Mets, Braves Swap Church For Francoeur

being rid of jeff should make some braves fans really happy

Oh my! Oh my!

Absoluty makes no sense. Church is the left handed version of frenchy and the braves need a RIGHT HANDED BAT!!!!! what in the hell is frank wren thinking??? And he sends him to a divisional rival. Absolutly no sense.

Mets easily got the better of this deal in my opinion

Today must be the day for acquiring sub .300 OBP ballplayers to improve your ball club.

Who cares to predict the next one to go?

why would you send a guy to a division rival???? if he turns it around which we all know is possible it could haunt us for years. And why bring in another left handed bat???? The only thing i can think of is the fact that church's contract is up at the end of the year so we dont have frenchys contract hanging over us the next couple years so i like that part but i can find much else that i like with it.

That's it. I defended Omar Minaya a lot. But this is it. I am joining the Fire Omar Minaya bandwagon. This is a completely dumb move. Francoeur was a non-tender candidate.

Genius for Wren. He makes his team better, and the Mets worse.

In a place where he's happy to play and knows his name will be in the lineup everyday I could see Church putting up a solid .280/.350 line with 30-40 extra basehits.

Good gracious hallelujah. Someone actually took Jeff Francoeur. I'd take Ryan Church over Jeff Francoeur every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Good job Wren, idk why Braves fan are so upset with this trade. All I've seen out of Brave sfans is bitching and moaning about how bad Frenchy is and then when he's actually traded for a BETTER player, they quesiton it. Ryan Church was abou thte best player you could hope to get with Jeff Francoeur.

Mets lose on this trade. Francoeur is not that great and Church is a very consistent Ballplayer who has really shone in NY due to the ability to actually get playing time (somethign he didnt really get when he was wiht the nationals).

Yes!!! Way to go Frank Wren! I dont care if we did get another left handed bat he will prolly platoon with Diaz in right and Anderson will play full time in left!

if you dont think this move makes sense for the braves, you havent been watching the braves for the past 2 years. great move. church will play well in atlanta. finally, some real production in right field.

DUDEs, this means that the braves will have 7 left handed bats in their lineup. Chipper (against right) kotchman anderson KJ(when back) mclouth mccan and now church

Why the hell would Minaya make this deal??? It makes absolutely no sense for the Mets. Don't get me wrong, Church is average at best in right, but this just seems like a move indicating the Mets are looking to sell more than play for this year.

I wouldn't want either guy but if I had to pick, definitely prefer Church. Francouer has a hitch in his swing reminiscent of a slow pitch softball player and has a 5% career walk rate.

Church has talent but never put it together....at least he can draw a walk and has some pop, and was actually playing a decent CF for a couple weeks recently

Braves Just Dumped some salery. And i do believe that right now Church has more Value...being a left handed bat hurts the trade but church can play all over the place. Frency does have an amazing upside, Like ardruw if you can correct his swing..he would be great. Honestly I think Frenchy will end up playing everyday in right and church will packaged together with someone else to get a better right fielder. I do like this because it means Diaz is gonna get more starts in right...thats what most excites me

Partly Manuel's doing? I never really believed he didn't have with Church.

Steal for the Braves. Absolute steal.

Church is much, much better defensively than Frenchy. Although his bat is mediocre, he's still much better with the glove.

He's been worth about a whole win more than Frenchy has this season. Holy crap Omar just made a division rival better.

The braves didn't dump much salary...they save about 200,000 for the rest of the season.

Good news is that Francouer's gone (thanks Mutts), but the bad news is that they got ANOTHER left handed bat in place of him (and a pretty average one at that)

As happy as I am that he's gone, I just can't help but think about the possibility that Francouer actually turns it around and helps the Mets make the playoffs.

*shudders* I really wish Wren would've traded him to an AL team.

Surely the Mets will option Francoeur to AAA, right?

I don't understand why the braves traded for someone with fewer hr's when we desperately need a power bat.wren needs to be fired now

Wasn't Jeff a fan-favorite though?

The only thing we lose with Francouer is a very very strong arm and a bunch of headaches. At first I wondered and then I realized that Church is better. He has 2 homers but he plays in a horrible hitters park. I'll take a batter with about the same power as Francouer but he hits about 30 to 40 points higher. Not to mention it adds about 3 or 4 million to our offseason spending for 2010.

Posted by: james | July 10, 2009 at 05:28 PM

Church is an arbitration eligible player just like Frenchy. They're not really saving anything unless they DFA him, which they could have done with Frenchy. That said, great trade for Wren.

NO all the fans know frenchy sucks and are happy to see him go, But all the fans(including myself) wanted to see him leave but were overpricing him. I have changed my mind and i think this is the best player wren could have gotten for frenchy

You realize the Braves have hit .275/.342/.405 vs LHP but only .242/.327/.392 vs RHP this year, right? Oh no, not a left-handed bat! Dude, Church isn't a free out, and that's a huge upgrade over Francoeur. Braves fans, rejoice.

someone just say frency is 34 years old? Cause im pretty sure he is only 26-27 maybe...

Brent: I hope you meant Andy LaRoche. The Adam experiment failed and he is not welcome back.

Braves fan, that was 3 years ago, who said he was not welcome back, and even if it failed, he is way better on offecnse now than he was then. YOu are stupid

This just an add trade to me. I'll take your junk if you take my junk I guess? If Wren was looking to do that I'd rather he done the same deal with the Twins for Delmon Young. While Church is better than Young at the moment, Young is a lot, well, younger and has a lot more potential upside.

As a Braves fan I'm not upset about the deal, but I'd be lying if I said I understood it.

god i hate twitter

I dont get why everyone is getting all worked up, these are two bad players that will have little impact. However, i do think frenchy has a lot more potential. Now if the cards could just get someone to take ankiel and duncan off of our hands.

yeah I forgot church's contract is up at the end of the year. frency still had one more year. The more I think about it. The braves might be doing something smart here. Because even if they do sign Church again he isn't gonna get anywhere near 2.8 next year...so that unloads like 3-4 mil next year too..

Posted by: Bravesfan13 | July 10, 2009 at 05:32 PM

Church's contarct is up, as is Frenchy's. They are both arb eligible, and Church will definately get at least 2.8 million again in arbitration(who ever stays healthy and gets a pay cut?). There really isn't much difference in the contract situations.

Timetheus... I agree with you. So i liek it now. Diaz deserves a strating job. He can tear it up. Reminds me of Pete rose without as much skill. Great upside without the gambling haha

DOB says the Braves are sending some cash as well. Probably to even out the slight different in salary

Brent, it shows how much little you know about baseball. Adam's best years were with the Braves. Look at this stats now. On the decline buddy. Not to mention he was an idiot on the field at times. We have a better first baseman right now despite the fewer homerun numbers. Please, don't talk about acquiring LaRoche again and expect the rest of us to take it seriously. The Braves already got Pittsburgh's best player earlier in the year.

Braves fans are complaining about getting a right fielder with 50 points of OBP over their old one? Guh??

Lol braves got money too

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/2009/07/mets-trade-church-to-braves-la.html

why dont the braves try to get fox from the cubs and play him at 1B. He can rake and his right handed. Would the cubs want too much for him?

Lol braves got money too

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/2009/07/mets-trade-church-to-braves-la.html

Posted by: Braddd | July 10, 2009 at 05:42 PM

Just about every other report is saying it's the Braves who sent cash to the Mets...

Just wanted to say, I don't mind if you call me UnbiasedYankee, unbiased, or UY. But, if you want to know my name, it's Jon(athan).

I happen to enjoy watching the Mets, just so you know. This is a dumb bum move by Omar. Where are Moore and Omar getting these drugs? Willie Wison and Lenny Dykstra?

Both were having bad years but Francoeur is having even worse one, if that's possible...

Jeff Francoeur: 68 OPS+. I think Willis, Zambrano, and Sabathia can all hit better than this, personally. Scary thing? His BABIP is at .289. Not to mention, is LD% is down 2.3% from last year (from 20.7% to 18.4%). Ironically, his walk percentage is down the exact same amount- 2.3% (6.1% to 3.8%). In defense of Jeff, though, Church's LD% and BB% have fallen EVEN FURTHER from last year. Not to say Church hasn't tried to be disciplined, though. His Swing % is down 3.0% this year, from 46.5 to 43.5, while Frenchy's has increased for the 3rd straight year, at 58% this year... wow.

Ryan Church: 88 OPS+. Pretty good, not great. This OPS(+), .880, is a difference of .173 than his current OPS, a very noticable difference. Church's BABIP, while noticable higher (.325), happens to be LESS than his career average, .332.

Why are these guys getting jobs when we know we could do it fully better (for instance, I fully nominate scribbletone to have Jim Hendry's job)? When did Omar EVER have success as the Expos GM? NEVER. He was the brilliant mind that made the Pedro trade happen...

My prediction for the next sub .300 OBP player (For the record, Church had an OBP of .332, coming into today) to be moved today is TPJ, via the DFA, to make room for the recently aquired Betancourt That was ANOTHER steal from Big Jack Z, out west. Jack in Black, with his dark horse moves, strikes again.

I'm go post these thoughts to my new blog. So I don't spam here, I'll just say it's at the mlbblogs page, and it deals with sabermetrics in the title. If this is spamming, though, I'm sorry. If you want the page, give me your e-mail.

braves4life...Shut up you are no longer allowed to speak. That qualifies as the dumbest thing I have heard today.

Braves need to package Church and another player like CK or KJ for LaRoache.

Posted by: braves4life | July 10, 2009 at 05:46 PM

Or, the braves could put church and kotchman together for Laroche in Pittsburg.

Posted by: BrentWt34 | July 10, 2009 at 05:25 PM

I already suggested that. So im not the only one that thinks thats a good deal BRAVESNEWWORLD

And hey, Churh ain't half bad. And Jeff, well he NEEDS a change of scenery, so it's okay for both teams.

Bravesfan13....Sorry, didn't know you were sleeping with Casey Kotchman.

how is that dumb, if they package kotchman and church for laroche, laroche is almost as good with the glove and has better power numbers(which the despretely need) and diaz is going to play everday in right not church, so blanco can fil in the utility outfielder. HOw is that dumb?

Guess it doesn't matter...Church will only be here the rest of the season. I'll find it hard to believe if the Braves offer him arb. next year.

Adam Laroche's Stats in MLB

2004 ATL 110 324 45 90 158 27 1 13 45 27 1 78 0 0 .278 .333 .488 .821 1.24 1 144
2005 ATL 141 451 53 117 205 28 0 20 78 39 7 87 0 2 .259 .320 .455 .775 1.20 1 144
2006 ATL 149 492 89 140 276 38 1 32 90 55 5 128 0 2 .285 .354 .561 .915 1.04 1 144
2007 PIT 152 563 71 153 258 42 0 21 88 62 5 131 1 1 .272 .345 .458 .803 0.77 1 134
2008 PIT 136 492 66 133 246 32 3 25 85 54 7 122 1 1 .270 .341 .500 .841 0.90 1 134
2009 PIT 79 293 45 76 136 22 1 12 39 40 6 72 2 2 .259 .345 .464 .809 1.07 1 134
CAREER 767 2615 369 709 1279 189 6 123 425 277 31 618 4 8 .271 .340 .489 .829 1.00
Game Log
Splits
Batter vs. Pitcher
Hitter Chart

numbers are almost the same except for his down year this year(because hes unhappy in a pirates uny

Guess it doesn't matter...Church will only be here the rest of the season. I'll find it hard to believe if the Braves offer him arb. next year.

Posted by: braves4life | July 10, 2009 at 05:56 PM

They'd be crazy not to...he's probably going to max out at about 4 million, he's definately worth that. Church is alot better player than alot of posters are giving him credit for.

2 starters for LaRoche now?? Are you two related or something?? Forget about Adam. He will not don the Braves colors again. God just the thought of his looping swing and a miss and his emotionless demeanor out there make me angry.

Seriously, you want to replace a LH bat with another one?? Our problems are in the Outfield, not at 1st. I bet you two want Andruw back as well. Hey, Giles is still a FA ya know....