Mets and Braves swap RF's

Published: July 11, 2009, 5:24 pm

Mets and Braves swap RFs

July 10, 2009 6:45 PM

Breaking news!

Church

Francoeur

(and first seen on Twitter!) ...

The Mets just announced minutes ago that they have traded Ryan Church to the Braves for Jeff Francoeur.

Like Church in New York, Francoeur was no longer in favor in Atlanta, hitting .250 with five home runs and 35 RBI in 82 games.

Minaya said Francoeur, 25, makes sense as another righthanded bat and, as a former Gold Glove winner, to help with the outfield defense in right.

Wow. Church must really have worn out his welcome with the Mets. Since coming off the DL in early June, Church's line is .290/.336/.402 ... far from good for a corner outfielder, but decent enough compared to most of the Mets' other outfielders ... and of course a far sight prettier than Francoeur's .250/.282/.352 line for the season.

Defense? According to UZR, there's little difference between them and Church might actually be better.

Handedness? With Fernando Tatis and Gary Sheffield, the Mets already had two righty-hitting corner outfielders; now they've got three.

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.

Entry #1,323

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Mets and Braves swap RF's

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