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The rumors apparently were true: the Mets acquired Shawn Green from the D-Backs tonight for a no-name minor-leaguer. Green isn’t having his best year, but he is hitting .283 with 51 RBI’s and is easily better than Michael Tucker, Endy Chavez, or Lastings Milliage.

I like this move simply because it didn’t cost the Mets anything of significance and I think he’ll be a popular player in NYC. More importantly, he and Carlos Delgado are good friends (I remember hearing that Green was in Delgado’s wedding party or vice versa), so I know that he wont have a negative effect on the team’s chemistry, something that you always have to be concerned about with a late-season addition.

Call me crazy, but I like this one. Green didn’t cost the Mets much; they have a hundred other minor league pitchers exactly like Evan MacLane, no offense to the guy. Is Green going to be the difference between the World Series and not? No, but he gives the Mets some outfield depth, which they clearly needed at this point. I mean, was anybody really prepared to throw Michael Tucker out on the field for a playoff game?

This allows the Mets to take it slow with Lastings Milledge, which they should be doing at this point. There’s no need to rush Milledge into the lineup during a period where expectations would be huge for the guy; if he can’t cut it during the regular season, when the Mets have the division beyond wrapped up, how would it be for him in October, during the playoffs, when all eyes would be on him? The Mets don’t need to rush him into the heat of this chase, and they shouldn’t.

To be honest, I like what Green provides. He gives the Mets another lefty who can hit sixth after Wright, and plays a competent outfield. He doesn’t have the power and speed he once had, but I see him giving the Mets similar production that Xavier Nady gave the Mets while he was on the team. Really, that’s all they need, and to acquire him for a pitcher who the Mets were not likely to ever start works for me. I say, good deal; if anything, I wish they had dealt Heath Bell in the move, just so the poor guy could get a chance to be an everyday reliever.

I know this isn’t Mets-related, but it may become relevent at some point. The Reds just traded Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez to the Nationals for two relief pitchers, Royce Clayton, infielder Brendan Harris, and a pitching prospect. I mean…what the hell? Kearns is a guy who has a history of injury problems, but when he’s healthy, he’s a very dangerous hitter. Felipe Lopez probably peaked as a hitter last season, but…I mean, Royce Clayton is replacing him. Even if Lopez has been disappointing, he’s better than Royce Clayton. That’s not to mention Ryan Wagner, who has the potential to become a better reliever than anything the Nationals acquired.

In return, the Reds got a whole lot worse. Gary Majewski and Bill Bray will not improve the Reds’ bullpen enough to where they will make up the production they would have received from the position players. I honestly can’t believe this trade happened. The Reds basically just conceded the NL Central to the Cardinals, or at the very least, to a team that isn’t them. I feel bad for them. How does a team make a trade where the three best players involved all go one way?

How does this affect the Mets? Two ways. One, the Reds just set the trade market from now until the deadline. In order to acquire two mediocre relievers, the pricetag is at the Austin Kearns level. Now, the Mets don’t need bullpen help, they need rotation help, but this will indirectly affect the price of a good starter, since relievers aren’t as important as starters. Though it also means that maybe the Mets can parlay one of their excess relief pitchers for a second baseman, or maybe even a starter. Who knows. They may not get Zito, but they may get something servicable.

Second, the Nationals just got a lot better. Kearns, Lopez, and Wagner means that Washington improved three spots on their roster in one fell swoop. While it shouldn’t affect the Mets too much in 2006, those three players are all young and could very well haunt the Mets for years to come. I can say that I, for one, am not happy Kearns is in the division. He seems to kill the Mets every year. In any event, I can’t believe Jim Bowden, the same GM who signed Cristian Guzman to a four year, $16 million contract, just got the better of another GM in a trade. Reds GM, whomever you are, you can go join Jim Duquette in the “General Managers Who Made Bad Decisions In The Heat Of A Playoff Race” section of the Shitty GM Hall of Fame, which we hear may soon be renamed the Isiah Thomas Hall of Fame.

This news kinda caught me off-guard. Orlando Hernandez was acquired by the Mets this afternoon for Jorge Julio. You know, I’m not really against this. Jorge Julio sucks. Sure, his ERA is no longer in double digits, but he never had much of a chance of providing the team with good relief. That they were able to get anything for him is, frankly, a miracle. Now, the likelyhood of El Duque ever providing the Mets with good starting pitching is not great, but he can’t be worse than Lima, can he? I mean, that’s the standard we’re talking about. We need him to be better than Jose Lima, and about even with Victor Zambrano. Maybe I’m an eternal optimist (ha!) but I think we can get that from Duque. Plus, we know he can handle New York. He’s not an ideal candidate for the starting rotation, but as a flyer that only cost the Mets the worst reliever out of their bullpen, he’s certainly worth a shot.

Over at the Hardball Times they did an evaluation over which teams have made the best and worst trades over the years 1961 to 2002. Guess who finished last? Well, this is a Mets blog, and I wouldn’t have mentioned this if the Mets hadn’t finished last.

You know what’s pretty remarkable about finishing last? In the 80’s, the Mets made some pretty good moves. They stole Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, Tim Teufel, Howard Johnson, Ray Knight, Bobby Ojeda, Sid Fernandez, Jesse Orosco, and David Cone from their teams. With the exception of Cone, those were key players in the ‘86 World Series champions, and the best player they dealt in those deals was Hubie Brooks. So despite building a world championship team at least partially out of trades, they are still dead last in these rankings.

Of course, there’s a lot of deals that hurt them. Trading Nolan Ryan was obviously a monumental mistake. Trading Jeff Kent, who looks like he may actually be on his way to a Hall of Fame career, for Carlos Baerga also didn’t really help much. Dykstra and McDowell for Juan Samuel has haunted, and will continue to haunt Mets fans for years. And there’s more, but we don’t need to get into all of those here. Let’s just hope that Omar Minaya’s deals for Carlos Delgado, Paul Lo Duca, and Xavier Nady don’t one day join these trades on the scrapheap of suckitude.

Okay, I’ve calmed down a little bit since Saturday. I’m not going to lie, when I heard about the trade being completed (my friend MJD of TheMightyMJD.com and Deadspin.com called me to break the news, and would have linked me to Deadspin had I been anywhere near a computer) I was furious. I was planning a blog item much angrier than the one you wound up reading. I’m pretty sure I would have wound up getting sued for slander had it been posted. Jorge Julio simply is not a good baseball player. Kris Benson is only a mediocre starting pitcher, but he will eat 160-190 innings every year, will pitch at around average, and won’t hurt the Mets. With some run support, he could win 12-15 games. Trading a pitcher who will throw that many innings for a guy who is a relief “specialist,” who is worse than players already on the team, and who will take opportunities from players that are better, is a bad move. But it happened and it’s time to live with it.

As expected, a good deal of the trade talk in the New York papers centered not on whether or not it was a good deal for the Mets, but on Anna Benson. The New York Times called it “addition by subtraction,” which I’m not really sure what that means. Anna Benson has no impact on the Mets. She’s attention-starved, but most of the people who care about that sort of thing don’t really care about the Mets anyway. Vic Ziegel of the Daily News proposes a “wife swap.” Didn’t Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich get in trouble for that back in the 70’s? Plus, all the Yankees fans would accuse the Mets of copying them anyway. Another Daily News article discusses the trade, and also includes some of Anna Benson’s more ignorant comments. Buried all the way at the bottom is something that should interest most Mets fans, statistics about Jorge Julio. Now, call me old-fashioned, but isn’t what the Mets are acquiring more important than the wife of the player being shipped out of town?

But wait! There’s more! Jon Heyman of Newsday weighs in, and believes despite Mets comments to the contrary, that Anna Benson did play a part in the trade. Well, that’s a good reason to make a dumb trade, because the wife of a player annoys you. Seriously, nobody who cares about the Mets cares about what Anna Benson has to say. I point out the garbage she spews on here to make fun of her, because she is dumb.

In fact, Here’s some quotes from her press conference, in which she asks that the Mets’ “Be liberal or not, make a choice.” Anna, the Mets didn’t acquire Carlos Delgado because he’s liberal. The Mets might have the most conservative front office in baseball. They acquired Carlos Delgado because he helps them win games. If Benson had remained on the team, he would have put your husband in better position to win games. That’s what Mets fans care about. Not political beliefs, or what the wife of one of the players thinks. Delgado gives them more of a chance to win games than just about any other first baseman in baseball. Kris Benson gave them more of a chance to win baseball games than Jorge Julio. That’s why I hate this trade, and why most Mets fans seem to agree with me.

Where does the team go from here? The starting rotation depth, which went seven deep less than a month ago, is now at five deep, with pretenders like Brian Bannister, Yusuku Iriki, Alay Soler, John Maine and others “challenging” for spots that they won’t get. Personally, I liked the idea of a competition. If Heilman really was good enough to start, and had a good spring, he may have earned that spot, and Zambrano would have gone to the bullpen. If Heilman didn’t perform well enough, Zambrano would have been there to stink up every fifth game. Now, they are guaranteed spots, and the lack of competition won’t push them to go further.

But what about another acquisition? MetsBlog.com says that a Zito trade is not likely until at least mid-season, and won’t come without trading Lastings Milledge. It would probably cost them Victor Diaz as well, but since the Mets don’t seem to have anything firm in mind for him, why not include him?

MetsGeek.com discussed Jeff Weaver about a week ago, back when the Mets didn’t have a spot open in the rotation. If you had told me a week ago that the Mets might be interested in acquiring Weaver, I would have called it a bad idea. Now? I’d welcome it with open arms. He’s the best free agent pitcher still on the market, and with most teams having lukewarm interest at best, they could probably get him for an affordable one year deal. I’ve read that the Mets have only had lukewarm interest themselves so far, but with nobody really stepping up to the plate to sign him, I think it would be in their best interests to do so. Remember, starting rotation depth has never, ever been a bad thing.

In the final word on the Julio trade, here’s a look at him at MetsGeek.com and a look at other similar trades the Mets have made over the years that did not work out well. I really really dislike this trade, and I still think it is the sort of trade that could cost the Mets a playoff spot at the end of the year, but at least I’m much calmer now than I was yesterday. Just ask my friends, whom I called and left angry messages to yesterday.

And I didn’t mention this earlier, and was planning a blog item about it for Saturday before the Julio trade happened, but progress is being made towards the new Mets stadium. I know it’s been talked about so much over the past ten years that some people won’t believe it until it’s built. But it looks like they are really going to break ground on the stadium this spring. You know, for all of Shea’s faults, I really do love that place. Sure, the sightlines suck, the seats are in some cases miles away from the field, and unless you enjoy pork-based products, (and don’t get me wrong, I do) you can’t find a decent meal in the place. But it’s a place where good things have taken place. The Mets won two World Series at Shea. Mookie Wilson’s grounder rolled through Bill Buckner’s legs there.

On a personal note, I have seen countless games there, most of them Mets victories. I was there in the 2000 NLDS, when Bobby Jones threw his one-hitter to beat the Giants, in what is still the best moment I’ve ever seen in person as a sports fan (and I’ve been to NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals games). Shea Stadium rocked like I have never felt another place rock before. Some of my friends at that game felt unsafe, it was rocking so hard. I probably never felt safer in my life, even in the Upper Level. Will it be nice to actually get good seats at a Mets game? Sure. But any other Mets stadium isn’t “home” to me like Shea Stadium. A part of me hopes that the construction of the stadium gets delayed just a bit, so I might one day be able to take my children to Shea Stadium before they tear it down. I’m running out of time.

(Note: There’s no way to get around this. Today’s update is going to have a lot of dirty language. I have tried to avoid using dirty language since I started this blog back in November, but if you remember, the first (and until this article, only) time I have dropped an f-bomb here on MiracleMets was in response to the very trade that happened today. I can’t help it. If you are a child under the age of 18, or if you are the type of person who is offended by profanity, I have posted an alternate version of today’s update that is something you can read without worrying about my words polluting your brain. I apologize for this, but unfortunately, it was unavoidable. Thank you for understanding.)

What the fuck is Omar thinking? Why would he revisit this shitty trade? Didn’t he realize that he was let off the hook the first time when this trade wasn’t completed? In case you’re wondering, the Mets have traded Kris Benson to the Baltimore Orioles for Jorge Julio and some guy named John Maine. John Maine isn’t what I’m upset about. He could be John Maine, John Vermont, John New Hampshire, and I still wouldn’t give a shit about him one way or another.

But why in the world would the Mets want to acquire Jorge Julio? WHY? Have they not paid any attention to how he has pitched the past three seasons? They refer to him as a “power pitcher,” but he was only 90th in the majors in strikeouts per nine innings. Meanwhile, last year he got hit up worse than he ever had, allowing more hits and home runs than he had previously in his career, while his strikeout numbers went down. Overall, he hasn’t posted an ERA under 4 since his first full season in the majors, and last year his ERA was 5.90. About the only thing he does well is keep batters from scoring that are already on base, allowing only 4 out of 24 inherited runners to score. Still, this is a guy who has gotten progressively worse since his first season in the majors, and we just gave up a fucking reliable starting pitcher for him?

This is not meant as a defense of Kris Benson by any means. He is a mediocre, at best, starting pitcher. His wife is an ignorant bitch. I have no problem trading Kris Benson, and it’s possible that trading Benson was done so they could clear payroll for another trade. If the next trade is for a starting pitcher, that’s great. If there is no next trade, and this was done with the intention that it betters the team, then this is a god damned travesty of a trade.

I’m going to fill Omar Minaya in a little secret, something he may not be aware of: STARTING PITCHERS ARE BETTER THAN FUCKING RELIEF PITCHERS. If relief pitchers were good enough to start, they would be starters. That goes for just about every relief pitcher to ever live, including Mariano Rivera, Billy Wagner, and other great relief pitchers. The idea for these trades (if they aren’t salary dumps) is that they are dealing from a stregnth (starting rotation) and filling a weakness (relief pitching). That’s fine, if you have four starting outfielders and want to fill a bullpen hole, because a fourth outfielder can’t pitch the seventh or eighth innings. But he’s trading one pitcher for another. In both trades that have been made this month (including Seo for Sanchez), Omar is dealing one pitcher for another, more limited pitcher.

Let’s do this for an example. Say that the Mets had not made any trades, and they still have Benson and Seo. They would go into spring with seven starting pitchers (assuming Aaron Heilman is a starting pitcher, and I’m not convinced that he is, despite his feeling to the contrary). Five of these starting pitchers would win spots in the rotation, and the other two could fill the bullpen spots. What’s wrong with putting Zambrano and Heilman in the bullpen? They are able to pitch, does it matter to the Mets if they start pitching in the first inning or the eighth?

Plus, the Mets rotation is not exactly a picture of health. Pedro Martinez is having toe problems, and has a history of breaking down as the season progresses. Tom Glavine is 39 years old and is prone to minor aches and pains. Steve Trachsel just had fucking back surgery. Victor Zambrano has a history of being both injured and terrible. There is a very good possibility that at some point, one of these starting pitchers is going to require time on the disabled list. Possibly more than one of these pitchers. Before, if one of them had to go on the DL, the Mets would have had rotation depth to fill these spots. They could have slid Heilman out of the bullpen for some spot starts, or Zambrano, or whomever.

Now? They can’t slide Duaner Sanchez to make a spot start. Jorge Julio…the man can barely pitch one inning in extremely controlled situations, how the fuck could he pitch five or six solid innings? They dealt rotation depth, which has never proven to be a bad thing in the history of major league baseball, so they could improve a bullpen that did not need improving. Repeat: To improve a bullpen that did not need fucking improving. They had Billy Wagner, who is an improvement over Braden Looper at closer. They had Aaron Heilman, who was terrific last year. They signed Chad Bradford at an affordable price, and he has traditionally been a very solid reliever at getting righties out. They had a thousand arms whom they had acquired during the past several months, or that they had in the minors, any one of whom could ably and effectively held down leads in the later innings.

Instead, they traded for Jorge Fucking Julio, and you know what he’s going to do? He’s going to keep somebody like Heath Bell in Norfolk, or Juan Padilla, or any one of a number of decent relievers who could be filling Julio’s role in the majors, and fill it better than Julio. Plus, they acquired ANOTHER right handed reliever, which was about the last fucking thing they needed.

There is one circumstance, and only one, where this trade is acceptable: if it is a salary dump to acquire a better starting pitcher (like Barry Zito). Unfortunately, I believe only the former part of that statement is true. It’s a salary dump. They wanted to move Benson’s $8 million, they didn’t want to pay him for 2006 or 2007, so they accepted a much lesser pitcher in return so they would not be obligated to the rest of Benson’s contract.

Lost in all the hubaloo over the Mets’ spending this offseason is that the payroll has not increased one cent. The Mets’ Opening Day payroll had been around the same mark as last year’s, but because they acquired Delgado and Wagner, it was assumed that they had decided to bump the payroll up. But they also waved goodbye to Mike Piazza and his $16 million and they traded Mike Cameron and his near-$8 million for fifty cents on the dollar. Now, they may actually be paying less for next year’s team. It’s the Wilpon M.O.: make a splash on the back pages of the New York Post, and then quietly spend as much, or less, as they did last year. That’s how bad trades like this happen. It’s never a good sign when Jim Duquette beats you in a trade.

Look, I’m not trying to be negative. When I started this site, I wanted to try to keep it positive here because I am generally not a fan of negativity. But this is just so beyond a dumb trade, I don’t know what to say. Words don’t describe how bad this trade is. I was expecting to have to write something similar back when the Baez rumors were still hanging around, but I got a reprieve on that when the Dodgers acquired Baez instead. I thought I’d be free from having to write something so angry. But then they go and trade Benson for Julio, and I cannot understand why. Benson was perfectly acceptable as a guy who could eat 160-190 innings per year. Jorge Julio is just bad. This trade had the dual effect of making both the starting rotation and the bullpen worse than they were before it was made. I seriously believe this one trade may have submarined the Mets’ chances of making the playoffs in 2006. Unless it was made with another acquisition in mind, I just can’t get behind this trade. Omar, I thought you were better than this.

What the heck is Omar thinking? Why would he revisit this lousy trade? Didn’t he realize that he was let off the hook the first time when this trade wasn’t completed? In case you’re wondering, the Mets have traded Kris Benson to the Baltimore Orioles for Jorge Julio and some guy named John Maine. John Maine isn’t what I’m upset about. He could be John Maine, John Vermont, John New Hampshire, and I still wouldn’t give a crap about him one way or another. But why in the world would the Mets want to acquire Jorge Julio? WHY? Have they not paid any attention to how he has pitched the past three seasons? They refer to him as a “power pitcher,” but he was only 90th in the majors in strikeouts per nine innings. Meanwhile, last year he got hit up worse than he ever had, allowing more hits and home runs than he had previously in his career, while his strikeout numbers went down. Overall, he hasn’t posted an ERA under 4 since his first full season in the majors, and last year his ERA was 5.90. About the only thing he does well is keep batters from scoring that are already on base, allowing only 4 out of 24 inherited runners to score. Still, this is a guy who has gotten progressively worse since his first season in the majors, and we just gave up a freaking reliable starting pitcher for him?

This is not meant as a defense of Kris Benson by any means. He is a mediocre, at best, starting pitcher. His wife is an ignorant person. I have no problem trading Kris Benson, and it’s possible that trading Benson was done so they could clear payroll for another trade. If the next trade is for a starting pitcher, that’s great. If there is no next trade, and this was done with the intention that it betters the team, then this is a gosh darned travesty of a trade. I’m going to fill Omar Minaya in a little secret, something he may not be aware of: STARTING PITCHERS ARE BETTER THAN FARTING RELIEF PITCHERS. If relief pitchers could start, chances are they would be starters. That goes for just about every relief pitcher to ever live, including Mariano Rivera, Billy Wagner, and other great relief pitchers. The idea for these trades (if they aren’t salary dumps) is that they are dealing from a stregnth (starting rotation) and filling a weakness (relief pitching). That’s fine, if you have four starting outfielders and want to fill a bullpen hole, because a fourth outfielder can’t pitch the seventh or eighth innings. But he’s trading one pitcher for another. In both trades that have been made this month (including Seo for Sanchez), Omar is dealing one pitcher for another, more limited pitcher.

Let’s do this for an example. Say that the Mets had not made any trades, and they still have Benson and Jae Seo. They would go into spring with seven starting pitchers (assuming Aaron Heilman is a starting pitcher, and I’m not convinced that he is, despite his feeling to the contrary). Five of these starting pitchers would win spots in the rotation, and the other two could fill the bullpen spots. What’s wrong with putting Zambrano and Heilman in the bullpen? They are able to pitch, does it matter to the Mets if they start pitching in the first inning or the eighth? Plus, the Mets rotation is not exactly a picture of health. Pedro Martinez is having toe problems, and has a history of breaking down as the season progresses. Tom Glavine is 39 years old and is prone to minor aches and pains. Steve Trachsel just had freaking back surgery. Victor Zambrano has a history of being both injured and terrible. There is a very good possibility that at some point, one of these starting pitchers is going to require time on the disabled list. Possibly more than one of these pitchers. Before, if one of them had to go on the DL, the Mets would have had rotation depth to fill these spots. They could have slid Heilman out of the bullpen for some spot starts, or Zambrano, or whomever. Now? They can’t slide Duaner Sanchez to make a spot start. Jorge Julio…the man can barely pitch one inning in extremely controlled situations, how the heck could he pitch five or six solid innings? They dealt rotation depth, which has never proven to be a bad thing in the history of major league baseball, so they could improve a bullpen that did not need improving. Repeat: To improve a bullpen that did not need any improving. They had Billy Wagner, who is an improvement over Braden Looper at closer. They had Aaron Heilman, who was terrific last year. They signed Chad Bradford at an affordable price, and he has traditionally been a very solid reliever at getting righties out. They had a thousand arms whom they had acquired during the past several months, or that they had in the minors, any one of whom could ably and effectively held down leads in the later innings. Instead, they traded for Jorge Gosh Darn Julio, and you know what he’s going to do? He’s going to keep somebody like Heath Bell in Norfolk, or Juan Padilla, or any one of a number of decent relievers who could be filling Julio’s role in the majors, and fill it better than Julio. Plus, they acquired ANOTHER right handed reliever, which was about the last freaking thing they needed.

There is one circumstance, and only one, where this trade is acceptable: if it is a salary dump to acquire a better starting pitcher (like Barry Zito). Unfortunately, I believe only the former part of that statement is true. It’s a salary dump. They wanted to move Benson’s $8 million, they didn’t want to pay him for 2006 or 2007, so they accepted a much lesser pitcher in return so they would not be obligated to the rest of Benson’s contract. Lost in all the hubaloo over the Mets’ spending this offseason is that the payroll has not increased one cent. The Mets’ Opening Day payroll had been around the same mark as last year’s, but because they acquired Delgado and Wagner, it was assumed that they had decided to bump the payroll up. But they also waved goodbye to Mike Piazza and his $16 million and they traded Mike Cameron and his near-$8 million for fifty cents on the dollar. Now, they may actually be paying less for next year’s team. It’s the Wilpon M.O.: make a splash on the back pages of the New York Post, and then quietly spend as much, or less, as they did last year. That’s how bad trades like this happen. It’s never a good sign when Jim Duquette beats you in a trade.

Look, I’m not trying to be negative. When I started this site, I wanted to try to keep it positive here because I am generally not a fan of negativity. But this is just so beyond a dumb trade, I don’t know what to say. Words don’t describe how bad this trade is. I was expecting to have to write something similar back when the Baez rumors were still hanging around, but I got a reprieve on that when the Dodgers acquired Baez instead. I thought I’d be free from having to write something so angry. But then they go and trade Benson for Julio, and I cannot understand why. Benson was perfectly acceptable as a guy who could eat 160-190 innings per year. Jorge Julio is just bad. This trade had the dual effect of making both the starting rotation and the bullpen worse than they were before it was made. I seriously believe this one trade may have submarined the Mets’ chances of making the playoffs in 2006. Unless it was made with another acquisition in mind, I just can’t get behind this trade. Omar, I thought you were better than this.