The Mets dealt one of their biggest bargaining chips yesterday, but they still believe they have plenty remaining to acquire a strong starting pitcher.
The Mets traded Lastings Milledge to the Nationals for catcher Brian Schneider and outfielder Ryan Church. The deal leaves the Mets with Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez as their best – and maybe only – position-player prospects, meaning GM Omar Minaya appears more limited in what he can offer for a starter.
Minaya insisted that wasn’t the case, citing as evidence the fact that teams with starting pitchers who could be traded assured him he has enough to make further deals.
“We did check with some of those clubs,” Minaya said. “We were told that if we were to move Lastings, we do have enough talent in our system to be able to complete deals for the guys we’re talking about.”
Minaya may be right that Milledge wouldn’t have brought the Mets an ace. Neither the Twins nor Orioles were interested in Milledge as part of a deal for Johan Santana or Erik Bedard, and the A’s weren’t tempted for Dan Haren or Joe Blanton either.
Minaya said Schneider is now the Mets’ starting catcher. Schneider – who recently turned 31 and has two years and $9.8 million remaining on his contract – batted .235 with six homers and 54 RBIs this past year, but has a good reputation behind the plate.
“I think he’s one of the better game-callers in the game,” one NL team executive said.
Schneider threw out 29.1 percent of runners trying to steal, the NL’s third-best mark.
“The way he handles a pitching staff and the way he calls a game and the way he receives back there is maybe second to none,” David Wright said by phone.
The lefty-swinging Church, who’s arbitration-eligible, batted .272 with 15 homers and 70 RBIs in 470 at-bats. Minaya said he’s slotted as the starting right fielder. The question is whether the 29-year-old can succeed versus lefties – he batted .229 with one homer against them. It wouldn’t be surprising if the Mets added a righty-hitting outfielder.
One interesting thing in Church’s history is that, according to a story in the Washington Post, he had to apologize for a 2005 controversy coming from published remarks about a conversation between him and a team chaplain regarding Jews not believing in Jesus and being “doomed.”
“I apologized for everything,” Church said yesterday. “I’m not one to judge people.”
Minaya said the team had researched the incident. He also defended the trade, saying it improves the Mets’ defense and helps the pitching staff.
The NL exec thought the Mets did fine.
“I think they filled the holes they wanted to fill,” the exec said. “I think they got back pretty good value for (Milledge).”