Terms were not immediately available, though Lo Duca was thought to be seeking $5 million. The deal is pending Lo Duca passing a physical, a source said.

Lo Duca, 35, played the past two seasons with the New York Mets. A .288 career hitter and four-time all-star, he played previously for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Florida Marlins.

Well, at least we get to see our old friend Paul Lo Duca more often now that he has decided to remain in the National League East. Knowing fully well how anxious he must be to prove the to the Mets that they were wrong for not re-signing him, I don’t know if seeing him 19 times is a good thing.

The interesting thing about it all is that now with Lo Duca set to catch for the Nationals, it’s like the Mets and Nats virtually swapped Lo Duca and Milledge for Church and Schneider. Don’t think for one moment that we wont give you the occasional updates to see who got the short end of the stick. I just hope that Church and Schneider are as pumped up to put a hurting on the Nats, as Milledge and Lo Duca will be to put the kibosh on the Mets’ post season hopes.

The post Lo Duca Joins Milledge In D.C. And Look Forward To Some Payback Against The Mets appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

2007 STATS 

Lastings Milledge   |   Right Field/Center Field

Avg	HR	RBI	Runs	SB
.272	7	29	27	3

Brian Schneider    |   Catcher 

Avg	HR	RBI	Runs	SB
.235	6	54	33	0

Ryan Church   |   Left Field/Center Field   

Avg	HR	RBI	Runs	SB
.272	15	70	57	3

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I read something interesting this morning from Steve Popper on his blog Amazin Stories. He had some interesting things to say about his conference call with Omar Minaya yesterday, but what really caught my attention was this…

As far as right field, Minaya did admit that he’s investigating the free-agent market, which might mean that he knows his young chips might be on the way out.

Omar was also quoted as saying… "If you’re going to trade for pitching in this market – with the way pitching is right now – you’re going to have to part with some premium guys. Our premium prospects are very well liked. We could be players in some of the pitching that might be traded. We’re always talking to clubs, we talk on a daily basis. We’ll get a deal done.”

You know what??? I’m glad Omar is going to be aggressive! 🙂

I don’t know how to feel about losing both Lastings Milledge and Carlos Gomez though. But at the same time if it means a veteran right fielder, and ace for the rotation or a solid catcher, I guess like Omar says, you gotta give up premium prospects.

What do you think? Does anybody else feel uneasy if we lost both Gomez and Milledge?

The post Opinion: Are Lastings Milledge And Carlos Gomez Gone? appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

I have no idea why the Mets are biding their time. My guess is that they are torn between sending Lastings Milledge back to the minors, or cutting one of their relievers, probably, Aaron Sele.

Look for the conclusion to this drama to unfold some time in the next 24 hours.

The post Is It The Endy Of The Line For Milledge? appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

I can’t remember another player who was surrounded with as much of a media spotlight even before getting a full season in the bigs. He has already gotten as much ink in this city this past year, as anybody else on the team.

There is no doubting or disputing the enormous talent and potential embodied within this young and colorful player. But, even before he got a chance to show what he can do, fans have already weighed in on him and either love him or hate him. I am asking you to do neither. I am just asking you to support him. We have no justification to love him or hate him. However as Mets fans we do have an obligation to support him like any other player on the team.

Let’s give him a fair shot and every chance we can to succeed. Forget what he has done off the field. Many of the Mets that we revere today, were no choir boys in their personal lives. The media loves to create a polarizing figure that they can use as a lightning rod to drum up sales. Don’t fall for their tricks.

They have nothing to lose and everything to gain by creating and dramatizing the whirlwind of controversy that surrounds this young and talented phenom.

But we as Mets fans have nothing to gain by buying into all the hysteria.

And we have a lot to lose.

I think Lastings Milledge has a chance to become one of baseball’s most exciting players. We owe it to ourselves to allow Lastings the opportunity to try and fulfill that promise. I am so glad that the Mets resisted the temptation of trading Milledge. In fact I am absolutely thrilled that he is still with us.

I think he is going to be something really special, and I call on him to forget all that bad press, and all that bad blood, and take the field on Thursday and show the great city of New York what you got!

In the last three games since the break he has won two games with his speed and with his bat single handedly.

I call on Lastings Milledge to rise above the adversity and do all of the things that had scouts drooling when they first laid eyes on him. In the next three months, Milledge has a chance to prove his value to the team and capture the hearts of our city. 

As Mets fans, we grew up rooting for the underdogs and for players who have had the deck stacked against them.

Let’s give the kid a break, and in return we might just get another player to join David Wright and Jose Reyes as the cornerstones of the future for the New York Mets.

The post Lastings Milledge: Mets Fans Finally Get A Homegrown Outfielder They Can Call Thier Own, But All They Want To Do Is Trade Him appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

One of the more interesting questions that were emailed to me was from Brian, one of my friends on Mets Merized at Myspace.

He asked about Lastings Milledge in comparison to Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez, and that maybe we should trade Milledge rather than the other two, his question was in response to an earlier blog I had posted.

The reason I think the Mets will keep Lastings Milledge is that all things being equal, Milledge was always considered by scouts and GM’s to be a cant-miss, five-tool talent. Going back to high school, Lastings Milledge has never take longer than a few months to get acclimated to playing at a higher level of baseball. He has excelled at every level.

Carlos Gomez and even Fernando Martinez in that regard, are still very raw and they have to work very hard to make it to the majors. They each had moderate success in the very low minors, but neither of them dominated or merited a promotion. Martinez hit .279 with 10 homeruns, 39 RBI’s and 8 stolen bases in 315 at-bats. Gomez hit .281 with 7 homers, 47 RBI’s and 41 stolen bases, however he struck out 97 times in 430 at-bats while drawing only 27 walks. Like I said, they both have a lot of hard work ahead of them before they make it to the major leagues.

Milledge, however is a natural born talent, his instincts at the plate needed very little coaching. His bat speed is not only the best in the organization, but 12 months ago it was considered the best in the minor leagues.

You cant teach a player instincts and bat speed. He has a baseball pedigree, having a father who was a former major leaguer, and a brother in the minors. Now all of this doesn’t mean that Gomez and Martinez won’t be stars someday, it just means that they must work hard every single day to make it, whereas in Milledge’s case it comes so natural to him.

Players like Lastings Milledge only come around once every 10 or 15 years. At the age of twelve, he played third base and hit clean-up for the Manatee East Little League team that was the national runner-up in the 1997 Little League World Series.

In 2001, he led Team USA to a Gold Medal game victory over Venezuela in the International Baseball Federation’s AA World Youth Championships. Later that year, Baseball America named Milledge the best 16-year-old player in the USA. He graduated from Lakewood Ranch High School in Bradenton, Florida in 2003 after leading his team to the state 5A title his senior year.

He was expected to be the number one pick in the 2003 Draft, but the week of the draft, allegations of misconduct at school, knocked his stock down and he fell to the Mets at number 12. After signing and returning from a broken hand, in 65 games with Rookie League, he hit .337 with 13 home runs, 58 RBI and 23 stolen bases, earning him a promotion to the St. Lucie Mets in August. In 2005, he continued his minor league success hitting .302 with St. Lucie in the first half of the season and .337 with the AA Binghamton Mets in the second half. He began the 2006 season leading off and playing right field for the AAA Norfolk Tides.

Last season he got his first taste of coffee with the Mets and got off to a rough start with his teammates and the media. He was hitting .291 (53-182) with 32 runs scored, 16 doubles, two triples, four home runs, 19 RBI with 32 walks, 42 strikeouts and eight stolen bases in 50 games for the Tides at the time his contract was purchased. Despite the (overblown) distractions he impressed with his powerful bat, his speed on the bases, and he even displayed a canon for an arm and picked up 4 outfield assists.

So far this spring he is batting .361 and is second on the team in hits, runs, stolen bases, and total bases. He is the real deal. He has shown that he is capable of responding to adversity. He has been a positive influence all through spring training. Hi is a bright kid, with a great personality and an enormous wealth of natural abilty and baseball instincts.

Teams do not trade players with this kind of talent… They sign them to 10 year deals.

Statistical and historical data provided by wiki and mlb.com.

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