Mets Trade Milledge to Nats

by Willton on Nov 30, 2007 3:21 PM EST

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071130&content_id=2314337&vkey=hotstove2007&fe xt=.jsp

The Mets get Ryan Church and Brian Schneider for Milledge. Wow.

Has Milledge's stock fallen that much? I like Ryan Church and all, but Milledge is supposed to be much better than Church. And Schneider is now extraneous with Estrada already in tow. What were the Mets thinking?

The only justification for this trade that I can see (and its a weak one) is that the Mets did not think that Milledge is going to be that good. That's entirely possible, considering that Church hit just as well as Milledge did last year. But Milledge is a mere 22 years old! He has the chance of getting better, and if he doesn't then he'll be a Ryan Church, which is still pretty good. And what's better, he's cheap!

I do not understand this trade outside of the viewpoint that Omar Minaya sucks at evaluating talent.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of the managing editor (Charlie) or SB Nation. FanPosts are written by Bucs Dugout readers.

Tweet Comment 8 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Estrada

"And Schneider is now extraneous with Estrada already in tow. What were the Mets thinking?"

Estrada is apparently gone. Mets only traded for him to save $2M on Mota. They apparently never had any thoughts of keeping Estrada around.

by haven on Nov 30, 2007 4:07 PM EST reply actions

Draft Picks

And I also believe that the Mets can get draft pick compensation if Estrada signs elsewhere. So it was a salary dump with the potential for more.

All accounts have pegged Milledge as a hot dog and he was too brash for the close-knit Mets clubhouse. But the bottom line most likely is that they felt he'd never figure it all out and reach his potential so they cut bait and filled some holes with solid but not spectacular options. Rest assured if they felt Milledge was going to be a superstar they'd deal with his baggage rather than ship him out.

by OmarMoreno18 on Nov 30, 2007 4:15 PM EST up reply actions

Trade

Trade makes some sense. Milledge is no longer projected to be a superstar and Minaya knows Church and Schneider from his days with the Expos.

You would think Minaya could have done better, but without having transcripts of his trade talks it's impossible to know if there was a better offer out there.

by bolton on Nov 30, 2007 4:13 PM EST reply actions

Milledge

The thing that puzzles me though is that Milledge was still very highly regarded around baseball. Agreed that his antics and immaturity were an issue, but I read that Billy Beane REALLY wanted him in Oakland, so much so that he was willing to work a trade that involved MIlledge for Dan Haren.

I think that if the Mets had shopped around they could have gotten much more...

by bryanzane on Dec 1, 2007 9:19 AM EST reply actions

I heard the opposite...

I heard that Minaya did shop him around and the interest simply wasn't there. Oakland was lukewarm and wouldn't move Haren or even Blanton in a deal for Milledge.

If the market was lukewarm, then it looks like he did the best he could.

by OmarMoreno18 on Dec 1, 2007 1:01 PM EST up reply actions