Kris Benson on the Trade Rumors

I was driving to an appointment this afternoon when I had the opportunity to hear most of Kris Benson's interview on WFAN. He didn't say anything that I didn't expect to hear. He defended his wife Anna, said there actually wouldn't be a Playboy spread, and suggested that her comments about Carlos Delgado were taken out of context. He also said that he really didn't want to be traded, although he informed MATMD that he didn't have even a partial no-trade clause in his contract.

The whole Anna Benson "controversy" means little to me, anyway. Anna could be starring in hard-core porn for all I could care. Since Kris has never felt the need to comment on my relationship with Lisa, I'll give him the same courtesy. Their marriage actually seems to work, and no laws are being broken.

My concern here lies with the quality of the starting pitching. Kris Benson may never become an ace, but he's a pretty decent one, and he's only 30. With his pitching style I believe he can still improve, and I liked a lot of what I saw last year. He pitched well in pressure games. Many bloggers have brought up his tendency to tire at the end of the season, and I understand that concern, but I'd like to give him one more season to see what he can do. His $7.5 million per year salary is reasonable in the current market, and he's better than Zambrano and Trachsel, and much younger than Trachsel.

If Benson is moved in some sort of deal to facilitate a Javier Vazquez acquisition, I can't kill Omar for it. I would point out there are questions about Vazquez, too, and bringing him here is no slam dunk. What would be interesting to me would be if Omar found a way to feature a rotation next year that included both Benson and Vazquez. Provided that Pedro and Glavine hold up, that could be a starting rotation capable of winning it all.