(07-10) 15:24 PDT New York (AP) -- The Atlanta Braves traded Jeff Francoeur and cash to the New York Mets for Ryan Church on Friday in a swap of outfielders who had fallen out of favor with their teams. The deal came with both NL East teams below .500. The Mets have especially struggled to score lately with stars Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado on the disabled list.

Church is hitting .280 with two home runs and 22 RBIs. Solid at the plate and in the field, the oft-injured Church was slowed last year by two concussions.

Mets manager Jerry Manuel never seemed to warm up to him, and seemed particularly peeved after Church missed third base while running home earlier this season in a game New York eventually lost.

The 30-year-old Church is in his sixth major league season and is a career .273 hitter.

The 25-year-old Francoeur is hitting .250 with five homers and 35 RBIs. He was a favorite with Braves fans and management during his first full season in 2006, when hit 29 home runs with 103 RBIs while playing all 162 games.

Francoeur hit .293 with 19 homers and 105 RBIs in 2007, but slumped badly last year and was sent to the minors, a move that he found embarrassing.

Francoeur recently was benched for three games by Atlanta manager Bobby Cox.

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Considering how much people have bagged on Frenchy around here (and deservedly so), I find it interesting that the Mets were willing to take a chance. I daresay Francoeur better get his act together fast, or he won't last into 2010 in New York.

Okay, I think this will be interesting because the young A's starter faces a serious offense for the first time in his young MLB career. The Rockies sit first in the NL and fourth in MLB with a .788 OPS, and since they're playing in an AL park that figure is about on target, since they can now add a DH. (Their home/road split is .835 for fifth among home teams and .753 for ninth among road teams). Plus you get another chance to fire a bullet into this dead horse if you want to.

Mazzaro L, 2-3  6 8 5 5 3 4, 2 HRs

I'm sure the same question could be asked of Josh Fields (3B),  but the former Georgia relief pitcher hasn't pitched for West Tenn in nearly two weeks, after a not very good outing on 5/5. He's posted some crazy stat lines all season. I can't find anything on Google News about it. Here's his minorleaguebaseball.com profile:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Joshua%20Fields&pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=451661

Thanks for any information. With Morrow's blowup I was hoping that Fields might get some MLB time soon, but it won't happen at this rate.

Here's the inaugural edition of a weekly thread devoted to fantasy questions and manager wanted/league wanted ads for sim and fantasy leagues. Please post all such requests on this thread only.

It's hoped that this can become a clearinghouse for threads that would otherwise swamp the diaries. Those not interested in sim or fantasy, or questions about trades, roster moves and prospect comparisons need not visit.

Thanks for reading. I'll be happy to set this up weekly on Sundays if the idea takes off.

 1. Alex Gordon, 3b
 2. Luke Hochevar, rhp
 3. Billy Butler, of
 4. Chris Lubanski, of
 5. Tyler Lumsden, lhp
 6. Erik Cordier, rhp
 7. Mitch Maier, of
 8. Justin Huber, of/1b
 9. Billy Buckner, rhp
10. Brent Fisher, lhp

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/features/262906.html

Not too surprising.

Two left fielders with very different 2006 seasons. Cabrera broke out with a nice season filling in for Matsui and showed nice plate discipline and underwhelming power. Kubel fought back from a devastating knee injury after missing all of 2005. I know Cabrera's slated to be the Yanks' fourth outfielder but I haven't heard much about Kubel. Any news on him, his knee or his prospects? Who would you prefer between these two guys and why?

Many thanks in advance, and happy holiday to you and yours.

1. Stephen Drew, ss, Tucson (Diamondbacks)
   
2. Jered Weaver, rhp, Salt Lake (Angels)
   
3. Howie Kendrick, 2b, Salt Lake (Angels)
   
4. Chad Billingsley, rhp, Las Vegas (Dodgers)
   
5. Andy LaRoche, 3b, Las Vegas (Dodgers)
   
6. Matt Kemp, of, Las Vegas (Dodgers)
   
7. Chris Young, of, Tucson (Diamondbacks)
   
8. Adam Jones, of, Tacoma (Mariners)
   
9. Jason Hirsh, rhp, Round Rock (Astros)
   
10. Carlos Quentin, of, Tucson (Diamondbacks)
    
11. Felix Pie, of, Iowa (Cubs)
    
12. James Loney, 1b, Las Vegas (Dodgers)
    
13. Anthony Reyes, rhp, Memphis (Cardinals)
    
14. John Danks, lhp, Oklahoma (Rangers)
    
15. Erick Aybar, ss, Salt Lake (Angels)
    
16. Rich Hill, lhp, Iowa (Cubs)
    
17. Miguel Montero, c, Tucson (Diamondbacks)
    
18. Chris Iannetta, c, Colorado Springs (Rockies)
    
19. Edinson Volquez, rhp, Oklahoma (Rangers)
    
20. Joel Guzman, 3b/of, Las Vegas (Dodgers)

Claimed by the A's on waivers from the Cubs. Boy, has his star fallen:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2006/09/05/sports/s154541D76.DTL

Wonder if he can carve out a place for himself on this staff. Surely as a long reliever at least, if he can regain his control (and a semblance of conditioning).

Was extremely disappointed that the SD-Hou game was not carried on the cable package. I saw he had the one bad inning, but it seemed like he was dancing on the edge a bit as well. Any opinions? I guess he was marginally better than Garza, considering they went on back to back nights and they had been compared here earlier. Thanks in advance.

He's here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/05/17/sports/s134451D08.DTL

Let's see how much worse that Pierzynski trade can become.