After Victor Zambrano, Who's Next?

The Birds have opened a wing for former Mets starting pitchers circa 2005

By Christopher Heun

Victor Zambrano, best known for being traded to the Mets for prospect Scott Kazmir in 2004, threw four innings of scoreless relief in Toronto this afternoon in his first appearance as an Oriole. Jim Duquette, the former Mets GM who made that ill-fated trade, can't seem to get enough of his former starting pitchers.

Last year, the Birds traded John Maine to New York for Kris Benson. Then, when Benson was injured in spring training in March, Duquette and Mike Flanagan signed Steve Trachsel to replace him. And now Zambrano. What are the chances that after the season, The Warehouse swings a deal for Tom Glavine? Maybe Pedro Martinez?

Zambrano's performance today increases the likelihood that he will take Kurt Birkin's next turn in the rotation the next time around, which doesn't really mean much in the grand scheme of things but does make for odd trivia.

Here are some interesting numbers about Orioles starters in 2007:

Number of different Orioles pitchers who have started a game this season: 12
Number of Orioles pitchers who started one of the 17 games since Aug. 29: 9
Number of Orioles pitchers who started a game last season: 10
Number of Orioles pitchers who started a game in 2005: 8
Number of Orioles pitchers who started a game in 2004: 12
Number of Orioles starters from 2004-06 who started a game this year: 3
Who they are: Erik Bedard, Daniel Cabrera, Adam Loewen
Number of New York Mets starters from 2005 on the Orioles 2007 payroll: 3
Who they are: Kris Benson, Steve Trachsel, Victor Zambrano