DownSwinging.com

On Friday, the Mets and Braves made a one-for-one outfielder swap with Ryan Church and Jeff Francouer. On the whole, the deal is basically being characterized as one of those “change of scenery” deals, guys who probably could perform better than they are doing right now. No doubt, this was probably a good move for both teams, but from the way I see it, Omar Minaya and the Mets are the winners here.

First, it is important to note that the Mets received cash in the deal, roughly $270,000 so the difference in the two player’s salaries is a non-factor. But what I see in this trade is a change of scenery for one player, Francouer, and then just moving a mediocre player in Ryan Church. Church isn’t a bad player by any means, but he’s 30-years old, so its not like he is going to start hitting his stride anytime soon. If you start Church everyday, you’re going to get a .270 hitter who hits 12-15 HRs. Fine, but not exactly a major contributor to a playoff contending team, and he wasn’t necessarily a key part to the Mets lineup.

On the other hand, we have the struggling Jeff Francouer. Through 82 games this season, Francouer is batting .250 with 5 HRs and is walking at an extremely poor 3% rate (roughly). He’s slugging just .352, and he is supposed to be a power hitter.