While the Indians continue to long for runs scored, I couldn’t help but draw attention to outfielder Ryan Church; now with the New York Mets.
If you don’t remember, Church was drafted by the Indians back in 2000, and was traded in 2004 with Maicer Izturis (yep, we had him too) to the Expos for pitcher Scott Stewart.
Stewart was then traded/flipped to the Dodgers, where he would play his final game in 2004. Needless to say, we didn’t exactly reap the benefits.
Church, on the other hand, is your National League leader in OPS (.946) and is fresh off of a game where he single-handedly beat the Washington Nationals with a home run and four RBI. While Cleveland longs for some power from their corner outfielders, or power in general for that matter, Church is hitting at a .324/.385/.561 clip with eight home runs and 30 RBI.
Grady Sizemore is our team leader in OPS with .841 – and he’s our lead-off hitter. For comparison purposes to the corners that we’ve endured thus far, Jason Michaels, David Dellucci, Franklin Gutierrez and Ben Francisco have combined to hit six home runs and drive in 39.
Yes, Church didn’t exactly light it up during his younger years, struggling to stay healthy. And while the Expos/Nationals have just as much to look back at and wonder what they were thinking – trading him to the Mets during the past off-season – you have a team in Cleveland that prides itself in building talent through their farm system. One has to wonder what the Tribe was thinking back in 2004.
Our corners consisted of Jody Gerut and an overpaid Matt Lawton. It wasn’t like trading Brian Giles when you had Manny Ramierez. How about this one for a morning head-scratcher?
Church Is More Than Alright [NY Post Mets Blog]
