Before signing Pedro Martínez in 2005, the Mets signed another Dominican pitcher named Pedro with a bum arm on Dec. 16, 2001.

Pedro Astacio was famous for his ability to surrender the long ball.

He started out strong for the Mets and did not get a deserved All-Star nod in 2002. By August of that year, Pedro was 11-4, with an ERA of 2.95.

But Pedro’s fortune then took a turn for the worse, pitching at Shea like he was back at Coors Field, surrendering 17 homers (32 overall) in his last nine starts while going 1-8 to see his once-stellar ERA bloat to 4.79.

Pedro allowed 58 runs (55 earned) over that time period. In seven starts in 2003, we got pretty much the same Pedro from the tail end of the previous season.

Astacio did lead the league in home runs allowed and batters hit.

Pedro was 3-2 with an ERA of 6.41, 8 homers, 30 ER in 37 innings with Mets in 2003 before finishing the season on the DL and being granted free agency. Ouch!

Pedro Astacio’s career numbers >>