Last night during the Mets 13-0 lopsided win over the Florida Marlins, SNY began to take calls in the booth from viewers. Aside from the fact that this entire segment is terrible idea, a man called in asking what Gary, Keith and Ron though about the Lastings Milledge for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider trade.
Here's where I have problems with this:
1. The trade occurred all the way back in November of 2007. Over four months ago.
2. The caller brought this question up in a game where the players the Mets acquired had already combined for three RBI and two runs scored and would go on to drive in two more runs in the next inning. Church even roped a two-run home run over the right field wall off a left handed pitcher (one of his apparent weak points) in the second inning.
3. It's not like if fans keep asking about it and theorizing it was a bad trade and how amazing Milledge might be, Omar will all of a sudden try and get him back.
When the Mets traded Milledge, who might have been their starting right fielder this year, they got back a defensive minded catcher and a solid right fielder.
Schneider has something the Mets haven't been able to boast about in a while: skills behind the plate. Sure, the pitching staff is good, but adding a catcher like him, with great defensive skills and a plethora of knowledge and ability to call the game correctly brings the staff to a new level. Church, as we saw last night, knows how to track down a routine fly ball (unlike Milledge) and even has a canon for an arm, throwing out Hanley Ramirez in the first inning. The Mets were tossing around the idea of platooning him against left handers, but last night he showed he could, lining a home run over the wall.
The deal is done. They can't go back and ask for Milledge back, so just give it up. Get used to Church and Schneider as two members of the Mets starting squad and forget about Milledge. He's old news.
youre right, hes not coming back. i would like the trade if church was 27. thats basically what it comes down to. but hes not, and i still dont. we now do have probably the best up the middle defense in MLB. and maybe even overall (if endy is playing; i dont know about pagan yet since i havent seen him play more than a handful of times). church seems to be adequate in right. we really should have enough offense; i just get frustrated that the mets are half-assing the whole youth core strategy. i suppose that was 04 and 05 and now we are trying to win it all. i just dont want to end up like the 02 mets or the yankees since 2000. i really like what arizona in particular has done in terms of drafting well and trading to get guys like haren (and rid of guys like troy glaus). i dont want to see fmart leave!
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