ike Davis, Brad Holt, Jenrry Mejia, Fernando Martinez, and Wilmer Flores become good (not even great) MLB players? How many cores have this many guys:
Santana, K-Rod, Wright, Reyes, Beltran, Davis, Holt, Mejia, Martinez, Flores…
That’s 6 lineup holes and two rotation slots.
Now, I’m not counting on ALL of those guys to pan out, but I’m not letting the past prospects (Escobar, Huskey, Milledge, etc.) cloud my vision. These guys have a TON of potential, and with good development and a little bit of luck the Mets will have a plethora of talent pouring from their farm system in a couple of years.
Sorry, 3 rotation slots…I added Santana afterwards and forgot to update my numbers, lol
yea im sure a guy like eric hinske wouldve cost fernando martinez. its amazing you people seem to think you either make no move or you unload your farm for a mediocre player.
I think Omar is getting a lot of grief because the red sox got a player that would have been perfect for the mets for a pile of garbage. the only people who think justin masterson will be anything is bspn. that is more of a testament to how far most mlb teams are willing to bend over and get raped by the red sox then it is to omar’s incompetence. If WE tried to get Martinez, the conversation would have started with Fmart, Holt and Niese. But for the Nation, its 2 low level, injury prone prospects and a side-arming, right handed reliever who couldn’t crack a Boston rotation with Penny and Smoltz sucking it up in the back end of the rotation.
At least Shapiro actually got some decent prospects from Philly, and maybe we can still hook up with cleveland for a catcher, since they still have shoppach, santana and now marson
The only thing the Mets would have done is drive the price up on V Martinez. The Red Sox have more prospects to deal and are willing. Just because on a feel out call they say it will probably take x x and Y doesn’t mean they take the deal especially when another team is on line 2 about the same player.
it’s like bidding in an auction for something with a guy who you know can outbid you; you walk away.
Met fans need to let the Victor Martinez fantasy go. The Sox would have just thrown in a Lars Anderson and closed it.
What we should have done is pick up a Willie Bloomquist type guy that plays all positions and would be cheap and would make us never have to see Angel Berroa in a Mets uniform again…
Omar gets a lot of grief imo because there is no plan, or there is a plan and its the 25 guys on the roster at the beginning of the season. He makes no back up plan in case anything goes wrong. We got lucky with Nieve and Neise has also stepped in and given us a few starts. We are also lucky that Livan hasn’t started to suck but there was no accounts made for backup pitchers depending on Maine to go into the season comming off of surgery. There is a never a back up plan with Omar and there is no clear plan for the future. If he made some sort of statement about the direction he plans to take that would be one thing, but V. Martinez could have been had (i’m not sure of the price) and that would have solved an issue we have. If Omar said the price was too high that would be one thing. I have no problem holding onto prospects but he could have brought in a servicable utility player that could swing the bat a bit and help take some pressure off the team who is playing without their big guys. He didn’t. I don’t know if he even tried
i think he had his hands tied. bc i also think he’s gone after the season, barring a miracle.
That post made almost no sense. Omar plan has been made clear many times: hold on to prospects and not do anything crazy with so much talent on the DL.
Omar did have a backup plan, but that backup plan didn’t involve Delgado, Beltran, Reyes, Sheffield, Putz, and Maine being on the DL for most of the season. How can any GM have a backup for that? If you can find one, please point him out to me because he is the new Jesus Christ.
Due to many mutual agreements to keep talks between organizations behind closed doors, we will never know what goes down around the trade deadline. For all we know, Omar could have been working his butt off trying to make a deal, but in the end just felt it wasn’t going to benefit them to trade away the AA talent they have right now.
Common sense: Great AA talent (which we have) turns into AAA talent, and all of a sudden the Mets have a “good farm system.” The only reason they say we don’t now is because
1) Very rarely does a player from AA have an impact when called up to the MLB.
2) They’re too afraid to say any prospect below AAA is “solid” or “great” because of the risk of being wrong. It’s easier to play it safe this way.
Omar has done a good job. His good moves GREATLY outweigh his bad ones, even with the Castillo and Ollie contracts. The only legitimate argument you can make for firing Omar is for the way he handled himself with Adam Rubin. He doesn’t deserve all of this grief when 3/4 of his payroll is on the DL.
I don’t blame Omar for all the injuries but I do think some of them could have been forseeable – Delgado – we knew he had a hip injury that would need surgery, Putz, from all accounts Omar knew of the bone spur and took a chance, that’s fine. As I pointed out with the rotation, I don’t think he had a backup plan. With the infield, I’m sure he didn’t expect Reyes to go down for this long and Cora has filled in well, but what if Castillo went down? Wright? Would Berroa be playing those positions? There is no real left fielder and we didn’t go into the season with a real left fielder, we came in with Murphy playing LF when he clearly was not ready to play LF. Last year there was nobody to step into the bullpen to close out games when Wagner went down, the bullpen imploded on itself. We had Luis Ayala come in as our closer. This is what I mean by no backup plan. I do not think the injuries are a result of Omar’s poor planning but I think in some instances he has no real backup plan. I am sorry if you disagree and I understand that people want Omar to hold onto prospects. I think thats a wise plan and I am glad he did not make stupid moves in haste but I believe a move could have been made for some utlity player and there was no move made. I do not think this season alone is why Omar should be gone (with the exception of the Rubin incident) but I don’t think he has developed the organization enough to warrant him staying
Dude, no GM has starter quality guys waiting as back ups, otherwise they’d be on a team starting. Not playing AAA satisfied as a back up plan. At best, which is rare because you have that position signed to long term contract, you have a rookie in that position. If you look closely the Mets had Parnell slated to be ready for 2010 as a potential closer, but we had to go get K-Rod because of injury. This is how baseball and the minors are run. If you have guys like Reyes locked up for years you don’t have a guy in AAA on the verge of call up, that’s the guy you trade for other positions. Which is why our next big infielder is a few years off.
Notice most scouts think FMart will be a front line starter for 2011? Pop quiz when does Beltran’s contract end?
This is also why in the next year or so Holt or Parnell will be traded because they have K-Rod locked up for a few years.
Understand?
I just want to say too that I understand your points and they are valid I just do no agree that Omar has made good enough moves to keep him around and I don’t think he has backup plans beyond the guys on the roster
Random question – does anybody know if at citifield i can get an adjustable cap with the citifield patch on it?
Mr Believe;
Just take the elevator to the Executive Office level.
Jeff will sew one on for $2.
Thank you for that—made me laugh out loud. I’m still laughing, actually……
Comments on this entry are closed.