Victor Zambrano: Mid 2000's Mets Pitcher (2004 - 2006)

Victor Manuel Zambrano was born August 6, 1975, in Los Teques, Venezuela. The six-foot right hander began his career as an infielder before converting over to a pitcher. 

In 1993 Zambrano was originally signed by the A.L. New York team. He was released and signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1996.

MLB Career: In Tampa he pitched well enough to establish himself as the ace of a weak pitching staff. He had a good sinking fastball, to go along with a decent change up but suffered with control issues. Zambrano was good at holding runners on base and was a solid defensive player, due to the fact he was a former infielder.

In June 2001 he debuted as a relief pitcher going 6-2 with two saves & a 3.16 ERA. He may have had the best control of his career at this point, striking out 58 batters while only walking 18.

In 2002 he posted an 8-8 record & began to get used in a starting role. In 2003 he won a career high 12 games (12-10), leading manager Lou Pinella's staff as the only pitcher to win in double figures. He posted a 4.21 ERA with 121 strike outs but had control issues. Victor led the AL in walks (106) for the first time in his career, as well as wild pitches (15) & hit batters (20). 

In 2004, although he was leading the league in walks again, he was having a decent year going 9-7. But at the trade deadline he was involved in a big trade to New York. Overall, in three and a half seasons in Tampa, he went 35-27 with a 4.47 ERA. He walked 288 batters in 481 innings.

Mets Career: On July 30, 2004, Zambrano was traded along with Bartolome Fortunato to the New York Mets for highly touted prospect Scott Kazmir. The deal became highly publicized as the Mets fans & the New York media were outraged about giving up the Mets top pitching prospect. The feeling was Zambrano was never a proven ace. He certainly wasn’t going to help the Mets get to the playoffs, despite what upper management thought.

This deal haunted the Mets for years, From 2005- 2009 Kazmir would win ten r more games each year, becoming the ace of the young Tampa Rays staff. In 2008 Kazmir would go 1-1 in the post season & make the World Series.

Zambrano pitched in New York for parts of three seasons & was finished by 2007.

On August 5th, Zambrano made his Mets debut in Milwaukee, giving up six runs on eight hits to the Brewers. But even with such a bad outing, he earned a win that day, as David Wright had a career day driving in six runs leading the team to victory an 11-6 win. 

On August 12th, Zambrano retired the first 14 batters he faced in Houston. He went on to the win, allowing just one run over seven innings in Houston beating Andy Petttite & the Astros 2-1. On August 7th, he left the game in the 2nd inning with a strained right flexor muscle. He was placed on the 15-day DL then shut down for the rest of the year. For the Mets he was 2-0 with a 3.86 ERA in three games.

2005: In 2005 Zambrano made his first start against the Braves in Atlanta. He pitched five innings allowing just two earned runs but took a 3-1 loss to John Thomson.

On April 19th, after two no decisions, he beat the Phillies for his first win of the season. In that game he hit a two-run triple off Gavin Floyd, doubling his career total.

On April 24th, Victor gave up a season high eight runs, taking a loss to the Nationals at Citi Field. He then lost to the Nat's in D.C. as well falling to 1-3 with a 5.81 ERA by the end of April.

From May 6th to July 16th, he was 2-1 with a 2.48 ERA. On May 6th, he earned a win in Milwaukee & collected two hits in the game. On May 20th, he gave up just two earned runs in 5.1 innings of the subway series match up but lost to Kevin Brown. On May 25th, he pitched well, allowing just an earned run in Atlanta but took the loss as Kyle Davies & three other Braves shut out the Mets 3-0.

In June, Zambrano made five starts allowing two runs or less in four of those games. On June 1st,
he beat Arizona & Brandon Webb 2-1 at Shea to earn his third victory. On June 28th, he gave up one run in five innings beating the Phillies.

By the All Star break he was 4-8 with a 3.51 ERA. On July 22nd, in his first start of the second half, he gave up six runs on ten hits to the Dodgers at Shea, taking the loss. On August 2nd, he gave a career high four HRs in a loss to the Brewers. 

Zambrano won his next two decisions, one of his best outings of the year against the Cubs. On August 7th, he held the Cubs down to one run on five hits in eight innings of work. He struck out only one but earned his fifth win of the year. 

"Z" Trivia: In that game he went up against Carlos Zambrano making it just the fourth time in MLB history two pitchers with the last names starting with Z ever faced off.

Zambrano gave up four runs or more in his next two stars before another fine outing. On August 23rd in Arizona, he pitched eight innings allowing just a run to the d-backs in a 14-1 Mets victory. In that game he collected two more hits matching his career best.

On September 2nd, he gave up a season high 12 hits in Florida, taking a loss to the Marlins to fall to 7-11. Mets manager Willie Randolph then put him in the bullpen for the remainder of the year. On October 2nd, he made a start in the last game of the year & struck out a season best eight batters. But he gave up six runs to Colorado at Shea Stadium, taking his 12th loss.

Zambrano finished the year at 7-12 with a 4.17 ERA. He allowed 77 earned runs with 77 walks in 166 innings pitched, giving up 170 hits while striking out 112 batters. 

On a positive note, he allowed three runs or less in 20 of 27 starts & pitched at least seven innings eight times. His road ERA of 3.74 was ninth best in the NL.

For Victor, he wasn’t the most popular guy at Shea Stadium. After the success of Kazmir & the improved Mets team, it only got worse for him. 

2006 NL Eastern Champs: In 2006 the Mets had a much better team, staying in first place all season. 

On April 13th, in the Mets eighth game of the year, Zambrano earned a win in a 13-4 beating of the Nat's in D.C. It was the only win he would have on the season. He lost his next two starts giving up seven runs & five runs respectively.

On May 6th after just five appearances, 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.

In 2007 he returned for eight games with Toronto going 0-2 with a 10.97 ERA. In September he was purchased by the Orioles, making five appearances, going 0-1.

Career Stats: In a seven-year career Zambrano went 45-44 with three saves, posting a 4.64 ERA. He struck out 529 batters with 404 walks in 706.3 innings in 187 appearances (100 starts).

Drama: In October of 2009 his mother was kidnapped in Venezuela but luckily was rescued three days later by the national police. Three of the four suspects were arrested for the crime.

Retirement: In 2009 Zambrano pitched in the Taiwan baseball league. He also pitched for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, pitching two games against Team USA. In his second outing he threw three scoreless innings.