He arrived at Wrigley Field in 1997 exploding on the scene leading the Cubs staff out of nowhere with 11 wins (11-9) & posting a 4.25 ERA. He came in ninth in the Rookie of the Year voting.
The next year during the Sammy Sosa / Mark McGwire HR chase, he fell to 7-7 in 20 starts posting an ERA over five. Then his career was shattered with injuries & surgeries where he was not in the major leagues for five more seasons.

That off season he was granted free agency & signed on with the New York Mets in January 2006.
He was brought up to the Mets staff in mid May, getting his first Mets start on May 13th in Milwaukee. He gave up three runs in five innings of a 9-8 Mets win.
He was thrown into action in the sub way series at Shea Stadium, although the Mets won the game led by HRs from Carlos Beltran & Xavier Nady, Gonzalez allowed six earned run in just three innings. He had one more start on May 25th surrendering three runs to the Phillies in a Mets loss. That week he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for Mike Adams who never pitched for the Mets.

In 2007 he went on to become just the fifth Venezuelan to pitch in Japan.
Passing: In 2008 while in his native Venezuela he was struck by lightning & killed in Punta Palma, he was just 33 years old.
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