Milledge Traded in Worst Deal Ever

The Mets have traded Lastings Milledge today to the Nationals for Catcher Brian Schneider and Ryan Church. First off, wow. I turn on SNY and start watching a show. A few minutes in I see “Lastings Milledge as traded to the Nationals for…” At the moment I thought they got Chad Cordero who would have been a nice pick up. Instead I see they get Brian Schneider and I didn’t even care who the other outfielder was at the time. I get out of my seat and start screaming no, no, no. I was honestly speechless. The trade made no sense and I was unbelievably confused.

In my opinion this was an absolutely horrendous trade. The Mets traded a young player with a lot of talent in Milledge for a mediocre defense catcher who is a poor hitter and a younger version of Shawn Green who is coming off a career year.

Last season, Church had a .272 average with 15 home runs, 43 doubles, 57 runs, 70 rbis, 3 steals, 107 strikeouts, and 49 walks in 144 games. In 2006, Church played in just 71 games while batting .276 with 10 home runs, 35 rbis, 17 doubles, 22 runs, 6 steals, 60 strikeouts, and 26 walks. He is 29 years old, 6 foot 1, and 190 pounds.

Brian Schneider is known as being more of a defensive catcher than an offensive one. In 126 games last season, Schneider hit .235 with 6 home runs, 35 rbis, 33 runs, 23 doubles, 56 walks, and 56 strikeouts. His best season was with the expos in 2004 when he hit .257 with 12 home runs, 49 rbis, 40 runs, 3 triples, 20 doubles, 42 walks, and 63 strikeouts in 135 games.

Essentially Milledge is being traded for an average catcher and a decent outfielder who has been the #4 outfielder for a lot of his career. I have been saying this for a while but I truly feel the Mets as an organization disliked Milledge’s attitude and never game him a chance. On October 14, I wrote an article explaining why the right fielding job should go to Milledge. On August 13, I begged Willie to give Milledge his chance saying “Everyone asked coming out of pre-season was not if but when Lastings Milledge would overtake Shawn Green as the starting right fielder. Milledge had 2 at bats for the Mets before being sent down.” On March 6, I explained why Milledge should start this season in right. The Mets never gave Milledge a chance from Willie never playing him to this recent trade. The Mets never even gave Milledge a full season; hell they never gave him half a season.

Milledge was not a quite kid. He new the hype surrounding him and boy did he show it. He gave fans hi fives and was not afraid to speak his mind. He brought a swagger that the Mets desperately need. His fist pumps showed he actually cared and wanted the team to win. He would have been a team player and a possible all star if the Mets gave him a chance.

After Jose Reyes was signed and when he was brought up to the major’s critics bashed him. He was constantly getting injured and could not hit a breaking ball if his life depended on it. Jose Reyes got better, stopped chasing the breaking balls in the dirt, stayed healthy, and has become an all star. Just because the critics are down on Milledge doesn’t mean he will not be good. He had so much hype like Reyes and has not really struggled but yet his value is down and was traded without even playing a full season. What if the Mets traded Reyes 4 years ago for 2 mediocre players and then Reyes becomes so good, how would you feel?

The Mets outfield and their batting order are not looking to good right now. Chances are the Mets will trade Gomez and or Fernandez crippling our out fielding prospects. The Mets will have Beltran who can play very well in center, Alou who will hopefully continue to hit but will play like 70 games, and Church who could either play like crap under New York pressure or have a season like Shawn green did last year. Oh yeah, the Mets ended up starting Milledge over Green in September… funny.

Here is an idea what the Mets could have done. They should have just re-signed Lo Duca who is better than Schneider and kept Milledge. Instead they now have a worse catcher and a worse right fielder than last year.


This trade makes me think of the Scott Kazmir trade. Milledge could be another Kazmir and the Mets could have gotten ripped off. This was a terrible move by Omar and I am outraged. The Mets have so far gotten worse in two positions and have not signed any new, good players, and instead just re-signed players from last year. If Omar does not make a trade for an ace and instead signs Livan Hernandez or even worse, Carlos Silva, then Omar must be fired if the Mets play poorly for simply making the team worse. Omar, you are the GM of the Expos anymore so stop trading for players that were on that team. The Expos sucked then so why would mediocre players make the Mets into a World Series winning team?

I have always been a huge fan of Lastings Milledge. I went to his second game and have a Milledge shirt. If Omar was smart he would have traded Milledge for Manny, or Soriano, or Haren, or Zito. Omar said Milledge was part of the team for the future but when former expos are available good bye future and hello past. This is a sad day for me; I do not want to think of the future of the Mets without my favorite player Lastings Milledge. When he becomes real good I just want to say I told all of you so. The worst part will be going to Mets-Nats games and seeing Milledge play right field…