The difference between '04, '08 and '09

Two fairly big trades were made in the majors today. The Mets sent former National OF Ryan Church to Atlanta for OF Jeff Francoeur and the Royals sent two prospects to Seattle for IF Yuniesky Betancourt. What does this have to do with the Nats, you may ask? Surprisingly, a lot.

The two trades each have clear winners: Atlanta and Seattle, which means they have two clear losers: Kansas City and the Mets. This is far from the first bad move former Expos GM Omar Minaya has made as the head of the Mets franchise, and I will not hesistate to say that he is one of the worst 5 GM's in the league. It's a vague connection, but I'd like to point out that if Minaya hadn't left the franchise for the Mets, we probably wouldn't be in much different shape than now, so there's your 2004 connection.

As for the connection to last year-both deals reek "Jim Bowden," collecting low-OBP, toolsy players. Again, a loose connection, but doesn't overpaying for guys who are allergic to getting on base sound like him? Makes me think somewhere, sometime there might be another job for him. Thank goodness, it won't be with us.