Couple thoughts on the Jeff Francoeur for Ryan Church trade:
- One reason why this trade might seem a bit jarring (or as jarring as a swap of mediocre outfielders could be) is that these two clubs almost never do business. Since the divisions were realigned in 1995, they have made one trade: Paul Byrd for Greg McMichael after the 1996 season. Other than that, since the Braves have been relevant, there was the Dave Gallagher/Pete Smith blockbuster in 1993 and Alejandro Pena for Tony Castillo in 1991.
- Love how we’re reading about the Mets loving and needing Francoeur’s superb defense and cannon arm in the spacious right field at Citi, even though Church provided awesome defense and close to a cannon arm in the spacious right field at Citi. This season, Church has a UZR of 2.8, Francoeur with a 0.6 (although it was a 17.1 two years ago).
- Braves fans probably won’t have this problem because Church won’t really be identified as a Met, but it’ll be tough trying to warm up to a guy most Mets fans despised passionately for the past four years. Unless, you know, he starts hitting bombs. Then we’ll be okay.
- I am not confident in this happening.
- Anytime you have a team that is fundamentally unsound and has trouble scoring runs, and you have a chance to add a guy who once said “If on-base percentage is so important, why don’t they put it up on the scoreboard?”, you gotta make that deal.
- And we’re also told by Rotoworld’s Matt Stroup that on-base percentage numbers do appear on Turner Field’s scoreboard.
- In his last game for Atlanta, Francoeur hit three doubles. Is that considered “selling high”?
- But cheer up, Mets fans. This quote from Omar Minaya ease any apprehension you have: “One thing we like about Francoeur is the amount of games that he plays.” So there’s that.