Benson will miss his next start with a "fatigued shoulder"! AH HAHAHAHAHA!!! Booo.

Howe "liked Wheeler for his ability to throw strikes". Yeah, throwing strikes is pretty dope, especially when they're fat strikes that get blasted all over the park.

1) The New York Mets signed Cuban defector Alay Soler on Friday, giving the pitcher a three-year deal worth $2.8 million.
--why can't we sign all kinds of chump pitchers (no offense, chump) from all over for less than one million per, instead of overpaid losers like Stanton and Franco?

2) the astros are morons- once again they take one of our crappy relievers, taking Wheeler off waivers. In return, Mets get some scrubby OF hitting .283 in A-ball.

3) mets.com, one of the worst websites in the world, has the nerve to headline yesterday's game recap "Pair Of Homers Not Enough". Perhaps this would be appropriate if it were a pair of grand slams, as they lost 10-2.

damning quote from bob klapisch...
"It's a negative pleasure, rooting against a rookie, but it's all the Mets have these days. The real fun at Shea evaporated long ago. "

the mets are 5 games ahead of the expos, and the way this season is headed, it's quite likely we will finish in last. part of me wants them to finish in last, hoping that this will drive the message home to wilpon, but I know it's pointless, if the past 4 seasons have not taught wilpon anything, if the past 4 years couldn't prevent the disastrous trades of this year, then what will? no present, no future, an overused past. good times.

as oppossed to zambrano i know exactly where my pitch is going when it leave my hand, right into the batter's wheelhouse.

Aaron Gleeman gives some love to my man Mike Cameron.

And how 'bout Victor Zambrano's elbow injury. That's pretty bad luck. No way the Mets could have predicted that. Oh wait, he had an elbow injury when they got him...

This article was fun until the non-sequitor at the end:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=klapisch_bob&id=1861995

According to EqA, I am tired.

New Murderer's Row?
As of today, according to EqA, the Cardinals have 3 of the top 12 hitters in baseball (Edmonds and Rolen are tied for 4th and Pujols is 12th). That's a pretty stacked heart of the order. If the season ended today, the Cards would have 3 of the top 4 hitters (according to EqA) in the playoffs (along with JD Drew). I know all the talk about pitching winning championships, but that's gonna be a tough lineup to pitch too in October. And now they've added Larry Walker, who if he had enough at bats to qualify would rank aheal of all three of them.

If the problem was really dealing with Boras, then they probably wouldn't have signed him in the first place. And like you said, they won't really have to negotiate with him until Kazmir's been playing for 6 years, so it doesn't seem like much of an issue.
And for the record, the prospect the Mets got stinks, and the Mets sent another prospect with potential big upside, too.

Hey, at least Benson's wife is hot. Morons.

I'm not sure who's dumber though, Ken Williams or Duquette.

My thoughts on the trades:

(First off, Aaron Gleeman pretty much sees most of the same way, and says it better.)

After much thought, I've made my decision that I hate the Zambrano trade more than the Benson trade. The Benson trade seems stupid to me, but trading Kazmir has the potential to go down as a disaster.

Kazmir is one of the best prospects in baseball. He's 20 years old and pitching very well at AA (31 ip, 19 h, 12 bb, 37 so, 0 hr, 1.45 ERA). If for some reason the Mets had really soured on Kazmir despite his dominance of AA, it seems like we should have been able to get a lot more. Zambrano is about to turn 29 and has a 4.43 ERA while leading the league in walks. Peterson may be able to improve Zambrano, but he presumably would have had some positive effect on Kazmir, too.

As for the Benson deal: Peterson and Huber both seem like decent prospects, although not outstanding. Huber is hitting very well in AA, but supposedly his defense might necessitate a move from catcher, which would hurt his value a lot. I really don't like trading Ty Wiggz. Wigginton is a solid hitter who can play 3 infield positions and possibly learn to play corner outfield, as well. The Mets have had a lousy bench for years, and Wiggy could have finally been part of the solution to that, giving us a solid utility guy for the next few years.
I have nothing against Benson, my gripe is with the fact that he's a free agent at the end of the year. We could have signed him anyway. And then we would've given up a draft pick. I'd rather keep Wigginton, Huber, and Peterson, and lose the pick.

-I think the Nomar deal is horrible for obvious reasons.

-I think the Dodgers got the better of the Marlins, although I think the trade is better for the Dodgers than it is bad for the Marlins because of their different needs. Mota had a career year last year, and even though his ERA is low again this year, his K and BB numbers are less encouraging. Penny is a big addition for LA, which doesn't have a great rotation for the playoffs.
Choi is a huge pickup. He's fairly young, cheap, and a very good hitter. And the OF went from Bradley-Roberts-Encarnacion to Bradley-Finley-Green, which is a nice improvement. Encarnacion stinks.
Brent Mayne is no Lo Duca, but Lo Duca has been a terrible second half player. For his career, his 1st half OPS is .840 and his second half is .686.

-The more I think about, the dumber the White Sox seem. Contreras has upside, but it seems like a huge risk to take on his salary for the next 2 years.

Good news for big market teams in general:
Bill Would Raise Franchise Value of Sports Teams

And even better news for the Yankees in particular:

Steinbrenner's Plan to Have Other Teams Buy Him a Stadium

here's the "Happy Recap," the mets traded their future for a #4 and #5 starter who each have eras around 5.

it's very hard for teams to consistently give their fans a winning product. it's much easier to offer their fans hope for the future. now, us mets fans have neither.

where was this pressure on wilpon coming from? i think the majority of mets fans were willing to be patient this year and even next because of the excitement of our farm system and our slow building back into contention.

thank goodness they are off the air. now, i can concentrate on nfl training camp 2004!!!!!!

just to inject some more real perspective on the mets situation. they may still be in the 'hunt' for the nl east, but they are the fourth worst team in the entire National League. The mets are better only than the d-backs, the rockies, and the expos. they are currently tied with the brewers and a half-game back of the pirates. esteemed company. so yes, to reiterate what ryan said, this team should be looking into selling, not buying.

remember when shane-o-wac was on the cover of sports illustrated back in '99? well, you know what? maybe they were right, maybe he is the next mickey mantle....off the field.

Shane Spencer - DUI
From the police report:
"I asked if he had any alcohol to drink. He said a few. I asked how many was a few. He said six or seven."

This isn't a very timely post, but you know how every year after the Rule V draft, somebody asks "has anyone good ever been taken?" and someone else responds Bobby Bonilla and whoever the other guy is. Well, I just read that Johan Santana was taken in the Rule V draft by the Marlins from the Astros, and then traded to the Twins the same day. Imagine either the Astros or Marlins rotations with Santana!

Now that the Mets are 5 games out, I think it's pretty unlikely that they're going to make a miraculous comeback and win the division. So, I think the whole Kris Benson idea should be killed.
Furthermore, the Mets should start thinking about trading whatever chips they do have for some prospects. Maybe wait till the deadline to pull the trigger, but start exploring the trade market. I think we could get a lot in return for Al Leiter. Other than Johnson, he'd probably be the best available pitcher. He has the best ERA in baseball! And he's essentially a free agent at the end of the year.
And we could probably get a decent package for Hidalgo, too. Since joining the Mets, he's been great, so we should be able to get a lot more for him than we gave up. Either Oakland or L.A. could use him.

"It does not hurt or nothing".

--if it does not hurt, then you play. very simple. Props to ESPN for saysing "if stupidity were an injury, Shane Spencer would be on the DL often, and he is again." Another reason to not wear sandals.

This sums up the Mets perfectly (from espn.com):

Mets outfielder Shane Spencer is on the disabled list for doing something "stupid."

Spencer was wearing sandals when he stepped on some glass on a bar room floor, causing a cut on his right heel that required five stitches. The incident occurred on Thursday night after New York lost to the Montreal Expos, 4-1.

"It's frusrating," Spencer said. "You do not want to go on the disabled list for something stupid. It does not hurt or nothing. It is just a big gash."

Hilarious post on the Raindrops about the Super Joe to the Padres deal falling through.