I will say this, it's not like it was necessarily a cut and dried issue at that point. Coming up, Cruz was considered every bit the pitching prospect that Zambrano was and both had similar major league numbers coming off 2002, each at the ripe young ages of 21...
GS W-L IP H HR BB SO ERA
Cruz 9 3-11 97.3 84 11 59 81 3.98
Zambrano 16 4-8 108.3 94 9 63 93 3.66
Of course, as it turned it out, Cruz was actually 2 years older than originally thought. But I remember a lot of experts at the time not being sold on Zambrano and thinking that Cruz had Pedro-like ability. So I say, way to go Alf! Maybe they should give him a job in the scouting department.