The Braves and Mets swapped outfielders on Friday, as Atlanta sent struggling right fielder Jeff Francoeur to the Big Apple for the equally struggling Ryan Church.
The clubs make this trade essentially hoping that they can each find success turning the still-promising young outfielders around. Francoeur has struggled the past two years, but the Mets must feel as though he offers more offensive potential than Church, who, for whatever reason, has never been given a fair shot by manager Jerry Manuel.
The Mets could also obviously use the upgrade defensively, where trained circus monkeys could perform better than what New York puts on the field on a nightly basis. Francoeur might have his struggles at the dish, but he’s got a cannon for an arm and will certainly be a welcome sight in right field for the Mets’ pitching staff. He also offers more power potential than Church.
Church, meanwhile, should love the new scenery in Atlanta. He’ll give them a significant boost in terms of on base percentage and he seemingly has a better chance of turning his offensive misfortunes around than Francoeur does.
It’ll be interesting to see who got the better end of the deal at the end of the year.
