2009 MLB Season

[Nimrodic]

Thanks to Yahoo! for the information:

The free-falling Mets finally made a move, trading Ryan Church(notes) to the Atlanta Braves for Jeff Francoeur(notes) and cash on Friday in a swap of outfielders who had fallen out of favor with their teams. The rare deal between NL East rivals came with both teams below .500. The Mets are desperate for a spark with stars Carlos Beltran(notes), Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado(notes) on the disabled list and also are looking toward 2010, preferring Francoeur’s right-handed bat and strong throwing arm in right at spacious Citi Field.

“What’s just weird is you imagine to be traded, but you never imagine to be traded to maybe your biggest rival,” Francoeur said in Denver, before the Braves played the Rockies.

Discussions began only this week, and Church was told when he came in from batting practice Friday, just before he was to get taped up. The Mets receive $270,218 as part of the trade to equalize salaries.

“As a front office, we’re going to continue to try to do things to, you know, shake it up a little bit, not just be complacent and say this is it,” Mets general manager Omar Minaya said. “I’m hoping that between here and the All-Star break, you know, we have other things that we talk to teams about, and they may come to reality.”

Church is hitting .280 with two home runs and 22 RBIs. A solid right fielder with a good arm, he got off to a terrific start last year in his first season with the Mets before he was slowed by a second concussion. Church collided with teammate Marlon Anderson(notes) during spring training, then was accidentally kneed in the head by Braves shortstop Yunel Escobar(notes) while trying to break up a game-ending double play at Atlanta on May 20.

Church was stunned by the deal.

“Shocker. Came out of nowhere,” he said outside the Mets clubhouse. “The good thing is I get to play these guys next week.”

New York opens the second half at Turner Field on July 16. Church immediately sent Chipper Jones(notes) a text message.

“They’re going to have to change up a lot of signs. I know everything,” Church said. “I’ll definitely fill them in.”

Church tried to play after his second concussion last year but struggled to shake the symptoms.

“Around the league, people are saying it could have been handled different, but it was just one of those things where we were in uncharted waters,” he said. “Being a baseball player, you want to play. You want to be there every day. And it just so happened it didn’t help.”

Mets manager Jerry Manuel never seemed to warm up to him, and seemed particularly peeved after Church missed third base while running home earlier this season in a game New York eventually lost. The 30-year-old is in his sixth major league season and is a career .273 hitter.

“He told me, he sat down in spring training, that he was going to be tough on me regardless,” Church said. “Maybe he was trying to motivate me. … There was never anything that was negative.”

Braves general manager Frank Wren likes Church’s bat, “especially against right-handed pitching.”

“He gives us an additional offensive spark and plays very good defense and can also play center field,” he said.

An Atlanta native, Francoeur is hitting .250 with five homers and 35 RBIs. He was a favorite with Braves fans and management during his first full season in 2006, when he hit 29 home runs with 103 RBIs while playing all 162 games.

Francoeur hit .293 with 19 homers and 105 RBIs in 2007, when he won a Gold Glove, but slumped badly last year and was demoted to Double-A Mississippi for three games last July, a move that he found embarrassing. He was benched for three games last weekend by Atlanta manager Bobby Cox.

“Frenchy was our guy from right out of high school. It’s hard to move guys when you sign them like that and when they’ve been around,” Cox said. “Maybe a transition over there in a Mets uniform will get him going again and we can get Ryan Church going.”

Francoeur makes $3,375,000 and is eligible for free agency after the 2011 season. Church, who makes $2.8 million, also can become a free agent after the 2011 World Series.

Francoeur stays healthy—he played 162 games in 2007 and 2008 and 152 last year—a plus for the Mets. But he struck out more than 100 times in each of the last three seasons and joins a batting order in which David Wright(notes) entered Friday with 84 strikeouts already.

“Plate discipline has been an issue with Jeff,” Minaya said. “I do believe because he’s 25 years old, I think that he can improve that.”

Francoeur had three doubles against the Rockies on Thursday, making the timing of the trade a surprise. He likely will start for the Mets in right field on Saturday night in New York—where he’ll face fans he once found hostile.

“I’ve always gotten my hazing and I’ve hazed them when I was playing in the outfield,” he said, “but, hopefully, if you go up there, you play hard and lay it on the line, they’ll get behind you.”

NOTES: New York activated OF Angel Pagan(notes) from the 15-day DL. He strained his right groin on May 31. … The Mets at first said they were optioning 1B-OF Nick Evans(notes) to Triple-A Buffalo, then canceled the move for now because of the trade.

Why couldn't they deal Francoeur to the Padres? Anyway, I think the Mets got the better end of the deal in this one.

[livid]

Eh, I think the Braves did. They've been trying to trade Fancoeur for like a year now and he just hasn't been producing for them the way he showed he could produce a couple of years ago. He is only 25 which means he does have a chance to turn it around but it hasn't exactly been promising. Plus, with adding Church they have a left handed bat with some pop (something they needed) who has more plate discipline as well. They're about the same defensively (though Franoeur obviously has a better arm) so they're not missing much there.

It could end up working in both team's favor but right now, I'd say Atlanta got the better end.

[DMN in the House]

It's been twenty fucking years since da 'Bums hoisted a trophy. Mortgage the farm and bring in Halladay.

[Nimrodic]

Short term, yes the Braves got the better end of the deal I will agree that the Braves got the better end of the deal. However in the long term I do believe the Mets got the better end.

Edited July 11, 2009 by Nimrodic

[Dogbert]

If we're trading Halladay, the best thing to do would be to ask prospective traders to take Wells too. The return would diminish, but it's our best chance to unload Wells' contract.

[Nimrodic]

If we're trading Halladay, the best thing to do would be to ask prospective traders to take Wells too. The return would diminish, but it's our best chance to unload Wells' contract.

Halladay for Peavy and Wells for umm..... crap we got no bats here in San Diego that we can trade.

[naiwf]

Jonathan Sanchez threw a no-no against San Diego a day after Lincecum had one through 6 IIRC.

Edited July 11, 2009 by naiwf

[Ananas]

Beatnik: If we're trading Halladay, I don't think who we'd contend with for hypothetical postseason births factors into the equation.

It does if this hypothetical team negotiates a long term contract with Halladay, which I'm assuming no team would trade for him unless they felt they could do so.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Arnsberg will make sure he's never effective for another team.

[GhostMachine]

Not going to talk about the All-Star Gsme in case anyone who reads this hasn't seen it yet.

But...I was flipping through the channels yesterday evening (Tuesday - its a few minutes after midnight here as I'm typing this) and on Jim Rome Is Burning he had a panel discussion going on, and someone had an interesting idea:

Instead of the All-Star Game determining which team gets World Series home advantage for the first game, what if Interleague play determined it? The league who won the most interleague games would get the home advantage for game 1. They didn't discuss this part I'm posting next, but I guess they could go with # of total runs scored or some other stat determining it on the offhand chance the leagues tie in # of interleague wins.

Personally, I kind of like that idea. Even if the AL hadn't won most of the All-Star Games over the last 15 years, I'd still feel that way. The All-Star Games in other sports are just for fun and don't determine anything, so I don't like the idea of the baseball game being anything more than an exhibition like it was before they added the change.

(I also have some thoughts about changing the Home Run Derby, but I don't want anyone going "ARE YOU CRAZY?!", so I'll keep that to myself for now)

And baseball needs more Knuckleball pitchers. Seriously.

Edited July 15, 2009 by GhostMachine

[gunnar hendershow]

Interleague would be great to determine home field in the World Series. Much better than this idiotic All-Star Game idea.

[Maxx]

It should just be determined by what team has the better record, its completely absurd to determine it any other way.

[TheSqauredCircleMessiah]

It should just be determined by what team has the better record, its completely absurd to determine it any other way.

Exactly. It'd be like the NBA deciding home-court advantage in the NBA Finals based on the Slam Dunk contest. It is trickier fpr baseball to decide home field advantage based on the fact that the leagues don't play each other very often and the fact that the leagues have different rules. Personally, I didn't mind when they alternated home field between the leagues and would like to see it go back to that way unless they'll just give the team with the best record the advantage.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

It should just be determined by what team has the better record, its completely absurd to determine it any other way.

Exactly. It'd be like the NBA deciding home-court advantage in the NBA Finals based on the Slam Dunk contest. It is trickier fpr baseball to decide home field advantage based on the fact that the leagues don't play each other very often and the fact that the leagues have different rules. Personally, I didn't mind when they alternated home field between the leagues and would like to see it go back to that way unless they'll just give the team with the best record the advantage.

...surely it would be more like the NBA deciding home-court advantage in the NBA finals based on the NBA All-Star Game?

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Nice to be there in person for what could be one of Halladay's last great starts as a Jay. Best pitcher we've ever had (with all due respect to Mr.'s Stieb, Clemens, and Niekro). Especially since I'm not sure I'd ever seen him pitch live before, and certainly not since he became the ace.

Question, though - in the sixth (I think), Rios was on first and somebody else on third. There was an 0-1 count on Millar, and Rios ran to second and appeared to steal it - but the ump sent him back to first. The pitch was a ball, so it's not like Millar foul tipped it. What the hell happened?

[Lowerdeck]

Clemens wasn't a great Jay

The needle sticking out of Clemens' ass was a great Jay.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

DAMMIT LYLE.

WE'RE NOT PAYING YOU FOR SHODDY DEFENCE.

DAMMIT.

[Ananas]

It should just be determined by what team has the better record, its completely absurd to determine it any other way.

Which isn't fair either, because their records are relative to their competition. I don't see how the Dodgers and their 59 wins in the NL West have somehow earned home field advantage over say, the Yankees 56 in the AL East. The interleague option makes the most sense, as it has thus far hammered home the obvious truth: that the American League is simply a higher level of competition.

[Maxx]

You play the games on your schedule. It's not the Dodger's fault their division is horrible. They've got plenty of games away from the division as well. It's how its determined in the NBA and the NHL, works out pretty well for them.

[Ananas]

Nobody's saying it's their fault. But if you're looking at alternatives to the All-Star game deciding who gets home field advantage, the interleague option at least ensures that the winner of the stronger league gets home field advantage since, presumably, they went through much stronger competition.