According to David Lennon at Newsday.com, the Mets have finally had it with Lastings Milledge. As you may remember (especially because he keeps reminding the media) Milledge had a rocky road during his time with the Mets. Milledge felt singled out by the team’s veteran players, but David Wright, who is only 3 years out of his rookie season, disagreed, saying:

“The veterans were never mean to him or singled him out,” Wright said. “They always tried to teach him. Some of that comes through tough love. I went through it, Jose [Reyes] went through it. All the young guys in the game go through that tough-love period. Some handle it better than others.

As usual, Billy Wagner spoke up regarding Milledge yesterday, claiming that “everyone in the organization babied the heck out of him”. Wagner explained that they were told to go easier on him and that the now infamous “Know Your Role, Rook!” sign hung by Wagner in Milledge’s locker was nothing more than typical rookie hazing everyone goes through. However, perhaps the most surprising response came from Wright, stating:

“Personally, I like Lastings. There were times when he messed up and he knew it and he learned from it. I don’t see where this is coming from. I don’t know if it’s just trying to play that ‘bitter traded guy’ role. I don’t know what he’s trying to accomplish by the things that he’s saying.”

Some people were sad to see him go, I wasn’t. Do I think the kid had talent? Of course! But if the Mets didn’t like him and weren’t going to use him, then why bother keeping him around? I think he needs to get over it. For someone who hated being on the team so much, he is still certainly very focused on them. He should be glad to have been traded but instead, as Wright says, he seems like he is trying to play the “bitter traded guy” role. I think it’s time for Millz to put on his big girl panties and deal with it.

Single: According to ESPN.com, the Mets were on the verge of giving a job to Brian McNamee prior to this season, as Willie Randolph and former Mets hitting coach Rick Down worked with McNamee while they were with the Yankees.  However due to McNamee’s reputation, Omar Minaya vetoed his hiring.

There was a time, around a month ago, when I still doubted Omar Minaya. I think he doomed us for collapse last year by preparing us with inadequate pitching.  I doubted him this offseason when it seemed more and more day by day like we wouldn’t acquire an ace.  However, he stole Johan Santana from the Twins, by out waiting a rookie GM.  And now, he had the incredible foresight and judgement to know hiring this sleezeball would be a bad idea. Major props there Omar, you have my trust. 

Double: According to the New York Post, former Mets’ OF Shawn Green has retired.  The former Met, Diamondback, Dodger and Blue Jay hit 328 career HRs, while having four seasons with 100 or more RBIs.  According to baseball-reference, Green earned over $100 million during his career.

I think he was a nice fit in RF last year, despite his declining mobility in the field.  I think he responded well to days off, and should’ve been platooned a bit more with Lastings Milledge.  At least he’s got a nice retirement fund going.  

Triple: This week we had a round of Lastings Milledge smack talk.  He said, “I can’t go through anything worse than I went through in New York. It only gets better from here.”

Jeez, I questioned the trade at first, but good riddance.  Welcome Ryan Church.  C’mon Lastings, show a little bit of class.  You wonder why you were bounced out of town? Grow up, trades happen and this explains why this trade involved you.    

Home Run: With spring training underway, the Mets have already lost to the Tigers 4-2 and the Cardinals 7-0.  They also tied the University of Michigan, Fred Wilpon’s alma mater, 4-4.

Oh no, still winless! The collapse lives on! Yeah, we lost, but it’s spring training.  But there are some nice things to pick out.  Mike Pelfrey pitched two scoreless innings, allowing only one hit.  Pelfrey wasn’t facing scrubs either, he faced a lineup with Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez and Curtis Granderson among other great hitters that the Tigers have.  Other nice facts include that teenage phenom Fernando Martinez has hits in both games against the Tigers and Cardinals.     

According to an article on SI.com, Washington Nationals OF Lastings Milledge criticized his experience as a New York Met once again.

“I can’t go through anything worse than I went through in New York. It only gets better from here,” said Milledge.  “A lot of veterans (on the Mets) didn’t like the way I play the game.  They thought I didn’t respect it.”

In 115 career games as a Met, Milledge hit 11 HR’s and 51 RBI in 115 Games.

When Milledge was a Met I wanted to like him.  I wanted him to be the future and bring some youthful fire to a squad that looked dead at times last year.  His bad attitude is now just old at this point.  Milledge and Elijah Dukes can now share each other’s company in Washington’s outfield. 

This type of ‘revenge against the Mets organization’ is just going to continue throughout his career, especially being in the same division as his former club.

Nationals OF Lastings Milledge spoke today about the somewhat bumpy ride he had during his time with the Mets. According to the New York Post, Milledge did not offering up an apology for his actions, stating that he has no regrets and wouldn’t has done anything differently. His claim is that he just didn’t fit into the “rookie mold”, adding:

“When I came up to the big leagues, I felt like I could help the team. Usually rookies get in where they fit in, but I’m actually trying to help the team and be a big asset.”

According to the article, Milledge is expected to thrive in Washington because of the lessened media glare and the lack of long term veterans on the team.

I’ve said it before, but Milledge really does remind me of T.O., which makes me glad he’s off the team. The kid’s got talent, but I feel he really was going to be a cancer to the clubhouse. I also question Paul LoDuca and Manny Acta jumping to his defense, because I feel like if they were both still on the Mets, LoDuca would have been all over him for stuff like that. However, to quote Carlos Delagdo…what did I really expect them to say? If the kid proves himself, I will gladly admit I was wrong. Only time will tell…

In a story by the Associated Press, Nationals OF Elijah Dukes claims to a be a changed man.

“I’ve been working on myself a long time, and I finally found a breakthrough,” the 23-year-old Dukes said. “And from now on, everybody gets a chance to really see (what) the real Elijah Dukes is like. I’ve always been working on it, it’s just been issues of mine and I think now I finally tuned it up a bit so I can stay on the field the whole year.”

Dukes, while talented, has been arrested six times since 1998. This offseason, the Nationals traded for Dukes from the Rays.

While I doubt they’ll contend this year, or even next year, the Nats have a nice young OF corps there with Dukes, Lastings Milledge, Wily Mo Pena and if 1B Nick Johnson can every stay healthy at 1B they could look to be a playoff contender in the next few years. Even down the stretch this year they could be scary and play spoiler.

According to SI.com, the New York Mets have agreed to a one-year, $2 million deal with outfielder Ryan Church.

Church, 29, was traded to the Mets along with catcher Brian Schneider in return for OF Lastings Milledge. He batted .272 with 15 homers, 70 RBIs and 43 doubles in 2007.

He can earn an additional $120,000 in performances bonuses: $50,000 for 450 plate appearances; $40,000 for 535 plate appearances and $30,000 for 550 plate appearances.

The Mets lone player remaining in arbitration is starting pitcher Oliver Perez.

Ken Davidoff in Newsday writes about the value of Fernando Martinez who once was deemed ‘too raw’ by Oakland in return for Barry Zito.

The Mets offered him instead of Lastings Milledge, who the Mets felt was too good to give up at the time.

Milledge, as we all know was traded for far less than the bounty of Zito this offseason. It is a difficult game to know when and if it makes sense to trade prospects for known entities.

Martinez has had another year under his belt and with the Yankees and Red Sox not particularly putting a full court press on the Twins, the Mets have the luxury of waiting for the Twins to blink.

I don’t know that Martinez’s value has risen so much as it doesn’t appear they have much competition. The Red Sox and Yankees seem to be sitting on the sidelines, which leads the Mets to believe they can get Johan for a smaller package.

In an article for rotoworld, Matthew Pouliot breaks down all the trades that have happened this offseason.  This was written before Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis were sent to the Tigers, so that analysis is not included in the article.

He writes a lengthy amount regarding the Lastings Milledge for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider trade.  About Schneider he writes:

It’s a substantial price to pay, but the Mets are getting a better catcher here than they would have had in Yorvit Torrealba or Johnny Estrada, who seems set to be non-tendered. Still, we would have liked the pickup a lot more three years ago. Schneider deserved to win a Gold Glove or two in his prime, but he’s declined both defensively and offensively in the last two seasons.

About Church he writes:

Church will be treated as the third player in the deal, but he might prove more valuable to the Mets than Brian Schneider, either as the team’s primary right fielder or as an additional piece of trade bait. He’s not really GM Omar Minaya’s kind of player, so it’s always possible that he’ll be sent to another team in a deal for pitching.

There’s even more on the trade so go check it out.  Good article, even for the non-Mets trade analysis.  Great way to catch up and read some quick insight on all the trades if you’ve been too Mets focuesed lately. 

On his blog over at ESPN, Buster Olney questions the Mets decision to give up on Lastings Milledge this early, especially for so little in return.

He writes, “That kid has talent,” said one AL executive. “Eighteen months ago, his bat speed was being compared to that of Gary Sheffield, and that hasn’t changed. He’s only 22 years old. Even if you think he’s a pain in the [rear] now, there’s no reason why you can’t wait and see if his rough edges will get smoothed out.”

He also goes on to talk about the Mets acquisitions of Ryan Church and Brian Schneider in the trade saying, “The return they got — the older catcher, an extra outfielder [Ryan Church], those are not hard to find. But it is very hard to find someone with talent like Milledge.”

I would have to agree with what Olney is saying here. When this trade was first made my first thoughts were that the Mets were just getting chips to trade away for a front of the rotation starter, but this no longer seems to be the case. Omar seems to be satisfied going into the season with Church as the starting right fielder.

Now I understand the trade value of Milledge has fallen dramatically, but this would raise the question of why not running him out there this season to see if he can live up to his hype and get his trade value to where it once was. Hopefully Omar can prove all the critics wrong because In Omar We Trust…right?