Thoughts on a Bad Trade

Ryan Church was traded for Jeff Francoeur last night. I only have a few thoughts on this:

Omar Minaya must hate Church as much as much as Jerry Manuel does.

Omar Minaya makes some very good moves (signed K-rod, Beltran, Pedro, Sheffield, traded for Johan) and some very bad ones (traded away Heath Bell, Matt Lindstrom, Ryan Church, signed/traded for Luis Castillo). This one was terrible, the next one is bound to be close to how he got Johan Santana for Carlos Gomez. He's going to get a win. (Halladay for spare prospects?).

Why would anyone want Jeff Francoeur?

The Mets are now officially missing the should-be starters in RF, CF, SS, 2B (not officially hurt, but can't play every day, and he'll be on the DL soon), 1B.

If Jeff Francoeur suddenly learns plate discipline (obviously he's "young" at 25, and as he ages, he will learn plate discipline. Because that's something you learn with age, at least according to Minaya. Minaya's a very, very smart man. Not.)

The best argument in favor of Francoeur was that he plays a lot of games. Seriously, he's always healthy. But just because the Braves made the mistake of playing him everyday, doesn't mean the Mets have to do the same.

In case Omar Minaya didn't notice, 8 of the top 11 league leaders in walks are under the age of 31. It appears the correlations are not in his favor.

Yes, Church is a no-power corner outfielder. But Jeff Francoeur is an SI cover jinx. And no one can overcome that. Not even Mr. Met.

Thoughts on why it is impossible to be a Mets fan

About 2 minutes ago, Luis Castillo dropped what should have been the third out in the ninth to win a hard-fought game with their subway rivals. A game in which both sides showed continued grit, battling back and forth for the win.

And this wasn't surprising at all. As soon as Alex Rodriguez popped it up, and the camera shifted to Castillo, I had a bad feeling. I knew he wasn't going to catch it. Maybe it's because he looked like he couldn't find it. Maybe because he's a terrible player in general. Maybe because the Mets had two heart-wrenching defeats in a row to the Phillies. But I could tell.

The Mets can't advance any farther than what they are right now if they don't shed their dead weight. Trading Ramon Castro was a start. Luis Castillo needs to be next (followed by Ryan Church).

Getting healthy would also help.