Last Laugh

That Kris Benson trade isn't looking too bad now is it?

It's impressive to pitch a complete game shutout when you're stoked to a four run lead in the second inning while going up against the immortal Taylor Buchholz. But it's quite a different animal to stare down Mark Prior (albeit a wild Mark Prior on a pitch count) and match zeroes with him as he's no hitting your team for 5 and 2/3's.

Make no mistake, the jury is still out on John Maine. Keep in mind that all but one inning of Bangor's body of work has taken place at Shea Stadium. And that body of work is still relatively Chicken McNugget like in size. But sixteen straight scoreless is sixteen straight scoreless. And the last seven of those sixteen was sorely needed today as the Mets avoided a sweep at the hands of Murphy's Cubs today.

Think about this from Omar Minaya's perspective. If Bangor Maine looks more like a major league pitcher than a hair spray consultant (for example), then Minaya is pretty much undefeated in his Mets career in terms of trades.

Mike Cameron for Xavier Nady? Cameron may have better numbers, but not by much. And Cameron was a square peg in a round hole while he was here so if the numbers are a wash, it's a win for the Mets merely because of the salary differential.

Mike Jacobs and Yusmiero Petit for Carlos Delgado? This may be a "time will tell" deal but the Mets got value for their young chips which is all you can ask if you're trading young players.

Jae Seo for Duaner Sanchez? Jae Seo is in Tampa Bay now wearing number ninety eight. Ninety Eight? Does he play for the Rays or the Bucs? Omar dealt Jae Seo at the height of his value and for a core reliever, and now Seo is on the Devil Rays wearing a dumb number. You tell me who won that trade.

Nobody's perfect. We're all still getting over the Shingo Takatsu era. And Kaz Ishii once walked every hot dog vendor at Citizens Bank Park during a two inning stint, but he only cost the Mets Jason Phillips who's so slow he'd be even money to beat Butch Huskey in a race (and have you seen Butch Huskey lately? When he played in the latest Met fantasy camp they should have re-named it "reality camp"...he's huuuuuuge!) You have to go back to the Grady Sizemore/Cliff Lee for two weeks of Bartolo Colon trade for the last true Omar Minaya disaster. Trading the Bensons for Jorge Julio almost classified as that next disaster...except for the fact that John Maine came Omar's way as well.