The Braves traded Jeff Francoeur to the New York Mets in exchange for Ryan Church this afternoon. The trade ends the Braves career of the prospect once called “the Natural” by Sports Illustrated during his rookie season in 2005. Francoeur arrived in Atlanta with a splash, hitting a three-run home run in his first game and finished his rookie season with a .300 batting average, 14 home runs, and 45 RBI in 70 games. He looked to be the long term answer in right field for the Braves for years to come. He was viewed by many fans as the next Dale Murphy. With his good looks and great personality, Jeff was very active in the community that had raised him. Unfortunately, Jeff was never able to improve on his 2006-07 seasons when he combined to hit .276 with 48 home runs and 208 RBI. Sometime during the offseason before the 2008 season, Jeff seemed to lose both his power stroke and his contact stroke. Jeff struggled to a .239 average and only hit 11 home runs in 2008 and couldn’t get things rolling again this season as his OPS has fallen nearly 150 points from 2007 to 2009.

Francoeur certainly did not do himself any favors with Braves management over the past few seasons. He was not amenable to the Braves’ offer of a long term contract rejecting an offer similar to the one Brian McCann accepted prior to the 2007 season. Prior to this season he asked for a nearly 900 percent pay raise in arbitration after turning in the worst numbers of any everyday player in 2008. He also did not handle his midsummer demotion to the minors professionally, blasting Frank Wren for the decision. This past offseason he also turned heads by working with Texas Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo, not Terry Pendleton.

I wish Jeff the best of luck in New York. He’s a great young man who might just benefit from a change of scenery. If he does well Mets fans will love him, but if his struggles continue Jeff could find himself looking for work next season.

Ryan Church is a solid major league hitter, but he is NOT the “big” bat Braves fans have been clamoring for. He is a career .273 hitter with 49 career home runs in 6 seasons as a part-time player with Montreal/Washington and the Mets. His career high in home runs is 15, and this season he is slugging a whopping .375…only 23 points higher than Francoeur. Church is a free agent after this season, and he is now your official place holder until Jason Heyward arrives.