Evaluating an Acquistion: Free-Swinging Jeff Francoeur Could Pay Off For Mets

When the Mets and Braves agreed to swap a couple of troubled outfielders, it was a shock to baseball. At the time, both of these teams were competing for a playoff spot, and they had agreed to swap two significant players, with the Braves receiving Ryan Church in exchange for Jeff Francoeur.

I didn’t know what to think of it at the time, but eventually I came to like the deal.

People were yelling to fire Omar Minaya because of the trade, but that just wasn’t going to happen. I actually ended up calling Steve Somers while I was driving home from Cape Cod, and I told him that the Mets had made an excellent deal with acquiring Francoeur.

They had acquired a guy who is six years younger than Church and has a better attitude.

Sure, we all know about his inability to draw a walk, but he can certainly hit the ball out of the ballpark. He has already hit more home runs—five—in 29 games for the Mets than Church did—two—in 67 games for us. Just for the stat nerds out there, that would be a 28 homer pace for a full season.

As far as Church goes, he continues to be an alright player. He plays above average defense in right field, and he will hit around .280, but he can’t hit for consistent power. In a Mets’ lineup that has been consistently dominated by lefties, this was one trade that Omar needed to make.

Now, as far as the lineup goes, I don’t think Francoeur is your customary number five hitter. The Mets need a better guy to be batting before him and after him. That will be addressed when the Mets try to retool in the off season.

I can see it now. If the Mets make a couple of changes in the offseason, and they keep Francoeur, you may be looking at a lineup similar to this.

SS Reyes
2B Castillo
3B Wright
CF Beltran
1B Delgado
RF Francoeur
C Ramon Hernandez
LF Angel Pagan

And yes, I think the Mets will push to sign Delgado for one year on the cheap. What do you guys think?