Mets Trade Deadline; What Was Biggest Blunder In Club's History?

The New York Mets are set to be one of the most intriguing teams to watch at this year’s trade deadline, as their on-field failures have set them up for a great sale before Monday. Boasting a 46-63 record, the postseason is out of the question for New York, and with it goes their need for expiring players such as pitchers Freddy Peralta and Clay Holmes.

While President of Baseball Operations David Stearns does his best to right the never-smooth-sailing ship that is the Mets, let’s take a look back at the biggest trade deadline blunder in the club’s history.

Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter has named the Scott Kazmir-Victor Zambrano trade at the 2004 deadline as the one the Mets wish they could take back most.

The left-handed Kazmir was the top prospect in the Mets’ system at the time, but he was shipped to Tampa Bay along with reliever Jose Diaz in exchange for the right-handed Zambrano and reliever Bartolome Fortunato.

At the time of the trade, the Mets had a 49-52 record and were in fourth place in the National League East. Despite their steep odds of making the postseason, they decided to go all in on the 28-year-old Zambrano and his 4.43 ERA during the 2004 season.

Zambrano had two more seasons of team control left after the 2004 campaign, which was undoubtedly a key motivator for a Mets team trying to return to the postseason highs they reached in 1999 and 2000. The question is, however, why was Zambrano the sought-after pitcher when it came to trading away the club’s top prospect?

Surely the Mets could have gotten a true front-end starter in return for Kazmir, but they instead settled for Zambrano, who posted a 4.42 ERA in over 200 innings as a Met from 2004-2006.

Meanwhile, Kazmir developed into a front-end starter himself with the then Devil Rays after debuting shortly after the trade. By 2008, he had already earned two All-Star nods and was one of the best southpaw starters in baseball. Before being traded to the Los Angeles Angels in 2009, Kazmir solidified himself as one of the best to ever put on a Rays cap.

The Mets went on to have a winning record in each of the following four seasons, including a NLCS run in 2006. Zambrano ended up tearing a tendon in his elbow in May and missed the rest of that 2006 season. If New York had the 2006 3.24 ERA version of Kazmir on their postseason roster for that run, perhaps they would have been able to beat out the St. Louis Cardinals in that NLCS. Instead, the Mets lost in seven.

Trading away your top prospect for a good, but not great starter wasn’t even a good move at the time. With a losing record and the 12th-best record in the NL, there was no reason to make any move dealing away the rising star in your organization.

New York won’t be trading away any top prospects this time around, as they’ll instead be looking to replenish their farm system after some aggressive last couple of seasons on the trade market. Perhaps they could even find their own top prospect to snag from a club desperate to contend at this year’s deadline.