Mets trade Milledge; world scratches head

New York Mets General Manager Omar Minaya pulled the trigger Friday on a trade that would send prospect outfielder Lastings Milledge to the Washington Nationals for catcher Brian Schneider and outfielder Ryan Church. This is yet another move that Minaya has made this off-season that makes you scratch your head and hope he has some kind of master plan. The Mets opinion of Milledge has publicly soured in alignment with Milledge’s adjustment issues to being a corner outfielder, hitting woes, attitude problems, and rap album.

The prospect deemed untouchable just a few years ago, who could have landed them a top pitcher in a deal straight-up, has now parted ways with his mentors for two average players. Church does provide a lefty bat with some pop to the bottom third of the Mets line-up and Schneider fills their defensive need behind the plate but unfortunately can’t hit. Nationals will probably start Jesus Flores, a prospect they got from the Mets in the Rule 5 draft.

This trade, shortly after the Ramon Castro resigning and the Guillermo Mota for Johnny Estrada swap, makes little sense to anybody and does not even come close to addressing the main need for pitching. Tom Glavine parted ways with the Mets to return to Atlanta, fitting after probably the worst pitching performance of his career in the game that solidified the Mets historic collapse just a few short months ago.

The bottom line is the Mets are no better than last year, they may be even worse than last year. Unless Minaya pulls a blockbuster deal out of his hat, this could be a long season and the Milledge trade has the potential to go down in history right next to the infamous Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano trade that many consider one of the worst trades in baseball history.