Shut your wife's yap

Her mouth cost you your job

Benson Sent to Baltimore for 2 Pitchers

By BEN SHPIGEL
Published: January 22, 2006

The Mets' conversations with Baltimore about pitcher Kris Benson stretch back more than two months, or nearly since Jim Duquette left New York for a position in the Orioles' front office. It was Duquette who, as the Mets' general manager, acquired Benson in July 2004, and it was Duquette who spearheaded the free-agent negotiations with him last winter.

But the Mets are unmistakably Omar Minaya's team now. And Minaya, as he has done since becoming general manager in September 2004, continued putting his imprint on the Mets yesterday. He reunited Benson with Duquette in a deal that promises to initiate a chain reaction within the Mets' pitching staff. They added to their stockpile of hard-throwing relievers by acquiring Jorge Julio and the prospect John Maine, who could challenge for a spot in the rotation.

The 26-year-old Julio joins Duaner Sanchez as the Mets' primary setup options for the new closer, Billy Wagner. Aaron Heilman, who was so effective out of the bullpen in the second half of 2005, has been thrust into the spring-training competition for a starting spot.

By shedding Benson's $7.5 million salary from the payroll for 2006 and 2007, Minaya may also be positioning himself for another, bolder move. The free-agent starter Jeff Weaver, a former Yankee, is still available and will probably command a high price. Weaver, 29, has an excellent repertory and has averaged 199.4 innings a season over his seven-year major-league career. He could slide nicely into the rotation of a team with grand expectations.

When your wife gets more attention than you, and it's all bad, well....this is what happens.

The trade brought pitchers Jorge Julio and John Maine to the Mets, and Anna used the hastily arranged news conference to sound off on all things personal, baseball and Mets. It was Anna Benson being Anna Benson.

"I think everyone blows me out of proportion," she said.

She is a rarity among today's professional men's athletes: the wife who has more of a public persona than her husband. Her time in New York was, in some ways, more remarkable than that of her husband.

Benson was moderately successful in his 18 months as a Met, but Anna stole the spotlight, sharing intimate details of their sex life, blasting the anti-establishment filmmaker Michael Moore and, more recently, criticizing the Mets for trying to trade her husband.

The blog was bad enough, her trampy behavior was worse, but when she went after Delgado, that was it, his ass was gone.

And in the hypermacho world of baseball, Benson looks like a punk having his wife run off at the mouth like that. She hurt his career and will continue to do so until he wakes up. She wants to be famous, at any price. But she's so fucking stupid, she's doing it the worst way possible. It was only a matter of time before she caused some real shit in the clubhouse.

If they can ask Delgado to stay away from politics, they can't have Anna Benson being stupid and half naked in public. Baseball in New York depends on the good will of Latino fans and she was risking that. So off he goes to Baltimore.

posted by Steve @ 1:37:00 AM