Braves trade Francoeur

The Braves finally traded Jeff Francoeur yesterday, surprisingly to the New York Mets. It's kinda a sad end to a once very-promising Atlanta career for the hometown boy, but as I said in my last Braves post it needed to be done.

Atlanta got Ryan Church, who won't set the world on fire but is a temporary upgrade offensively.

Even with this trade, the addition of Nate McLouth awhile back, and Anderson and Diaz's recent upswings Atlanta STILL doesn't have the batting punch to match their good pitching and get them back into contention. It doesn't help that Chipper and Brian McCann have been slumping, but you can't expect those two to carry the team all year.

Atlanta's lack of a big cleanup hitter is glaring-- if they had Adam Dunn or someone like that I might feel better about their chances after the All-Star Break.

As for Francoeur I hope he turns it around, as he's a great guy, but I don't know if New York is the best place to work through your problems.