Strange Trade #2 of the Day: Braves and Mets
July 11th 2009 01:50
Braves and Mets swap OFs Jeff Francoeur and Ryan Church
After starting his career with promise as a 21-year-old, the 25-year-old version of Jeff Francoeur is halfway through his second straight season with a sub-.300 OBP and sub-.360 SLG. Basically, any random minor-leaguer would have been more valuable than him over the past two seasons. What the Mets want with him, no one knows, but apparently Mets GM Omar Minaya likes the "amount of games that he plays." Great analysis!
For the Braves, they get a 30-year-old outfielder in Church that has been declining offensively for three seasons in a row; however, he is still an average major-league outfielder, which is more than Francoeur can say.
To make this trade even stranger, the Braves and Mets are division rivals who are both still in the playoff hunt.
Bottom line: You have to like the Braves end in this trade, assuming Francoeur does not have a massive career turnaround, but it looks to be a situation where both teams just wanted to get rid of their respective players.
Update: Dave Pinto's reaction: Fire Minaya!
Rob Neyer's reaction:
After starting his career with promise as a 21-year-old, the 25-year-old version of Jeff Francoeur is halfway through his second straight season with a sub-.300 OBP and sub-.360 SLG. Basically, any random minor-leaguer would have been more valuable than him over the past two seasons. What the Mets want with him, no one knows, but apparently Mets GM Omar Minaya likes the "amount of games that he plays." Great analysis!
For the Braves, they get a 30-year-old outfielder in Church that has been declining offensively for three seasons in a row; however, he is still an average major-league outfielder, which is more than Francoeur can say.
To make this trade even stranger, the Braves and Mets are division rivals who are both still in the playoff hunt.
Bottom line: You have to like the Braves end in this trade, assuming Francoeur does not have a massive career turnaround, but it looks to be a situation where both teams just wanted to get rid of their respective players.
Update: Dave Pinto's reaction: Fire Minaya!
Rob Neyer's reaction:
So, let's review: The Braves got a decent hitter and fielder who bats left-handed, and thus can platoon (or semi-platoon) with Matt Diaz in right field. The Mets got ... what, exactly? If you figure it out, drop a line to Jerry Manuel. He's going to need all the help he can get with this one.
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