Washington Nationals Get Lastings Milledge from the Mets for Ryan Church & Brian Schneider…

Well, it looks like the Mets' finally got another catcher they needed, and they rid themselves of gifted, but troubled, Lastings Milledge. The Washington Nationals rid themselves of two players who they felt struggled...

From ESPN: The New York Mets have dealt outfielder Lastings Milledge to the Washington Nationals for catcher Brian Schneider and outfielder Ryan Church, multiple media outlets reported Friday.

The Nationals announced they would hold a news teleconference at 3 p.m. ET to announce a trade.

Milledge, in parts of two seasons with the Mets, has a career .257 batting average (90 for 350) with 40 extra-base hits and 51 runs batted in.

Church, in 144 games last season, hit .272, one point higher than his career average in four seasons with the Expos-Nationals franchise. Last season, he had 128 hits, including 43 doubles -- tied for the team lead with Ryan Zimmerman -- and 15 home runs, and 70 RBIs.

An eight-year veteran, Schneider hit .235 with 21 doubles in 2007. In the field he had 53 assists, six errors and a .992 fielding percentage. He has a career .252 batting average in 757 major league games.

I am going to be blunt -- The Nationals stole Milledge.

Why Minaya would trade him, I don't know; however, some fans in Washington are going to be devastated as two fan favorites are gone.

Both Schneider and Church are near 30, and Schneider despite his catching prowess struggled at the plate. Meanwhile, Church who did put up decent numbers in '07, could not be regarded any more than an average outfielder, perhaps even a 4th outfielder on some teams.

Alas, if Milledge takes off in Washington, he's solved the outfield issue and plus they've got a power bat for cheap and next to nothing.

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