30
2009
Could Carlos Zambrano Be Heading To The Mets?
An article by 
On Monday night, SI.com’s Jon Heyman posted via Twitter that the Cubs are very motivated to trade often disgruntled starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano.
Before getting Javier Vasquez, the Yankees definitely talked to the Cubs about Zambrano, who appears eminently available.
Yesterday, John Fennelly of Bleacher Report reported the following,
Cubs’ pitcher Carlos Zambrano could also be headed to the Mets. A trade, perhaps involving a third team, to bring Zambrano to Flushing remains a possibility.
I am very intrigued by Zambrano, and despite the occasional headache he may give you, there is no doubting his talent and ability.
Zambrano would certainly fit the bill as a number two starter for the Mets, but do the Mets have the pieces to make it work for the Cubs?
Or, like Fennelly states, will a third team be needed to complete the trifecta that can land Zambrano in Flushing?
Zambrano, 28, had a down season as did most of the Cubs players in 2009. Still, he posted a respectable 3.77 ERA and struck out 152 batters while walking 73 in 169 innings pitched.
In his career, Zambrano has a 105-68 won-loss record; a .607 winning percentage, along with a 3.51 ERA.
He’s also pretty handy with the bat and won his third Silver Slugger after clubbing 4 homers last season. He has a career batting average of .236.
With Lackey, Halladay and Wolf all off the table, I would love to see the Mets make a big effort to land Zambrano who I believe is better than any other options left in the free agent market.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
Went to my first Mets game, a Mayors Trophy game at Shea, in '73. We beat the Yankees 8-4 and I was hooked. I marched in two Banner Day parades, and before the Grand Slam single, there was the "Hendu Can Do" grand slam - I was there. I've collected Mets memorabilia all my life and started Mets Merized Online to feed my addiction.
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I would make the deal, but don’t expect it to happen.
Heyman shot down the rumor, and Zambrano’s agent says that he only wants to stay in Chicago.
Jon Heyman is LOSING IT. He mentions the word definitely when he reports the rumor and then shoots down hi own rumor? Plus where was he on the Bay thing? He got scooped by Francesa who knew for two days the Mets and Bay had a deal.
If we get him and Bedard/sheets we will have a very good rotation.
1 Santana
2 Zambrano
3 Bedard/Sheets
4 Niese
5 Perez/Maine//Nieve
We will most likely have to trade Pelfrey or another starter as part of the deal.
Chic, u refuse to listen. How do u know Sheets can still pitch? he hasn’t thrown in front of anyone since the end of ’08! He’s been chronically on the D/L throughout his career for elbow,shoulder & back issues. Only the elbow was addressed. He’s also demanding a 12M minimum, which even if u can get him down, what are u left with Livan/Duque? Based only on what we absolutely know, I’d rather have Redding in the rotation than another M.I.A.
I’m totally on board for Zambrano. He is a bit of a head case but would have a bunch of home boys from Ven. on the team to keep him in check. He’d be an ideal number two power pitcher and the man can also hit. Given that there really isn’t a spot for Fernando Martinez anymore and we can bring in a number three guy from the available free agents, I would consider trading Martinez and Pelfrey in a deal for Zambrano. If we can expand it to include Castillo so we can bring in Hudson all the better.
Good thinking Tom…I hope it happens…i would be so confident about this season if it did!
Tom, personally, IO’d say F-Mart is a must go. If ’11 is to be the yr for Davis & Thole, I don’t see the Mets contemplating relevancy with 3 rookies in the mix even if F-Mart was a planned replacement for Frenchy. Unfortunately, I believe our waiting period on Martinez has expired.
I’d certainly welcome a deal that perhaps cost Castillo,F-Mart & a pitching prospect. If more needed perhaps a third team of interest.
I’d also have to believe a hard nosed hispanic backstop like Molina can put an end to the Z-man’s catching issues. I don’t remember any issues he had with Blanco as a Cub & perhaps he gets Henry as his personal caddy?
We really cannot afford to trade any prospects especially a 20 year old who did pretty well last year in AAA. we would be doing the Cubs a favor if we took on zambranno’s salary, to give any prospects up on top of that just means more holes to fill in 2011 – 2014.
Maybe Pelfrey, Castillo, Santos for Z and Soriano….?…can Alfonso still play 2B?
to give Hitman credit, he propped Soriano as part of the deal…in a 3-way with the Rays…sounds believable….
T agee,I fully appreciate what u r saying; but in this economy every trade partner insists on cheap prospects included, unfortunatly we don’t have a volume of disposable vets to squander. That basicly would eliminate the trade route as a rebuilding tool & we certainly can’t spend on only F/A upgrades. The choices comes down to very,very few good ones stay status quo, don’t sign ANY Top F/A horde our draft picks & wipe NYY butts for years squandering the investments in Beltran,Santana,K-Rod, Citifield or force a change of ownership by boycott & settle for new owners hand picked by our competitors on the Ownership Committee.
We all need to come to grips with our farm sytem paltridness is NOT an Omar phenomenon, it goes back to Phillips’ disregard for it and his philosophy of not knowing what u’ll need in 5 yrs so it’s better to draft every potentially signable pitcher in the draft since pitching is always tradeable for positional needs this seems sound until your COO gets the brilliant idea to hire a seprarate Pitching GM(Czar) with Omnipotent powers over all franchise pitching aspects incl players in farm system with the power to ‘order’ the disposal of pitchers he doesn’t feel worthy or promising like Kazmir,Bell, Lindstrum, Bannister, Owens thus purging the built up fodder banked by Phillips. With the Major League Team floundering in fourth place and a fanbase up in arms over the Kazmir tragedy, Fred finally awoke from his slumber noticing his son, Jeff, & his henchman, Rick Peterson had run amuck prompting Fred to scurry around for someone, anyone he could trust with controlling his son’s urges to react on every fan’s whim. thus “Omar Minaya, former Ass’t GM under Phullips was hired to restore order & respectability in short order Omar worked magic turning that 71-91 4TH place franchise into a 97-65 first place team in just 2 yrs without crossing the Luxury Tax threshold. Two Second place finishes followed after holding First place for much of each seasion. Then disaster struck in the form of 1,000+ days lost to the D/L resulting in a return to Fourth Place with a similar 70-92 record.
Guys, neither Rome nor a winning franchise can be built in a day. realisticly, while assuming a 4th place record with only one recogniozed high level prospect on the entire farm roster(Lastings Milledge) to constrict a GM’S options in NYC with a limited payroll & restrictive draft policy. Tere is absolutly no clear, quick,painless answer acceptable to the fanbase grown tired of losing. BTW, anyone know how manty seasons of mediocrity the Twins franchise experienced before their current results became tolerable and worthy of following? Many! Who among u are willing for 7+ yrs of mediocrity & “NO CHANCE”.
Trading for Zambrano would be great, but I don’t see it happening.
If we get him, along wit molina, and we only part wit castillo n a prospect or 2, our offense would be great, pitching decent enough, and our bullpen good enough. All that plus being healthy= a postseason berth.. Or @ least to fight for it
LIke I said it before, “I’ll see it when I believe it.”
Would seem to be a dumb trade for the Cubs to make. Pelfrey, Pagan, Martinez…Castillo…?…Heaven if they truly wanted Castillo.
Don’t like bringing in a head case like Zambrano to a team with players like Jose, David, Murph and Jeff starting to embrace their roles. He would be a distraction only to be hyped by the media when it eventually happens, cause it will.
Why are some so quick to give up on a young, hard thrower like Pelf cause of one bad year? I think that Warthen contributed to his set backs last year apart from the anxiety issues when he ran into trouble so please let’s not just start throwing around names to trade cause Mets need for the future to build from within and not depend on outside players to rescue their lack of player development.
I’d agree on Pelfrey, except there are major concerns by scouts that Pelfrey looked confused on the mound, and seemed like he didn’t want to be out there. And Warthen is still the pitching coach. And, likely, Castillo is still playing 2B. Pelfrey, as a sinker guy, needs better ‘D’ behind him than what we have. If we can get Zambrano for the guys listed above, do it, would be my vote.
I agree. Keep trading all your prospects and give up your draft choices and every year you have to pick up 3 new expensive pieces, good free agent year or bad.
Apparently Zambrano has stayed in Chicago this off season and has lost 15 lbs. Also, Pinnella was saying recently that he thinks Zambrano can win 20 games/yr. Why would the Cubs trade this guy?
Bob, I wouldn’t be suprised if the new Cob ownership ordered all malcontent problems off the team, Bradley, Zambrano…
Re your later question of can Soriano still play 2b. My question would be could Soriano ever play 2b? lol Forget it, he refuses to bat anywhere; but leadoff. we’ve got a better leadoff hitter we already underappreciate.
I’d give up Castillo, Pelfrey and Pagan for Zambrano. He has passion and wants to win. Plus, it would be exciting seeing him fight Benji in the dugout!!
Hey i could see Castillo(probably have to pay some of his money to the cubs)and anything from Pelfrey, Pagan, Martinez, Parnell, Tejada, Mejjiaa, Murphy, who knows, first thing that has to be answered is would Zambrano waive his no trade to come to the Mets, i would think he would waive his no-trade to go to an NL team because he gets to hit, i did hear here wants to go to a team where he could hit. U have to think there is something to this being it’s this far into the off-season, but maybe zambrano was asked if he would go to some other teams in the AL and he said no. U hope their is something to this.
For what it’s worth, my next door neighbor’s friend attends church w/ Big Z, and the guy just bought a beautiful house in a great city neighborhood. All indications are that he loves Chicago and plans on staying put.
Still, would be great to see him on Team Venezuela–LOL!
add neise to that list also
i dont care if he has an attitude problem. hes a legit 2 go hard after big Z
cudnt agree wit u more he can pitch as well as hit and if we can trade cadtillo in a deal for big Z then that finally allows us 2 sign the o-dog for 2nd base, so its a double postive for the mets imo we get a solid number 2 starter and we upgrade to the current gold glove winning 2nd baseman and it gives us another piece for our line up as well as clubhouse presence.
Mike Pelrey, Luis Castillo, Daniel Murphy, Angel Pagen Fernando Martinez, Jeff Francour, Santos… etc etc We have the pieces for the trade….
damn bro y not add reyes and wright to that list, i like Z but hes not worth all the players u mentioned, i say u give up castillo, pagan, and martinez/niese, pelf had 1 bad yr hes young and i still have faith in him im not ready 2 give him up juss yet. i say get rid of f-mart since there really isnt anyplace 2 put him anytyme soon, wit bay in LF for 4 yrs, beltran in CF for at least 2 more, and frenchy in RF (not sure his contract) but f-mart has shown he cant stay healthy and cant really produce for the mets.
juss like how we traded gomez for johan because we had beltran locked up i feel f-mart is juss as expendible as gomez, milledge, humber, etc, our OF is set for a few yrs.
Will Jerry and Warthen be up to the task of managing Z? I always thought that when Duquette traded Kazmir for Victor Zambrano, he thought he was getting Carlos LOL. If the Mets actually get him now, how will they manage him?
I like the Zambrano trade if possible. If we are picking up his salary I don’t think we should have to give up a lot of prospect. I think Luis Castillo possibly either Maine or Parnell, and one upper level prospect if prospect is lower then maybe two. But again either Maine or Parnell not both or not Mike Pelrey.
aint happemimg. he has a full no trade and doesn’t want to leave.
He may have a NO Trade Clause. But there would be an excellent possibility that he would waive it to be on the same staff with countrymen Santana, K-Rod, Escabar and pitching to Molina. He has a lot of Pride for him Home land. That could also help to controls his Temper also and become more cool headed. He could very well have positive effect on him to become sharper. Also have to think when he is not pitching we have a extra bat off the bench. So there are a lot of positives. If a trade can be agree on I feel he would waive his No Trade clause.
I don’t really like this. He’s owed a lot of money over the next three years. More than what Lackey makes in a 3-year span.
I also don’t think he would wave his no-trade clause. Even though he has a lot of money owed, he’s still their ace. But no one is going to give up an ace-level return in prospects AND pick up the 54 mil.
Yeah, but IF the Venezuela-connection on the Mets calms him down and he returns to prior form, the guy’s a stud AND worth the 54mm.
Thank you for this. Great post!
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