In , he ended his first full minor league season at Double-A for the Harrisburg Senators, where he went 9-2 with a 2.62 ERA in 14 starts for a losing team (.465 W-L percentage).
In July 2002, he was traded by the Expos with Graeme Lloyd, Mike Mordecai, Donald Levinski, and Carl Pavano to the Florida Marlins for Cliff Floyd, Wilton Guerrero, Claudio Vargas, and cash.