Church for Francoeur

'Been listening to the radio and reading the blogs and it appears the consesus on the Church for Francoeur deal is mixed. Some like, some don't. I actually like it. I mean, I don't love it, I don't hate it, but I like it. I know one thing, I am somewhat more intrigued to watch this team play tonight with Francouer in the lineup. This offense has been putrid so any change is welcome in my eyes. Plus, let's face it, Church only had 23 RBIs. 23! He was quite simply, dispensable. Is anyone really going to miss Ryan Church? Nice guy, hard-nosed player for sure, but after he inexplicably (the game was pretty much over) ran head first into Escobar last year and suffered a second concussion, he was reduced to an average player from then on. I always thought he would recover and return to the form he exhbited those first two monhts of the season last year but unfortunately he never recaptured it.

As for Francoeur, he's still only 25. Five years younger than Church, and truthfully, he's more productive, even if he has a huge hole in his swing. He has a lot more upaisde for sure, and hey, if he doesn't work out, so be it.

What I really would have liked to have seen Omar do is acquire Alex Rios from Toronto. I know he makes alot of money, and that's the biggest reason why he's available but I think this is where Omar misses the boat as far as managing a budget.

When you have budget to work with, and in this case, let's say it's $145 million, it's not so much about what you're paying per player but rather what you've spent on the whole team. The same way Omar missed the boat on both Derek Lowe and Orlando Hudson, he may do the same by not getting Rios. You think right now, Omar would add Hudson to this team for $3,8M if he was available as a free agent? Or what about Lowe instead of Ollie and Tim Redding? Since combined, they make the same as Lowe. Uh....yeah. That't what I mean when managing a budget.

So I would have talked to the Jays and depending on how motivated they are to move Rios (I hear very motivated by the way), I would asked them to eat $1-$2 million a year off his contract and traded Church to them. That way, you get Church's $2.8M off the books, and you get Rios (who is due to make $12M per) at $10M per year (Jays picking up $2M) and your net for Rios is actually $7M-$8M per. That's not bad actually. I know Rios hasn't lived up to his potential, but, he's still more productive than anyone on the Mets right now. Think about that.