Looking back at Kazmir

Yes, it's that time of year again. Almost six years since the trade. Since Mets fans are going through a miserable stretch, I figured why not look back at Kazmir... the trade and his time with the Mets, specifically his five-start stint in Brooklyn which caused quite a commotion on Coney Island.

Before ill-advised trade, Kazmir was dominant in Brooklyn

July 30, 2004. A date unforgettable for Mets fans. A trade unforgivable.

Scott Kazmir, the team’s top prospect and Baseball America’s 12th-ranked prospect, was cruising in the Eastern League through his first couple of starts for Binghamton, the Mets’ double-A affiliate. But the Mets wanted to make a playoff push, even though they stood four games under .500, and seven games out of first place, as the trading deadline approached. General Manager Jim Duquette decided to ship the hard-throwing lefty to Tampa, along with minor league pitcher Jose Diaz for the infamous Victor Zambrano, who had a history as being wild and injury-prone, and relief pitcher Bartolome Fortunato.

An entire fanbase—and the lefty himself—was blindsided by the news. Fans were counting down the days until the pitcher would take the mound at Shea Stadium, and Kazmir was seemingly beginning to put the final touches on his minor league resume as he began to conquer the second-highest level in the minors. Teams milling around the .500 mark don’t give up a player who may be their future ace—a player who may be ready to enter the rotation in less than a year. That’s what Kazmir thought. That’s what everybody thought.

“I was surprised, very surprised,” Kazmir told SNY’s Ted Berg. “I felt like things were starting to click for me in the minor leagues with the Mets and I was looking forward to actually going to the big league with the Mets, and showing them what I can do.”

Kazmir, the 15th overall pick in the 2002 draft, has not turned out to be the left-handed version of Dwight Gooden some Mets fans dreamed of, but he had several very good seasons for the Rays. The past season and a half have been rough for the Texas native, who has struggled keeping runners off base and runs off the scoreboard. In 2009, Kazmir, who was traded late in the season (on August 29, prior to the waiver trade deadline), had a 4.89 ERA while giving 9.1 hits per nine innings. So far in 2010, Kazmir has an ugly 6.92 ERA with a 1.635 WHIP. But it was not just losing an outstanding prospect that has had his ups and downs in his career. It was losing an incredibly valuable trade chip and getting such little in return. The trade was laughable then, and is laughable now, even if his ERA is approaching 7.00 in 2010. The Mets could have gotten an impact player in return for Kazmir, or held onto him as his value was still rising. It would not be long until the lefty was major-league ready. The Mets could have held onto him, regrouped in 2005, and called Kazmir up.

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