OK, look, I'm not stupid. I always knew that the 2004 trade that sent Scott Kazmir to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and brought Victor Zambrano and Bartolome Fortunato to the Mets was not a good one on the New York side. I took offense, however, to the Met haters -- often Yankee fans -- who loved to gloat about this one (as if the Yankees had never made a bad trade involving prospects; how could they trade JAY BUHNER!) It was way too early to pass final judgement on the trade, yet these people were talking like the Mets had traded away a three-time Cy Young winner. In reality, all the Mets had traded away was potential; it was up to Kazmir to live up to that potential.
Well, all that's changed. What a bad trade.
Zambrano had surgery yesterday, and it was not good. Tommy John not good. And, as The Star-Ledger points out in that link, Fortunato is scheduled for the same surgery. Nice. Nice trade.
Granted, Kazmir is still just 22 and has done nothing much beyond winning 17 of his 48 games and dominating Seattle, Texas and Boston in his brief career to date. There could still be surgery in his future, because nothing is certain.
But, man, what a bad trade.Labels: Scott Kazmir, Seinfeld