PHILADLPHIA – Scott Kazmir beat the Yankees yesterday on four hits, just a little bit more than three hours before Victor Zambrano went to the mound here for the Mets.
Strictly coincidence? You be the judge over any cosmic link, knowing the jury of public opinion last season returned a verdict resulting in the execution of Mets GM Jim Duquette after just one season.
There had to be more to that late September Fred Wilpon call to Omar Minaya, offering carte blanche, than just one preliminarily bad deal of a prime left-handed pitching prospect for a guy who showed up with a bum elbow and a history of walking the ballpark. But with the Mets falling out of the race at the time of the deal, the public perception of Kazmir-for-Zambrano became almost as bad as its perception the Wilpons do not give their GMs autonomy.
So a change was made to a Latin American charmer that led to the Mets getting Pedro Martinez, who led to Carlos Beltran. Not a bad thing, obviously, but it turns out, neither is Zambrano, who pitching under the Federal Witness Protection Program, had recorded a 2.77 ERA in his last six starts.
You probably were not aware that this is the same person who could blow up any game in one inning because the Mets have won only two of those starts, and Zambrano’s overall record remained 3-6, pending last night. But his 4.06 ERA is better than Kazmir’s by a significant half-run a game.
Time alone won’t tell what kind of a trade this will turn out to be. One also must surmise the potential options had the Mets waited to trade Kazmir, a prospect who was prompting deeper Mets’ concerns than just over his motion and diminutive body. Tim Hudson went to the Braves for a similar caliber prospect in the offseason.
Not only is hindsight wonderful, but foresight might have enabled Duquette to know that the Wilpons, who had cut the player budget by $20 million last season, would kick it back up by a similar amount to make a splash with Martinez and Beltran. Zambrano was a 29-year-old major-league veteran with a winning career record (for a bad team, too) and universally acknowledged electric stuff. Who is making only a budget-fitting $2.1 million this year.
So if he continues pitching like he has since May 1, the Mets got a bargain. Zambrano’s strikeouts and walks are both down, a reflection of what pitching coach Rick Peterson, who internally endorsed the deal with the claim “I can fix him in 10 minutes,” calls a maturing pitcher.
“I give Pedro a lot of credit,” said Peterson yesterday “He’s a very giving teacher who has great observations about not just what to throw in what spot, but how to work at what tempo. He’s a master at that.
“Generally, you throw the ball in the strike zone more, you will get more contact. I believe Victor’s ground ball-fly-ball ration has made a nice stride.”
And a manager who refused to be frustrated when Zambrano started badly is reaping some reward.
“It seems he is trusting his stuff more,” said Willie Randolph. “He has such good movement on his pitches, if he lets them hit them, that sinker will be on the ground.
“Your confidence obviously grows when you are pitching better. One thing I see is that the more he pitches, the better he gets. A lot of guys get close to 90 pitches and start looking for help. Victor told me he likes to stick in there. I keep that in the back of my mind and he seems to find a rhythm.
“He didn’t throw that many pitches last year. This may just be a case that, with more work, he has gotten into the rhythm he was in when he was pitching effectively.”
It may also be the case that this wasn’t the worst trade ever made.