Adderall and kidney pain. Snorting concerta adderall. Adderall. Smoking adderall. Generic adderall….

Church’s career numbers with a runner on third and less than two outs:

18 for 51 (.353) with a .967 OPS 3 HR 3 2B 41 RBIs 8/7 K/BB

Nearly half these ABs (25) were put up in 2007 when Church put up a scorching .440 / .469 / .760 with 23 RBIs. He was like the anti-Shawn Green, who was .286 / .360 / .286 with 12 RBIs in 21
2007 ABs.

Milledge’s career in this dept. includes 2 hits, both doubles, in 9 ABs. Obviously, this doesn’t suggest much about what type of hitter can be, but this is a situation where you’d prefer to see the ability to shorten up and hit a single. Omar probably knows the better business decision on Millz would have been to let him play and re-establish some value. But I imagine Omar wants someone he knows can do this. It was really the biggest difference between the Mets offense in 2006 and in 2007.

Also compare Church’s numbers against Milledge’s by count.

Milledge’s OPS in 3-2 count is .586, Church’s is 1.038. Not that I don’t expect Milledge to improve in this dept, but Church’s sample size is significantly larger, and there are some promising situation stats.

Can you imagine that difference in the Mets lineup in 2007? Remember how horrible a start they got off to with situational hitting? They needed someone to do this. It would be like having 2006 Jose Valentin or even Xavier Nady back. A little unexpected pop from the #7 or #8 hole. The pitcher’s thinking “man, I managed to get Beltran and Delgado, then Alou got on, but I got through the tough part,” and Church puts a good swing on a ball into the gap. If not, he’ll take the walk and let the Catcher or Pitcher get a crack with a RISP.

There’s no reason to necessarily expect Milledge to pick up these skills. We know he’ll be a decent hitter, but not necessarily a particularly headie one. His development probably would have gone much better to this point if he’d been groomed to be a#2 or #5 hitter, but there was just no chance of that on the Mets. Getting someone a little headie with some pop is really what you need for the bottom of the order. That’s the only way to make an impact on a lineup that’s already pretty much set 1-6.

However, I still don’t understand the timing of the deal. That’s what strikes me as most odd. Its not something that couldn’t have happened later in the offseason. Its not like anyone else was particularly vying for Church and Schneider (that we know of). If I were Omar (and obviously I’m far less in the know than he, but this is just a hypothetical given what I do know), I’d have “anonymously” leaked that proposal and let the media tear it up. Isn’t that what happened with the Benson deal with Maine (whether intentional or not)? Then he could have asked for a little bit more, especially for a team in your division.

Last year, as I repeated many times, Milledge and Church put up almost identical statistics. It is odd how close the two are. The only difference is that Milledge is 22 and Church is 29. Milledge also had to deal with the pressure of knowing his playing time hinged on his every AB. Willie had plenty of other guys to play instead of Milledge. There is no statistical reasoning that shows that Church, at 29, will improve more than Milledge, at 22. Milledge showed good plate-discipline, which is a skill that usually takes more major-league experience to develop. So how has Church already matched Milledge’s possible ceiling if they both put up the same numbers last year, and there is not one good reason to think Milledge won’t improve? Please explain that to me

Thats so not true.

Most objective people I’ve asked (as in non-met and non-nats fans) think the mets did pretty well.

Church is a solid player and Schneider is one of the best defensive catchers in the league. Can you just imagine what it will be like to actually have faith that a runner will get thrown out at second?