Milledge Traded for $24 worth of trinkets, a Chaucer tale, and a water-stained Power Pack comic book

Bye, Milledge, we hardly knew ya.



I was prepping a New York Mets post about the offseason so far, asking why the team doesn't let Ramon Castro hold down the catcher's job full time (since he's a capable catcher and beats the piss out of the ball when he's on the field), wondering about pitchers and relievers, when I see this from metsgeek and the nynewsday:

1:20 PM EST, November 30, 2007

The Mets have traded Lastings Milledge to the Nationals for catcher Brian Schneider and outfielder Ryan Church, a baseball official confirmed this afternoon. Milledge was believed to be a major chip in the Mets' pursuit of an elite starting pitcher this offseason, but that apparently was not the case.

Schneider, 31, will now take over in the catching tandem with Ramon Castro, only a week after the Mets traded for Johnny Estrada. Schneider is expected to be a defensive upgrade to Estrada, who is now almost certain to be released. Schneider hit .235 with six homers and 54 RBI last season.

Church, 29, will be added to the mix in rightfield. He batted .272 with 15 home runs and 70 RBI in 144 games for the Nationals.

Milledge showed flashes of his highly-touted potential in the past two seasons. He batted .272 (50-for-184) with seven homers and 29 RBI last year. Evidently, the Mets value Carlos Gomez, a superior defensive player, over Milledge. But Gomez could be moved in a deal for a starting pitcher at next week's winter meetings.

Well, dick on a platter. If that's not one of the worst trades I've ever seen, I think it's time to come up with a list. Milledge was a high first round pick, hit solidly last year. Had potential. Now we have:

Brian Schneider. A weak hitting defensive catcher. We had Yorvit Torrealba for that role; why did we have to trade a valuable player? Maybe this line from the ap report has something to do with it:

Milledge... had been reprimanded for not running hard on the bases and had arrived late to the clubhouse for a game. He also rankled Mets management by making a rap CD that used offensive language.

Tem Mets are very image conscious, so we get a nice "veteran presence":

Ryan Church. Have YOU heard of Ryan Church? He's 29. If he were of much note, you would have heard of him. A few homers, 43 doubles, a credible glove, but nothing impressive.

This just in-- he's a frickin' bible-thumper?

An article in Sunday's paper about Baseball Chapel quoted Church as saying that he had turned to Moeller for advice about his former girlfriend, who was Jewish. "I said, like, Jewish people, they don't believe in Jesus. Does that mean they're doomed? Jon nodded, like, that's what it meant. My ex-girlfriend! I was like, man, if they only knew. Other religions don't know any better. It's up to us to spread the word," Church said.

I love my Bible too, but that's a) ridiculous and b) some crap you don't say to a reporter.

Ah crap. No more L-Millz:



Or slick sliding: