A Little Trip to the Old Mailbag, Sip Style, and Man is Jack a Beast

This piece is dedicated to Cara from the Gauntlet. And to all my loyal readers, a Google search of this young lady may turn up some interesting reading.

So we are a few days removed from the Kris Benson deal.

I remain unhappy. The speculation that Jeff Weaver is the answer pisses me off. This is your classic "innings eater" who is a solid #3 guy who will get $10 mil per. That just doesn't interest me. When he was a $ankee a few years back he sucked and appeared unable to handle the pressure of the big city.

With that said, for those interested, take a look at this article from Metsgeek.com.

http://www.metsgeek.com/articles/2006/01/23/trading-disappointments

It really gives a solid review of the deal and is worth a read.

So it's been a while and I've been receiving a ton of your e-mails. For those out of the know, you can email me with any questions or comments at Sippymomo@gmail.com

It's good for the site so go ahead whenever you got anything.

MAILBAG:

The Hulk Wrote:

So Sip. I like the Mets offseason so far. I'm not crazy about the pitching moves of late. Where do you see Omar going with the rotation?

Well, Hulk, I think there is one solution to all our problems. Alton from the Gauntlet.

Holy mother of god this guy is amazing. The Sports Guy refers to him as maybe the greatest athlete to walk the face of the earth, and after Monday's Gauntlet I am pretty much sold. The dude pushed a truck with about 4 tons of people and machinery basically single handedly across a 100 yd field.

The dude is Superman and I'm sure he has a 150 mph fastball a la Sidd Finch.

The honest answer to your question, Hulk, is that I don't really know what is out there. As I said, Weaver is available. The Dodgers didn't want to give him 4 and 40 and for good reason. The guy isn't that good.

Would he sign an incentive-laden one-year deal at a somewhat reduced base salary to give himself a chance to earn a big contract after the 2006 season? It's definitely possible given that we're knocking on February's door.

Would it be worth it? For the right price, maybe -- I mean, how could he possibly be worse than Victor Zambrano? The trouble is that it may be difficult to find the right price with a guy like Weaver -- he's a guy who won 14 games on a team that finished 71-91, and he's a Scott Boras client after all. The team would probably be better off with Weaver as a starter and Zambrano in a long-relief/spot starter role, but I doubt whether his asking price is going to be anything we want any part of.

So that said, barring a blockbuster for Barry Zito which probably won't be possible until the trading deadline, I think we're looking at our rotation for '06 being Pedro, Tommy the Spy, Trachsel, Heilman, Zambrano. It's brittle towards the front and unproven toward the back. Our rotation was our strength going into the offseason and now it looks like it could be our thinnest area and maybe biggest weakness.

I am nervous.

Nails Wrote:

Your site jocks David Wright and for food reason. Where's the love for Jose Reyes, aka Mr. Glass?

We didn't forget about young Mr. Glass. And truth is, the kid can only get better. Early in his career, Johnny Damon had trouble walking and always had a relatively low on-base percentage only to mature into what he is today: one of baseball's smartest, most patient hitters.

Jose Reyes' numbers improved dramatically before and after the All Star break last year:

Before: .284 OBA, 49 K's in 87 Games
After: .320 OBA, 29 K's in 74 Games

True, these numbers are skewed by an incredible month of July, in which Reyes compiled a .355 OBP, but never mind that for the moment. Think positive. He could do it once, he could do it again. And again! And again!! All we can ask of this kid is to keep improving. The lineup behind him is very strong. If we can sneak that OBP to .340 then we have a lot to be excited about.

And my sincere apologies. We really do love Mr. Glass. The dude doesn't wear a cup because he doesn't like the way it feels against the old twig and berries, is constantly smiling, and begins every sentence with "What can I say?"

Good point, Nails!

SippyMomo Sr. wrote:

Well, Sip, 6 weeks in SF and you are still unemployed. All I get to tell my partners at the office is that my son writes a blog. Is this how I raised you? Seriously?

Well, Old Chip, you bring up some very solid and truthful points. My performance over the last little bit has not been up to Momo standards but I am coming along.

You'll be happy to know that I helped organize a trip to Vegas for Championship Week with all my friends that I spend hours each day talking gambling with.

The reason we chose it? Most games per hour of the year to gamble on.

Can you say late night poundings of WAC basketball?

Proud pops?

As Sean in "Good Will Hunting" so often said, "It's not your fault."

My response. Blame the Wife.

Cousin Ridiculous wrote:

Thoughts on the Super Bowl, Sip? Steelers giving 4 seems off.

Well, Cousin, first off, you'll be happy to know that my cousin nominated me for People Magazine's 50 Sexiest Cousins of the year award to which I was very flattered.

As for the line.

The early line in Vegas back in December had the AFC as a 10 point favorite. This line was set under the assumption that the Colts would cake walk their way into the Super Bowl.

When the Colts didn't make it, Vegas had made its boo boo. They set this line at Pitt (AFC) -4 to prevent (as much as possible) those who took the NFC +10 from middling the line.

Taking Pitt -4 after already having the NFC +10. These people would win twice if the AFC won the game at a score of between 4-10 points.

All this means is that the line is skewed. In my opinion, the game should at worst be a pick.

Still, I would not touch this game.

It is my opinion in sports gambling that you never bet on a game with two evenly matched teams. You just never know who is going to show up. If this line is 3 points on either side, still both teams could win.

Still, if youre looking for value in the line, play Seattle +4. It might not be the right play but it is the Value play.

Happy Will Wrote:

Thoughts on the New Season of 24?

So I won't say anything about Monday's episode for those who still havent watched it (salt) but again the show proves itself incapable of failing.

Well I will say something.

Jack is a badass that every girl sweats... sounds like someone else we know and love.

As I said, my botched LA Tivo forced me to watch it back in SF. 4 hours. Could you imagine getting ready for a 4 hour movie?

No chance at all.

But there I was, I sat down and had chills for the 3 hours and change that it was.

Seeing President Palmer die was a blow. I also think it was a terrble PR move to kill him off on MLK weekend.

Still, Jack is back, the bad guys have nerve gas, and we all have 20 more weeks of television euphoria.

I forced my roommate to watch season 1 on DVD. He watched 15 episodes today.

Something to keep in mind for those still off the wagon. I don't ask much of my you, but do this. It will make you happy or I will frost my tips like A-Rod.

That's all.

Hopefully our pal Booby Miles is doing well.

You want to win, put Sippy in, I spin.

VCD,

SM