Former Met of the Day: Victor Zambrano (2004-2006)

Victor Zambrano was born August 6, 1975 in Venezuela. He began his career as an infielder signed by the A.L. new York team then released and signed with Tampa Bay. In Tampa he pitched well at times for bad ball clubs, overall in three and a half seasons he went 35-27 with an ERA well above four. He had a good fastball but his wildness had him leading the A.L. in walks, wild pitches & hit batters in 2003 & 2004. On July 30, 2004 he was traded with Bartolome Fortunato to the Mets for highly touted prospect Scott Kazmir. The Mets were hammered with bad press in making such a bad deal that never worked out. Kazmir became the ace of the young Tampa staff, and was in the 2008 World Series while Zambrano had been done already for two years.

Zambrano finished off 2004 with a 2-0 record; in 2005 he was 7-12 with a 4.17 ERA giving up 170 hits & 85 runs in 166 innings pitched. He wasn’t the most popular guy at Shea Stadium and he never got any better. In 2006 the Mets had a much better team, but after 5 games Zambrano suffered a torn elbow tendon and needed his second Tommy John surgery. He was done for the most of the next two seasons and the Mets released him. He tried brief comebacks with Baltimore & Toronto going 0-3 and is still a free agent looking for work.

Zambrano is a lifetime .500 pitcher; 45-44 with 529 strikeouts and a 4.64 ERA in 706.3 innings pitched.