Wrapping up a busy night off the field, but the usual boring night on it. I don't disagree with the fact that the Mets needed to 'shake it up,' as Omar Minaya said, and perhaps the proverbial change of scenery will benefit both Ryan Church and Jeff Francoeur.
First, let's look at the player coming in. Francoeur has been a strikeout machine with the Braves, racking up 132, 129 and 111 in his first three full seasons with the team. He has 46 in 304 at-bats this season, which actually is a little off his usual pace. But he doesn't walk very much--only 12 times this season, and 23, 42 and 39 from 2006-08. It would help if he could get on base more often. His power numbers also have declined, going from 29 to 19 to 11 HRs from 2006-08.
Maybe, as Minaya pointed out, the dimensions of Citi Field will help him. The reasonable left-field wall is well within his reach. FWIW, I don't buy the argument that coming to NYC will bother him. If anything, there might have been more pressure on him in Atlanta. Francoeur and Braves C Brian McCann are childhood friends from the Atlanta suburbs, so there always has been pressure on those two playing in their hometown.
As for Church, who was in Friday's lineup before the trade was made, I asked him if he thought it was odd that he was being traded to the same place where his problems with the Mets began. Of course, it was at Turner Field on May 20, 2008 that he got his second concussion after a collision with Atlanta SS Yunel Escobar, and a promising season went south. Church said he hadn't thought of it that way, and pretty much said all the right things about a 'fresh start' and how he enjoyed his time with the Mets.
Jerry Manuel, who famously [or infamously] referred to Church as 'the guy' after he missed third base in LA in May, never really regained his form after that second concussion, but Manuel disagreed with a question asking if Church didn't fulfill his potential with the Mets because of that. 'I thought he performed well,' the manager said.
The interesting thing is that these division rivals will have a four-game series in Atlanta starting Thursday after the All-Star break. 'They're going to have to change up a lot of signs,' Church said with a smile before leaving Citi Field.
No one should have to go through what Church endured last season. I hope he can turn things around in Atlanta.
Oh, and on a personal note, I also was covering the Mets the night of July 30, 2004 in Atlanta, when they made two blockbuster trades during the Jim Duquette era, although I still don't believe he had the final say. There was the infamous four-player deal with Tampa Bay in which the principals were Victor Zambrano and Scott Kazmir, and a five-player deal with Pittsburgh in which Ty Wigginton [who had been displaced at 3B by a rookie named David Wright] went to Steeltown and Kris Benson came to NY. Maybe tonight's activity will work out better for the Mets.
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