Lastings Milledge to WASH, Brian Schneider And Ryan Church to NYM

[sbrylski]

Anyone see Austin Kearns moving somewhere now??? with Pena, Lastings, and Logan possibly being the starters there in D.C.

Pena - Millegde - Kearns have to be the starters. They can get the BBQ Logan out of the lineup.

 

All the potential of this trade is on the Nats side. Nothing is for sure, but in all likelihood the Nats will have won this.

[Brian the Automator]

Minaya screwed this one up. This is essentially Milledge for Torrealba and Gross.

[Thurston Fluff]

I don't no how bad this is for the Mets considering the circumstances. They need productivity now not potential. Even though Milledge could be special next year they needed to change the atmosphere after last year's meltdown. There is a little element of addition by subtraction in both this and the Mota deal. The Nats right now I'm sure are perfectly willing to risk attitude problems for young hig ceiling talent. Especially if this turns into a wake up call for him.

[erbacaine04]

Don't the Brewers look silly now for basically paying a guy the Mets didn't want to pay, when they just could have non-tendered Estrada themselves? I think the Mets are laughing.

 

Why we got a guy in Mota who probably needed to get out of NY... still throws the ball 95mph and is pretty cheap in this RP market... I think give Maddux a chance with Mota we could have a decent BP arm... for basically nothing.

[Ennder]

Don't the Brewers look silly now for basically paying a guy the Mets didn't want to pay, when they just could have non-tendered Estrada themselves? I think the Mets are laughing.

 

I'd say it makes the Mets look silly that they traded to get a C that probably won't play much. Then again I think Mota is a decent risk for a season and that his peripherals looked a lot better than his ERA the past couple seasons.

[dadofandrew]

Estrada will be starting 110 games for someone next year, barring injury. There are not 30 better than him, probably not 15-20. That said, he might have to take less than he would have got in arby, but he can also choose his team to play for before his walk year. Heck, he might have a few teams bidding for him now, but there are only a handful of teams looking for a catcher at this late date.

[tomter38]

I don't really feel the Mets or the Brewers look particularly bad. The Brewers trusted a pretty quality scout in their organization to trade for Mota, who could be a big help to the pen this year, and got rid of a catcher that didn't exactly work out for us. The Mets got rid of a guy who had lost favor in the organization and brought in a back up plan in case nothing could be worked out for catching. Seems like both teams ended up with what they wanted in the end.

[Roscoe Chill]

I'd say it makes the Mets look silly that they traded to get a C that probably won't play much. Then again I think Mota is a decent risk for a season and that his peripherals looked a lot better than his ERA the past couple seasons.

But you're missing the point Ennder. They aren't even going to keep him. They just unloaded what they feel is wasted money on someone else. It's kind of like the Linebrink trade. If Linebrink was so good, why was a team in the midst of a playoff race trading the one thing those kinds of teams are looking for....relief pitching? If Mota is so valuable, why did the Mets just give him away?

[twobrewers]

If Mota is so valuable, why did the Mets just give him away?

Change of scenery.

 

Why did Texas give us Shouse?

 

Sometimes guys get caught in a numbers crunch. Sometimes an entire fan base turns on them and it is time to move on. (Mota was getting killed in the NY press)

 

And I don't think anyone is saying Mota is "so valuable" - rather than he has some value. I would rather spend 3 million for one year on a guy with potential, than 12 million over 3 years in the free agent market for about the same player.

[VegasBrewerFan]

Wow this trade suprises me.I would have thought that Milledge would have been a big part in whatever trade the Mets will make for a starter.It gives you some idea of the value the rest of the league has for Milledge.

[crewcrazy]

A Mets fan I know actually sees Milledge as being pretty overrated, and compares him to Delmon Young as far as his power not translating to the majors so far. He went as far to say that even if Milledge pans out, he won't end up with much better numbers than Ryan Church. I don't know if I'd go that far, but I think it shows that there's at least some Mets fans that aren't enamored with him anymore. But there are a lot of other Mets fans that are having traumatic flashbacks to the Scott Kazmir trade.

[danzig6767]

I'd say it makes the Mets look silly that they traded to get a C that probably won't play much. Then again I think Mota is a decent risk for a season and that his peripherals looked a lot better than his ERA the past couple seasons.

 

But you're missing the point Ennder. They aren't even going to keep him. They just unloaded what they feel is wasted money on someone else. It's kind of like the Linebrink trade. If Linebrink was so good, why was a team in the midst of a playoff race trading the one thing those kinds of teams are looking for....relief pitching? If Mota is so valuable, why did the Mets just give him away?

 

I think Melvin saw the slim pickings and high price of relief pitchers in free agency and took a 3 million dollar flier on Mota. His numbers aren't pretty the last few years and odds are higher that Mota won't be able to be trusted in high leverage situations, but he does throw 95 and has experience. Relief pitchers often can be up and down from year to year, i think Doug is just hoping to get lucky with Mota and if he ends up being a bust, the price wasn't overly high.

[splitterpfj]

It would be better to pay Johnny Estrada $3-4 million to be bad for one year than Schneider over $10 million to be worse for two years.

 

-Keith Law, ESPN

 

He thinks the Mets absolutely gave Milledge away, and that quote made me laugh.

[Tbadder]

Okay, I've got a single connection in baseball, but it's pretty high up and it is a relative--so I think he's shooting straight with me. He says that Milliedge is the single scariest dude in the National League. Yes, the kid's got tons of potential, but this guy's Milton Bradley Jr. in waiting. He's gonna alienate his teammates, stab his manager in the back, and generally tear up the clubhouse. Why have the Mets been trying so hard to dump this guy?

[dadofandrew]

I'm sure Lastings is a jerk, as young players with star potential do not get dealt. I'm just saying, why give him away? Again, 2 decent players, but I would have thought he'd be worth a great deal more...Beane has been known to be interested in him for ages, and they have SPing to trade, supposedly.

[monty57]

The Mets have made it very well known that they were going after a catcher. They have also made it very well known that Milledge was on the market. I'm sure they've shopped around and this is the best deal available. That's a problem with "head case" players. If they essentially force a trade by upsetting enough people, most of the rest of baseball will know the situation, and you won't get as much in return as you otherwise may have. Randy Moss was traded for what, a 4th round pick? The Brewers are fortunate that all of their players seem to be good people (I think this has a lot to do with their scouting). When they are in the situation to trade some of their now-young players, they should get much more than the Mets got in return.

[crewcrazy]

I'm also going to go out on a limb and say this won't be the last time Milledge is traded for peanuts in his career. He's got Gary Sheffield written all over him, in more ways than one.

[homer]

The little brother of a friend of mine went to high school with Milledge in FL and said he was a really nice guy. Maybe money changed him or maybe he's being cast as a malcontent by the Mets as a smoke screen for deficiencies in his game that would really hurt his trade value.

[Invader3K]

Eh...I think this is one that will long term be for the Nationals, but short term is better for the Mets.

[brosto1]

I would rather have Castro starting than Schneider. If I am trading Milledge I want a definitive improvement over what is already on the roster. Adding Church helps, but only maintains the surplus of OF they have with Chavez and Gomez still there. I think the Mets have some more deals in place that will involve Gomez or Church for some pitching.

 

Great deal for Bowden.

[brettac1]

It seems to me that the whole "Milledge is a bad guy" thing started over something really innocuous, like he made a great play in LF and high-fived with a bunch of fans running back to the dugout. I have never heard anything remotely near being Milton Bradley - who has alcohol incidents and domestic abuse in his past, to go along with a boatload of on-field blow-ups (and I like Bradley).

[lovehate]

The questions about Millledge started in high school I think, after his junior year he was considered about the best player in H.S., but by the draft after his senior year, he had already gone so "Hollywood", or developed such an attitude, that teams were scared off.

[RockCoCougars]

Good deal for the Mets. Church is solid, and Schneider will fill a good role on that team as well.

 

As much as I hate Sheffield, I think that it's an insult to compare Milledge to him. I was thinking more along the lines of Ricky Ledee.

[Roscoe Chill]

So if Milledge becomes a 9 time All Star, wins a batting title, jacks 470 HRs, and has 2500 hits, that's supposed to make this deal a bad deal for Washington?

[DrWood]

milledge was the third-best OF prospect on the Mets. And he does nasty rap. Zero cost to the Mets, assuming they are right about their assessment of his ability compared to their other prospects.