The Mets will announce today the trade of outfielder Lastings Milledge to the Washington Nationals for catcher Brian Schneider and outfielder Ryan Church.
Schneider, 31, is regarded for his defense and ability to handle pitchers. He hit .235 with six homers and 54 RBI last season. Church, 29, hit .272 with 15 homers and 70 RBI.
Getting Schneider enables the Mets to now trade Johnny Estrada, who they got from Milwaukee for Guillermo Mota.
Milledge showed signs of living up to his promise when he made the team coming out of spring training, but injuries limited him to .272 with seven homers and 29 RBI in only 184 at-bats.
Milledge was thought of as a potential trade chip for pitching, but this now frees the Mets to use Church and deal Carlos Gomez, or the other way around. It also now enables them to package catcher Johnny Estrada in a deal.
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93 Comments
oh by the way…Marty Noble is a douchebag
What a dumb move…Omar needs to go.
by the way Schneider is the best part of the trade because he is a good glove and throws out 30-40% of runners. Along with Ramon the catcher position is fine…But we will get burned by Lastings every time we play Washington…this is just stupid!
Milledge had similar stats to Church, in less time. And is younger.
Church is awful against lefties. Milledge has more power.
If his (Milledge’s) trade value is down, then DON’T TRADE HIM.
It’s really quite simple.
Estrada is not going to net anything in return. He was traded for Mota for pete’s sake. He was replaced by Jason Kendall, who has stunk for years. That shows you what his value is.
This is a bad trade no matter how you look at it.
Does anyone really think Church is going to return more than Milledge? Remember, it was 2 players to the Mets for Milledge, so obviously, the Nats rate Milledge higher than Church.
Bad trade.
Bad Omar.
Marty Noble must be dancing a jig. Same for Wally Matthews.
Milledge 08 stats
.300 25hr 95Rbi 20stolen bases…mark my words! Great outfield arm…
Neither Gomez or Martinez is ready. Gomez coudln’t hit last year. He needs more time in the minors.
One will probably be traded for the real need, pitching.
We had a catcher.
We had a right fielder.
If Milledge had to go, then get an arm or arms back for him.
Not a catcher who can’t hit (now 8 and 9 will be empty spots in the lineup).
Not an outfielder who at 29 is barely better than the 24 yr old you just traded for him.
Think about this…we did not protect Jesus Flores…he replaces the guy we just bought with Lasting Milledge…and would we really need a pitcher if we did not give Brian Bannister away?
OMAR MUST GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Interestingly, I see this as a loss for both sides. Are the Nationals seriously going to make Flores their starting catcher. Who was playing center for the Nats, Logan? I guess Milledge will replace him.
Hopefully, Omar thinks he has an inside track on Fukudome; that’s our best hope for right field next season. I don’t think Gomez is ready, so you can’t have Church and Chavez both on the bench, so maybe they will platoon. The problem is the inevitable Alou injury, which would put us with Chavez/Gomez, Beltran, and Church as the outfield then.
I know what happened. Omar reasoned that if he had Ryan Church he could platoon him with Lastings in RF and he didn’t realize until after the trade that he wouldn’t be able to do that if he traded him.
In a chat for ESPN.com, Jayson Stark had the following to say about the Mets acquiring C Brian Schneider and OF Ryan Church for Lastings Milledge:
“The Mets have been looking for a defensive-minded catcher who could lead a staff, and Brian Schneider does that as well as anyone. And Ryan Church is a better player than you’re giving him credit for. He’s better than a fourth outfielder, even though he might be more a 5-day-a-week kind of player than a 7-day -a-week kind of player. And Milledge, frankly, turned out to be overrated. HIs value had plummeted. For a team trying to win in the short term, like the Mets, I totally understand this trade, Now let’s sit back and see how good Milledge turns out to be.�
…it’s early in the history of this deal, but i’m getting the sense that this has everything to do with milledge…and that, most Mets fans who are irate about this deal, are fans who still view milledge like it’s early 2005…personally, i still believe he’s going to blossom in to an exciting player, but if he has very little trade value, and the Mets had soured on him, i guess it’s better to move on now than to wait and see…
Milledge, right now, is better than Church. The Nats didn’t rally need Schneider, so couldn’t you get him for a couple of B prospects, and still been better?
Milledge is going to be a stud.
and if everyone really soured on him, the only logical response is to let him play to build up his value (oh, and help the Mets win in the process). Not trade him for medioctiry (back ups essentially).
Well, I reserve the right 2 years from now when Lastings is being discussed in MVP talk and Church is playing in Japan to say I told you so!
And can anyone really argue that the flip side (LM is a bust, and Church leads them to the WS) is even faintly as likely?
This trade has little potential to turn out in the Mets favor. At best, it doesn’t go down in the worst trade annals.
man, Omar has stuck his neck out. Only real ML ready prospect traded for some more 30 YO guys.
Up, way to build a dynasty!
And if the quote from the press conference is accurate, expect to see the rest of the farm gutted (he said they are “trying to win a champiossip”) Of course, they should try that every year, but this sounded like a going for broke in 2008, 2990+ be damned comment.
I would like the mets to look at Rowland or Fukadume at this point..You have certain Power positions in Baseball…RF is one…Ryan CHurch is not enough for a Championship team…THe Mets had a chance in 07 to take back NY from the Skankees…forget it!
Milledge will be better than Church this coming season. We don’t need Brian Schneider. A good throwing catcher doesn’t make up for 150 points of OPS. And who cares if he know the NL East? Guess what? Catchers don’t make a difference in pitcher’s ERA.
Stick: I still think Lastings will be no better than Shannon Stewart. Good player but no MVP.
I agree with Scott from Pelham…but like I said
.300 25hr 95rbi…solid and 23 years old!!!!!
Ed: Check out Mets.com. Noble absolutely LOVES this trade for the Mets. And for the person who posted Jayson Stark’s comments, here are Keith Law’s comments:
“Lastings Milledge is still one of the better young outfield prospects in the game. By dealing him for an awful player in Brian Schneider, the Mets sold low on a former first-round pick with a lot of upside and committed two years and too much money to a catcher who can’t hit.
The Mets get … nothing, or close to it. Schneider will earn $10.3 million over the next two years to sit behind the plate when the rules call for it, and to make 300-odd outs at the plate while hitting .230/.320/.330 or thereabouts. He is the definition of replacement level  his offensive production was roughly as valuable as what Guillermo Quiroz did in eleven plate appearances for Texas last year  and paying him $10 million is bad enough. Giving up something of value to acquire that contract is horrible. It would be better to pay Johnny Estrada $3-4 million to be bad for one year than Schneider over $10 million to be worse for two years.
There’s a small silver lining for the Mets in the acquisition of Ryan Church, a capable platoon bat in left or right field if you have a right-handed caddy for him. Unlike Schneider, he has value on a big league roster, but even swapping Milledge straight-up for Church wouldn’t make sense because of Church’s struggles against lefties, his long history of minor injuries, his age and his expense as a super-two player this winter.�
Houston: The Mets had a chance to take the team back in 2006, not 2007
The past few days i have heard interviews with baseball people who said that other gm’s were not high on milledge and were not interested in milledge. Actually, from what I’ve been hearing, other organizations (GM’S) are not high on any met prospects. People on this blog are making milledge out to be the next Manny Ramirez, not. To me, milledge showed that he was an average fielder at best and couldn’t hit the breaking stuff. The problem with the mets is they have no good prospects, very weak farm system that they appear to over hype. I mentioned on this blog after the season was over that the mets are only going to get worst going forward. They have old players for the most part. I was for the first time a few years ago ready to give up being a met fan but than came Omar. Omar said he was not only going to make the mets better but how he was going to improve the Mets farm system. Omar made the mets better for one year. My question is, Where is this farm system that he was going to improve. I am again on the verge of being a baseball fan. Why? because baseball is about the yankees and the red sox spending whatever it takes to have a good farm system and a major league club while everybody else struglles.
Taylor: We have not had a good defensive catcher here in a long time. My bet is by May everyone will be love Schneider for his play calling and intangibles.
This trade is just so dumb I can’t get over it. Milledge is a good player ALREADY!!!!!. He will be even better next year. Church is decent. Schneider is past his prime and never really could hit. We just traded a young thoroughbred for 2 old workhorses. Just stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid!! I hate Omar. You hear that Omar? I hate you. Take that!
Play calling, shmay calling. Get me a catcher who can hit. And by the way ‘play calling’ or ‘pitch calling’ is the biggest bunch of over-hyped junk. Its just something nice that broadcasters (Tim McCarver) can say about a guy who can’t really hit. Yes stopping the running game and blocking balls and fielding bunts etc.. has some value but lets not get carried away. Come May you’ll be missing Paulie LoDuca.
Steve…no I think they had a legit shot in 2007 if they did not make the bad mistakes…lets review:
1. Brian Bannister given away
2. Royce Ring given away
3. Heath Bell given away
4. Chad Bradford let go without a fight
undo just these 4 moves and the Mets in my estimation win the NL and maybe the World Series!
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Houston Mets Fan: Royce Ring are you kidding me.
Taylor: LoDuca is a 36 year old over hyped singles hitter.
Who totally disrespected his manager all year. Will I miss him ? I think not.
Scott…did you look at Royce Ring’s Numbers in 2007:
1-0 2.70 era…now playing for Atlanta…would you rather have him on the mound or: Mota, Schoenweis, Burgos, Vargas, Sosa..etc…
do you think a guy like that could have helped in the 6th inning when Mota was giving up 4 runs?
Houston Met Fan-
Don’t look at the moves in hindsight…Lets consider:
Bannister was a so-so pitcher, with a ridiculously high whip. He was moved for two reasons: To give Mike Pelfrey a shot in the rotation (which everyone clamored for), and so Omar could create a killer bullpen with Heilman/Burgos/Sanchez/Wagner. As a result of that move, Bell, Linstrom, and Owens who had not impressed on the big league level were on the outside looking in, and were moved for an OF, a reliever and two younger lefties. At that point, its a good deal. Then we had some substantial injuries to Sanchez and Burgos. As a result, the bullpen was downgraded in terms of talent…And I must say that seeing as we lost out by 1 game, having those guys in the fold is enough to put the team over the hump and get the Mets in the playoffs.
With Bradford, he asked for a big deal, and you generally don’t give a long term deal to a reliever, especially one as flakey as Bradford. What happened then was that he was without a guy that could get the lefties out, and had no choice but to go, and overpay for schoenweis…This was the one questionable move AT THE TIME.
You can’t fairly evaluate a GM’s moves in hindsight. You go with the knowledge they have at the time of making the move…Right now, my faith is in Omar, but I will admit he is starting to test my patience.
Omar is not running the show.
The Wilpons told him to get rid of the guys w/attitudes they did not like-Milledge and LoDuca.
Simple as that.
Lo Duca is a 36 year old catcher who wanted a 3 year deal, worth more money. Thats a stupid move to make…Catchers tend to expire after 35. The Posada deal works, because he has the luxury of the DH. If Lo Duca came to Omar and said Omar, I’d like a 1 year deal at $6m, with a club option for ‘09, then things could have been different. Also, undermining your manager, and getting thrown out in crucial games down the stretch doesn’t exactly endear you to management.
Got nuthin for Milledge though
Onto something else, I thought Troy Percival was done two years ago, and now the Rays signed him for two more years at $4 million each, but they are really desperate and need the help. And apparantly Torrealba (who just signed for 2 years-7 million with the Rockies) is suing the Mets for something. Unfortunately, Omar wouldn’t divulge why the deal browke down because he has an agreement with the agent.
Mets management soured on Milledge the first season he was up and hot dogging it. he had upside then. Last season it was the rap song business and the hot and cold he showed late in the season. They just lost patience with him.
Will he get it together and be adecent player, yes. Did the Mets have time to wait? Probably not. They filled a couple of holes today and the trade makes sense.
As others have said, Church has upside of his own. He’ll be in a different lineup with different protection. ‘09 he’ll move to first and one of the other studs will move into right field.
This is going to prove a decent trade down the line.
Omar is having a dreadful off season…
I think he just wanted to hear the sound of his own voice again.
You know, to remind himself that he is an ACTIVE GM of a pro ball team.
What we need is pitching, and MORE hitting—in giving up LM we accomplished neither.
Omar is just too tentative lately. I would have started Milledge next year if I couldn’t trade him for some starting pitching. This team imploded just 3 months ago, and the decay continues…
This whole “we’ll get’em next year” attitude just isn’t gonna cut it.
We’ll be lucky to win 80 games next year at this pace.
Trade Reyes for Santana… what have we got to lose?
Shortstops don’t win championships—20 win pitchers do!
Reyes is overrated—I love the guy, he is fun to watch, but Johan WINS GAMES.
Get rid of Willy too while you’re at it. I’m sick of his apologies—it’s never a big deal
Bunt Willy, this is the National League!!!
It’s been all downhill since the 2006 NLCS.
It’s like this team thinks it deserves to win—You wait, they will slip even further from that game 7 against Cards.
Mets open 8-12
The only thing I can come up with is that they will sign Andruw Jones and trade Church for a top notch starter. But still a mind bobbling trade.
You state that Omar wanted to create a killer bullpen…He HAD a great pen in O6…in this case he made big mistakes by not judging talent well. Bannister was a very good pitcher at the start of 06 and beat out all comers for the 5th spot. An injury stopped his season and Omar…again missed on his talent level and gave him away for a guy (Burgos) whose talent he also did not properly judge.
Lineup protection is a myth. Guys put up the same production more or less regardless of ‘protection’. Its not like Church was being walked intentionally every other game. His counting stats (R,RBI) will increase but only because he’ll have more runners on base when he bats and he’ll have better hitters to drive him in when he is on base. Good teams also turn the lineup over more so he may get more plate appearances. Don’t expect ‘protection’ to make any big difference in his rate stats.
Ravi,
do the Mets win the NL if we undo the trades Omar made for 07 (the ones I stated above…Yes or No?
Trade Church for a top-notch starter? What team would trade a top-notch starter for Ryan Church? Even Omar wouldn’t do that.
To be fair to Church…he is in a pitchers park, he had 40+ doubles and 15HR and he is a very nice gloveman…Milledge will be a far better player.
To Mr Astoria: See JDs newer post for my answer to you…..
To Jayson Stark’s comments, why are we a team trying to win in the short term? I think our better shot would be long term and Omar didn’t help that just now, but obviously in a big market, you’d like to at least compete in September every season.
Church is not a bad player. That’s not what I’m saying. Milledge will be better and for much longer. Shea is also a pitcher’s park and I think Citi will have the same dimensions as Shea. Plus at this point Milledge is not eligible for FA or arb.
Keith. If you want to compare Church to Green then we still lose the trade. Green hit 18 points higher with 8 more steals, 5 less HRs and 13 less doubles. So Church in his prime is about equal to Green at the end of his rope.
BAD TRADE!!!!
And the the guy who says we will love Schneider…. No way…NYC does not love mediocrity.
Taylor, with Mulvey Church and Heilman that could get us Haren or even Bedard.