Quote:
Originally posted by plawrence:
....the worse deal in Mets history (Jim Fregosi for Nolan Ryan.....), but it might already be regarded as the second worst.
Quote:
Originally posted by Just Lou:
I think you're forgetting Tom Seaver for Pat Zachry.
I wasn't forgetting it.

That one was horrible too, but the Mets got four semi-decent years out of outfielder Steve Henderson (497 games, .287, 35, 217) four almost-decent years out Doug Flynn, a good-field, no-hit second baseman/shortstop (546 games, .237, 4, 141, but only 44 errors in 2788 chances, a .988 FA).

Zachry, barely 25 at the time of the deal (Seaver was 33) started off nicely with the Mets career, going 7-6 (.538) in 19 starts with a 3.76 E.R.A for a 64-98 (.395) team during the remainder of 1977.

But his career with the Mets we destined to be beset by injuries.

He went 10-6 (.625) with a 3.33 in only 21 starts in '78 for a team that won only 66 games (.407), and then spent most of '79 on the Disabled List, still managing to go 5-1 (.833) with a 3.56 in 7 starts for a team that finished 63-99 (.389).

After that, 1980-82, he was pretty much shot for the Mets, altho he never pitched really badly. He finally moved to the Dodger in 1983-84 where he had some success as a reliever.

Code:
                                                       Team
Year     Team  Games  Starts  W-L   Win%  IPs  E.R.A.  Win % 
-
1977     Mets    19     19    7-6   .538  120   3.76   .395
1978     Mets    21     21   10-6   .625  138   3.33   .407
1979     Mets     7      7    5-1   .833   43   3.56   .389
1980-82  Mets    88     66   19-33  .365  442   3.69   .405
1983-84  LAD     98      1   11-7   .611  144   3.25   .525
So what's the net result here?

1043 more-or-less major league quality games at second base and in left field from Flynn and Henderson, and 69 more-or-less decent major league quality starts from Zachry.

Compare that to what the Mets got for Nolan Ryan, who arguably was a better pitcher than Seaver to begin with and who won 295 games, struck out more than 5000 batters, and pitched 7 no-hitters after the Mets traded him away for Jim Fregosi, from whom they got:

146 games in a season and change, and a .233 batting average in 464 ABs with all of 5 home runs and 43 RBIs.

Not even close....The Ryan-Fregosi trade was ten times worse than the Seaver deal.

Now, when you say "Aren't you forgetting it?", are you referring to Kazmir-Zambrano being worse than the Seaver deal or the Ryan deal?

I figure it this way:

The Ryan deal was by far the worst.

If they both had their careers end tomorrow, then yeah, the Seaver trade would be worse than the Kazmir trade because at this point in his career Kazmir basically hasn't done anything yet either.

But a short three years from now, when Zambrano and his lifetime Mets record of 10-14 with an E.R.A. of 4.42 is long gone, and Kazmir, even if he's still pitching for the terrible Devil Rays, has piled up 65 wins or so and is striking out a batter an inning or, better still, if Kazmir is still around 13 years from now and has maybe 200+ wins to his credit, there's no way that this trade won't be regarded as the second worst in Mets history.


StatMan

"Difficult....not impossible"