Kris Benson vs. Jason Schmidt

When Jason Schmidt was traded in 2001, I was fed up with his injuries and his inconsistencies and his character and his tantalizing yet unrealized potential. He got healthy, the Pirates traded him, and he became one of the very best pitchers in baseball.

Here's a comparison of Benson's present-day career stats and Schmidt's career stats on the day he was traded to San Francisco.

	Age
Benson	29
Schmidt	28
	IP
Benson	746
Schmidt	883
	Starts
Benson	121
Schmidt	142
	Wins
Benson	40
Schmidt	49
	Losses
Benson	48
Schmidt	53
	Win %
Benson	33.1%
Schmidt	34.5%
	Tm Wins, Avg
Benson	71
Schmidt	79
	K/9
Benson	6.45
Schmidt	6.75
	BB/9
Benson	3.54
Schmidt	3.79
	HR/9
Benson	0.95
Schmidt	0.95
	ERA
Benson	4.33
Schmidt	4.59
	WHIP
Benson	1.43
Schmidt	1.47

A few words of explanation: "Win %" indicates not the overall winning percentage but the percentage of starts a pitcher won. "Tm Wins, Avg" indicates the average number of wins of his team while the pitcher was a member. For 1996, since Schmidt pitched about 1/3 of his games for the Pirates and 2/3 for the Braves, a number was reached by weighting the finish of both teams appropriately.

In 2001, when Jason Schmidt was traded to the Giants, he was 6-6 after 14 starts with a 4.65 ERA. Right now, Kris Benson is 5-7 after 15 starts with a 4.78 ERA. The Giants were 58-49 on the day they acquired Schmidt, in third place in the NL West. Schmidt went 7-1 the rest of the way. The Giants finished at 90-72. Schmidt made $3.2M that year and was granted free agency on November 5, 2001. Five weeks later, he signed as a free agent with the Giants.

Dave Littlefield got Ryan Vogelsong and Armando Rios for a three-month rental of Jason Schmidt. Now that he's asking for prospects like David Wright, is it fair to say that he's "asking for the moon"? David Wright, unlike Scott Rolen, has never played a game at the major-league level. Let's not wet our pants over a guy with no big-league experience. Perhaps such a deal is not in the best interest of the Mets, but Wright is a reasonable demand for a pitcher of Benson's ability. Schmidt's post-trade history does not guarantee how Benson will pitch the rest of the year, but Schmidt's case does provide a reasonable precedent.