Mets send Church to the Braves

[ThisIsOurHouse]

Just in Ryan Church, Mets, has been traded to the Braves for Jeff Francoeur. This trade kind of confuses me, first it is a straight up one for one deal, between two teams only a 1/2 game apart. Why would these two teams make a trade that would better the other especially the Mets as they gave away a consistent bat of Church to the Braves who need corner outfield help. Pretty weird.

They are talking about the trade on mlbn

[Moose Milligan]

Francouer is gonna be a mess in NY. He was already a mess in ATL.

[PaulBako]

Terrible deal for the Mets. Francoeur is terrible.

[sakata_catching]

This trade makes absolutely no sense, but it's particularly puzzling for the Mets.

[Mackus]

The Mets just hated Ryan Church for some reason. He's a solid player, much better than Jeff Francouer, but for some reason he was just in Jerry Manuel's doghouse.

[BRob51]

The Mets just hated Ryan Church for some reason. He's a solid player, much better than Jeff Francouer, but for some reason he was just in Jerry Manuel's doghouse.

Probably for that time he never touched third.

Man, I've always really liked Franny, and I just hate that he won't be in ATL. Georgia kid playing on the Braves with his BFF. That's like that coolest thing that could ever happen. I hope the Mets still suck but I wanna see Franny do well.

[PaulBako]

Probably for that time he never touched third.

Man, I've always really liked Franny, and I just hate that he won't be in ATL. Georgia kid playing on the Braves with his BFF. That's like that coolest thing that could ever happen. I hope the Mets still suck but I wanna see Franny do well.

Mcann must be mad.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Probably for that time he never touched third.

Man, I've always really liked Franny, and I just hate that he won't be in ATL. Georgia kid playing on the Braves with his BFF. That's like that coolest thing that could ever happen. I hope the Mets still suck but I wanna see Franny do well.

That was a hell of a story. His problem was he had that great first two months that completely blew away any numbers he had put up since Rookie league. That got the hype going, followed by his ego, so when he came back to Earth the fans wanted to know why he couldn't repeat the talent he showed while he didn't want to listen to anyone to figure out what was wrong.

It's a shame. I wish him the best of luck.

As for the Braves, now that over the past couple weeks they've gone from an Anderson-Schafer-Francouer outfield to Diaz-McLouth-Church, they are going to be a team to watch.

[twoBshorty]

Straight change-of-scenery trade for both sides. And the Braves got the better of it, IMO. Church is at least a useful 4th OF. Francoeur is horrible. He's walked 12 times this season in 82 games. There are other OF regulars that don't walk much, like Ichiro (16 times in 77 games) or Jacoby Ellsbury (22 times in 80 games) but they actually bring other things to the table. Like base-stealing or defensive skills. Or an OPS over .750. Or an OBP above .300. A low bar, I know, but one Francoeur can't meet.

.250/.282/.352. OPS+ a whopping 68. That someone has played in 82 games with a .282 OBP blows my mind. How do you keep running him out there to just make outs? And why would the Mets want this? You can get him out just by pitching somewhere in the same zip code. His K/BB ratio is something like 4:1. He is awful. He was awful last year, too. I think it was established somewhere that he was the worst outfielder ever, in objective terms. He's only 25, but any sort of skill related to getting on base has consistently eluded him, and you can't stick in the majors like that.