Lots going on, both with me and with the Mets. I'm going to be out of commission for about the next 10 days, because of the move. So I wanted to check the mailbox and update the Mets' news.

First of all, the Mets traded Jason Phillips to the Dodgers for Kaz Ishii. Ishii will be the number five starter, replacing Steve Trachsel, who will be sidelined until further notice with the back problem we mentioned last week. Ishii has control problems, which have been well documented. But as I've talked about - a lot - Rick Peterson is the best in the business, so I'm looking forward to seeing Ishii work. The positives everyone has been bringing up, opposite the walks Ishii allows, is that he wins games. So the runners might get to first, but Ishii doesn't give up a lot of hits, so the runners don't advance very much. And, personally, I've seen Ishii do well on a winning team, which can't be said for Trachsel. So I think the Mets didn't lose much here, and they might just have ended up with a better pitcher.

The loss of Phillips doesn't hurt very much. Ramon Castro now becomes the backup catcher, and he's good defensively. The Mets probably lose something offensively, but Castro has some pop, evidenced by the fact that he did hit a game-winning homer in Tuesday's spring training game.

The Mets, by the way, have the best winning percentage of any baseball team so far in spring training. This is not encouraging for me, because whenever the Mets do very well in spring training (much like the Jets during the exhibition season), they have an awful regular season. That may change this year, but I don't pay much attention to the fact that they do well in March.

In other Mets-related spring training news, Joe McEwing was released. He had no chance of making the team, and I guess the Mets got no interest in a trade. The Astros and Cardinals were said to be interested in McEwing - he ended up getting signed to a minor league contract with the Royals on Wednesday. The bench is now shaping up like this: Chris Woodward, Marlon Anderson, Miguel Cairo, Kerry Robinson. Andres Gallaraga looks like he'll start the season in the minors - despite a recent hot streak. The Mets figure their subs can all split time at first base. (I feel like I'm missing another big bench name.) Victor Diaz will be the starting right fielder if Mike Cameron does not make it back in time...but it's looking more and more like Cameron's wrist will be ready by Opening Day. If that's the case, Diaz will start the season in the minors, because Willie Randolph's priority is getting Diaz plenty of playing time and at-bats. So he'd rather Diaz play every day at Triple-A than sit on the bench in the bigs.

That about catches us up on the spring training news. Oh, one more thing - I read today that Aaron Heilman has gone back to his college windup, rather than the windup he had adopted with the Mets, and he's on a pretty good streak right now - four scoreless innings Sunday, and a good bullpen session. That bodes well, if someone else in the rotation gets hurt.

Now it's time to look at the mailbag, a couple of days late:

"Hey JohnnyMets-

Let's take a look at who's on the 2005 Mets this year ... Pedro Martinez*, Doug Mientkewicz, Cliff Floyd, Brian Daubach .. is it time we start calling the team the AAA Flushing Red Sox??

-Your Wife"

Wow, cheap shot from the co-inhabitant of The House sponsored by DirecTV. It'd be nice if she checked the spelling of Mientkiewicz.

"Dear JohnnyMets,

Kaz Ishii doesn't seem like a bad No. 5. He averages about 160 innings.

He's gone 36-25 in his 3-year ML career, with a 4.30 ERA. Though his K-BB ratio fell to almost 1-1 last year, which could be a cause for concern.

Are you pleased with the trade? Do you miss Jason Phillips already? Who will back up Piazza? How will Ishii's stats translate from Dodger Stadium to Shea?

Dave in Brighton"

Dave, good questions. I addressed some of them above, when I talked about the trade. But I do like it. Phillips proved to be streaky, if nothing else. You don't know if you're getting the guy who hit .290 a couple of years ago, or the one who hit .200 most of last year. Ishii will be solid. I do think his stats will transfer from Dodger Stadium to Shea quite well - they're both notorious pitcher's parks....and Ishii has a great defense behind him with the Mets.

One more thing I remembered as I wrote about Ishii, and thought about Trachsel's back. Kaz Matsui's back has been bothering him recently - he's sat out a few games. Hopefully he gets better - it'd be a shame if the Mets' middle infield starts the season injured, like it did last year.

OK - I have to go, quite possibly for a few days. Thanks for reading - and when I write next, Opening Day will be right around the corner.