As G.M.'s try to beef up their rosters before Monday's trading deadline, they can be haunted by the spectre of giving away a future star, like the Devil Rays' Scott Kazmir

	While the Mets thought his slight frame would be a liability, Kazmir has racked up big strikeout totals in Tampa. Bill Frakes/SI

By Chris Ballard

With each fastball that Scott Kazmir throws, a metropolis groans. With each slider that plummets through the strike zone like a tiny jet whose engines have failed, thousands of fans a thousand miles north bemoan their fate. Sometimes they must unburden themselves to the 22-year-old Kazmir, an All-Star lefthander for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. So New Yorkers e-mail him to say they regret that he was traded from the Mets' farm system, to divulge they now root for the Rays and, sometimes, to share their pain. "My wife could see TEARS in my eyes," wrote one fan of the deal.  ... To get immediate access to this complete story you must be a SPORTS ILLUSTRATED magazine subscriber. If you are not currently a subscriber, see below for a special offer.

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