For Real?

[Centerfield]

I wish we had signed Yorvit Torrealba.

[Guest sharpie]

I might be wrong but Schneider and Church were, I think, the last two ExpoNats who aren't pitchers (Cordero and Patterson at least are ExpoNats).

Oh, and, I hate this trade.

[Valadius]

Jayson Stark is insinuating that Milledge's value has taken a big fall this offseason.

[HahnSolo]

Valadius wrote: Jayson Stark is insinuating that Milledge's value has taken a big fall this offseason.

But they didn't have to trade him.

[Valadius]

I tuned in briefly via streaming webcast earlier to the FAN where Russo went off on how Omar is obsessed with Miguel Cabrera and wants to put him in right field.

How the hell does this help, Chris?

[Gwreck]

Did we not think we were going to get 15-70-.272 out of Milledge in 2007? 'Cause that's what Church did. Oh, and Milledge is also 6 years younger.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Who did Milledge rape?

Are their dogfighting issues we're going to hear about?

[bmfc1]

I checked three Nationals message boards (Capitol Punishment, Ballpark Guys, [u:c9adb7863d]Washington Post[/u:c9adb7863d])... most dopey Nationals fans (redundant) are ecstatic. E.g.,

"Nice salary dump by the Nats with Schneider due to pull in $5 mil and Church expected to pull in over a mil when he goes to arbitration this winter for a young stud making around the league minimum."

A few say they will miss Schneider. E.g,

"I understand the trade and don't really doubt it was probably a good one. But man, I'm crushed. Of all the players, Schneider deserves most to experience the new park and to experience a winning Nationals team.
I love that guy. He's so smart, so classy. I so wanted him to be the one guy from the Expos who made it all the way through.
Sob....hold me."

Press conference at 3. Omar on FAN at 4.

[Guest Kid Carsey]

Omar will be on at four with the bozos.

Ya know what I'm sayin'?

[Vic Sage]

Schneider is a significant defensive upgrade over Estrada, and, frankly, there's little to distinguish them offensively (Schneider's career OPS+ = 82; Estrada = 86) -- they both suck.

As a LHed hitter, he's probably a better option to platoon with Castro than Estrada. As for Church, he's a surprisingly productive LHed hitter, when given the chance. But do you give up Milledge's potential to get a slight upgrade in one of your platoon catchers? I don't think so.

And whatever Milledge's clubhouse issues are (and they must be profound to have plummeted to this point), Church is no "choir boy" either... or maybe he is, in this case.

If we couldn't do more than this with Milledge, we should have just let him play, and lived with Estrada. Now that's one less chip with which to pursue Haren or Bedard.

[seawolf17]

Wow. Awful. Either Milledge's stock has dropped that low, in which case, let him play this year -- even in AAA -- to see if he can get that stock back, or he ate Willie's dog.

Effin A.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Milledge

Upside: Jim Rice
Downside: Alex Ochoa
Median Outcome: Bernard Gilkey

Church

Upside: Paul O'Neill
Downside: Wes Chamberlain
Median Outcome: Steve Henderson?

Schneider

Overpaid punchless catcher of which the league abounds.

Yeah, I made all that up. Trying to understand here. I went out for lunch looking for canvansers to be nice to, hoping to put forth a cosmic offering that would make this go away.

[seawolf17]

Did you kick any of them in the gonads? I can think of at least one guy I'd like to kick in the gonads right now.

[Guest holychicken]

I still don't believe it. It seems way too stupid to be true.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Hate it. If it were just a little more retarded (Schneider for Milledge straight up, say), I wouldn't believe it.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

If you think about it, it IS Milledge for Schneider, since Milledge is already as good as Church is (only cheaper). Stoopit

[Fman99]

Ladies and gentlemen, meet your new #7/8 hitters! Ugh.

Basically we're swapping Milledge and Estrada for Church and Schneider. Which to me is a stupid idea.

[Guest martin]

i am still literally in denial. this cant be true, it makes no sense. a high ceiling player like milledge for the regular joes you can find anywhere?


omar will come on the fan in a few mins and set us straight.

[Centerfield]

="martin"] omar will come on the fan in a few mins and set us straight.

Just kidding! Ha! Gotcha.

[metsmarathon]

the only hope i can see in this is that somehow, brian schneider is a player that can be sent to baltimore along with some actually good players, in exchange for ramon hernandez and eric bedard.

or that the a's might also be interested in some sort of catcher to help their team, along with those same good players, in echange for dan haren.

elsewise, this is dumb dumb dumb.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Noble echoes the Milledge decreased value talk, but sez his value had diminished not to other teams, but to us.

]In dealing Milledge, the Mets lose a 22-year-old outfielder who has had issues on and off the field in two partial seasons with the big league team but still is a highly regarded offensive talent. Milledge's batting right-handed and his occasional defensive shortcomings in left and right field diminished his value to the Mets, who now can have three switch-hitters, three right-handed hitters and -- when Church plays right field -- two left-handed hitters in their most regular lineup.

Add me to the mob that thinks this deal sucks BHMC.

[Guest martin]

son of a dangit is on the official site now, i thought it was still just bouncing around talk radio. no more denial, just sadness.

[Guest Edgy DC]

He's trying hard to see both sides like a good reporter, that Marty Noble. He knows this stinks to high Heaven.


The headline at mets.com is: Mets gain roster flexibility in deal with Nationals. I actually joked earlier in this thread that this was the only obvious benefit. What kind of headline is that?

[seawolf17]

Wait! Maybe the Twins really wanted Church in a Santana deal, but couldn't match up with Washington!

[seawolf17]

Brian and Jordan Schneider with Chris Young in Japan.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I am hoping that this is a precursor to something else.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Go Jordan!

[Guest Mendoza Line]

bmfc1 wrote: For background on Ryan Church, Vlad and Edgy know this, Church is either a dumb guy, a country bumpkin', or an anti-Semite. I prefer to think he's just ignorant: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/20/AR2005092002093.html

Great. So I log on to the CPF just to see what's going on, and I find out that we traded Lastings Milledge AND I'm doomed?!?!?

I don't get this deal at all.

[Valadius]

What Schneider brings to Wifey Watch has made up for 20% of my dislike of this trade.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Mrs. Schneider is cute. She'll be an asset to the Wifey Watch.