Ex-Mets: Milledge traded away from Nats

It’s a sad day on The ‘Ropolitans having just learned that the Mets will likely see Lastings Milledge only six times a year from here on out.

Milledge and his teammate Joel Hanrahan were traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates today.  In return, the Washington Nationals received Nyjer Morgan and pitching prospect Sean Burnett.

Good luck in Pitt, L-Millz.  You’re going to need it.

All-Star balloting now open: Vote LMillz!

Major League Baseball is three weeks into the season, and they’ve already set up online balloting for the All-Star Game set for St. Louis.

Major League Baseball today marked the official start of All-Star Balloting for the 80th All-Star Game, which will be held on Tuesday, July 14th, with a special on-field ceremony prior to the New York Mets-St. Louis Cardinals game at Busch Stadium, the host of the 2009 Midsummer Classic. The Major League Baseball All-Star Game Balloting program is the largest of its kind in professional sports.
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Every Major League Club will have begun its in-stadium balloting no later than Wednesday, May 6th. When the in-stadium phase of balloting concludes on Friday, June 26th, fans will have the opportunity to cast their final ballots exclusively online at MLB.com and the 30 Club Web sites until Thursday, July 2nd at 11:59 p.m. (EDT). In addition, Banco BHD will sponsor All-Star balloting in the Dominican Republic, making Spanish-language ballots available offline and online at www.bhd.com.do from May 5th-June 22nd.

I just cast my ballot (you can cast 25, but I don’t know anyone who cares that much) and I found it fairly hard to choose based on 13 or 14 games, but that’s just me.

Oddly, or maybe not so oddly, you can still vote for Lastings Milledge to make the All-Star team.  I’m officially starting the “Vote LMillz” campaign to get Milledge into the All-Star Game.  I’d love to see what MLB will do if Milledge makes the team while he’s still in Triple-A.

Vote often and vote Milledge.

Ex-Mets: Lastings Milledge optioned to Triple-A

Lastings Milledge, the embattled Washington Nationals outfielder, was just optioned to their Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse, NY.

Via We’ve Got Heart:

MILLEDGE OPTIONED TO TRIPLE-A SYRACUSE

The Washington Nationals today optioned outfielder Lastings Milledge to Syracuse of the Triple-A International League. Nationals Assistant General Manager and Vice President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo made the announcement.

Even though a Ryan Church error may have led the Mets to a loss yesterday, does anyone still want to tell me this was a bad trade for the Mets?

Why trading Lastings Milledge was and always will be a great move

Here is just one small portion of the interview that Chico Harlan had with Lastings Milledge. You must read the whole Q&A, but this is just...well, read it:

Q: OK, you keep talking about 'your way,' but what does that mean?

LM: You know, there's always a thing where, Oh, rookies have to be here 2-1/2 or three hours before stretch. No. I'm not gonna be here three hours before stretch. If you're here and you get your work in, it shouldn't matter how early you're at the field. You know what you need to do. That's fine. You don't have to be at the park three, four hours before the park if you don't want. You don't see nobody clocking in three or four hours before they have to show up to work. So, I mean, some people feel like they have to get here to read the newspaper or do crossword puzzles or get their mind ready. I feel like I come to the park, I have 45 minutes of stuff I have to do to get prepared for practice and get ready for the game. Five minutes might be watching videos. Fifteen minutes might be going in the cage. And then getting whatever other work I need.

Here is the rest of the Q&A.

The Eddie Kranepool Society puts it perfectly with the headline "THE MORE LASTING MILLEDGE SPEAKS, THE MORE THE METS LOOK SMART FOR DUMPING HIM."

Does anyone still think this was a bad trade?

Repost: LMillz was overhyped

On this well placed off-day (I'm writing a final paper on Catch-22 and "national community.") I dug up an old post of mine and will repost it below. Here's my reaction after the Lastings Milledge for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider trade, originally posted December 1, 2007...

I am most likely the only Mets blogger in the universe who is "OK" with this trade. Lastings Milledge, to me, was entirely overhyped, and now we're seeing the sobering conclusion to the saga that was LMillz in Queens. And this Mets fan is happy.

Everyone seems to be calling for Omar's head as if he had a better deal elsewhere, but decided not to take it. Obviously if Omar thought, or even caught a scent of a better trade elsewhere, he would have held onto Lastings and pursued this better option. Milledge's status dropped considerably when teams saw what he could do with an everyday starting position.

The kid can't hit a breaking ball for the life of him, and takes the most roundabout angles on the easiest fly balls ever. To me, Lastings' climax as a player was two years ago, as a much hyped up minor leaguer, when it was discussed that he could be traded for Manny Ramirez. Since then, it's been pretty downhill. After those botched pop flies at Fenway Park and the high-fiving (which I commended when it happened) down the right field line at Shea, it seemed the kid was doomed as a Met. The fans went back and forth on whether or not his attitude was mature enough to handle the New York stage.

When he finally had a chance to break out and shine, he looked nonchalant running to balls that got past him, and just unmotivated. The lack of hustle on his part was extremely frustrating to me, as someone who supported him through all his early problems. With his ego at full blast, it seemed he could take on the world, but when his skills were put to the test on the field, he did not impress me in the least bit. Fans were once weary of this brash young player, and now seem entirely up in arms that he won't be patrolling Shea, and eventually Citi Field, for years to come.

With Brian Schneider being announced as our starting catcher, and Ryan Church as our starting right fielder next year, we seemingly picked up 2/9 of our starting team, for a player that may or may not pan out. Schneider has great defensive skills, which is what some wild things like Oliver Perez need behind the plate. Church, 29 years old, seems to be a newer, younger Shawn Green. There are no overpowering numbers at the plate, just a decent hitting, decent fielding outfielder who is capable of doing what he is paid to do.

Goodbye Lastings, I'm sure you will be haunting Omar and Mets fans for years to come, but right now, good riddance.

When will people stop griping about Lastings Milledge?

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.

swwwwweeeep.

thats right, back-to-back sweeps...

reyes-3 hits. loduca-2hits. delgado--crushed a 2-run HR in the 5th.
Shawn Green- 1-3 walk, k, RBI. not too shabby. and he likes the place.

g.mota rocked again. 1 IP, 0 hits, 2 k's.

Castro to 60-day DL :: Perez Up.
Milledge down :: Bannister up.

Friday: Bannister
Saturday: Perez
Sunday: Maine

Another sweep? or is that just too damn greedy??

MySpace. Where all the prospects hang out.

well. Tip to HotFoot for the link for this. haha

Lastings Milledge's MySpace

and after some searching i turned up these...

Chase Lambins MySpace (he's with binghamton)

Rafael Arroys MySpace(Hagerstown)

Michael Devaneys MySpace(B-Mets)

Bobby Maleks MySpace(B-Mets)

more to come...?