Ryan Church has been traded to the Braves for Jeff Francoeur according to Newsday’s David Lennon.

My first reaction to this trade is confusion.

1) It’s the rare inter-division trade
2) The Mets and Braves have a pretty storied rivalry
3) Why would the Mets help Atlanta?

Church was a player who seemed to fall into Jerry Manuel’s doghouse (for no apparent reason) and was never able to crawl out. Sure he’s under-performing this year (.280/.332/.375) but a lot of those struggles can be attributed to Citi Field being a pitcher friendly park. His home-run per fly ball ratio is 3.5%, a disturbingly low number compared to his career average of about 16%. He also has an OPS of .803 on the road as opposed to .575 at home. Church is never going to be a star but he’s a guy who is going to give you an OPS of around .800. In fact his June numbers were more in line with career norms (.307/.361/.453).

Francoeur is a very talented player who was never able to top his rookie season. His rookie season (70 games in ‘05) he hit .300/.3336/.549 and seemed poised to be a breakout player. However since ‘05 he hasn’t managed to put up an OPS higher than .782 and for the past two years he has struggled to crack a .650 OPS. Francoeur sees about 3.3 pitches per plate appearance and has struck out 46 times this year. A patient hitter he is not.

The Mets must think they can somehow salvage Francoeurs career. At five years younger than Church, the 25 year old Francoeur obviously has a much higher ceiling. Contractually Francoeur has two more years of arbitration before reaching free agency and makes $3.375 million this season. Church makes $2.8 million this season and also has two more years of arbitration before hitting free agency.

How the Mets think they can fix Francoeur is beyond me. He’s an all or nothing type slugger who is only going to be hurt (A LOT) by Citi Field. He’s going to strike out a ton, not get and base and I guarantee you as the Mets fall deeper and deeper into a black hole he’s going to become a target of the Mets fans ire.

This is a terrible, terrible trade for the Mets. They don’t save any money, don’t get any prospects and most likely will waive Francouer at seasons end. Unless they can justify paying Francoeur over $4 million next season to put up terrible numbers.