For a variety of reasons, it can be easy to think of baseball players as something other than people.  We see them on the cover of Us Weekly, read about them in Page Six of the Post, know the details of their salary negotiations.  It can be easy let their celebrity eclipse their humanity.  Of course, at other times, it’s not so much their fame as their numerical values that interest us. We treat them as little more than a set of statistics that will determine the eventual failure or success of our teams, both real and fantasy.

However, at around this time of year, more than anything else they start to look a whole lot like commodities.  We think of them almost exclusively in terms of market worth, assessing their value as potential bargaining chips.

There are occasions, however, when it becomes impossible to forget the fact that while baseball is a business and the players are its main assets, they’re also individuals.  And when you’re a person, it can be a little bit sad to be moved around like an item on a chess board.  (Just to throw in another analogy.)

When the Braves and the Mets made the trade for Ryan Church and Jeff Francoeur, one couldn’t help get that feeling.  Perhaps it was because Francoeur was not just a player of the homegrown but also of the hometown variety.  The quintessential example of the local kid who had made good. Sadly, his would turn out to be a story of failed expectations.  He would never quite live up to the promise of that first big league appearance on July7, 2005 when he hit a three-run shot and was met with thundering applause by the crowd of fans who had been following him since his high school years. His last two seasons have been a major disappointment to his fans in Atlanta, characterized by time spent on the bench and in the minors. While he remains a figure fairly highly-regarded, you’d be hard-pressed to find a local writer who’s all that critical of the trade. Most agreed that it was time to see him go.

Still, it was a strangely-timed and sentimental series against the Mets this past weekend at Turner Field.  Francoeur was met with a warm reception by both fans and teammates alike.  This must have served as only small consolation for Francoeur.  Particularly after the Braves wiped the floor with his new team.  The Mets went 1-3 in the series, managing to win only Saturday’s game, a game in which Francoeur got two hits.  His current record with the Mets is 7-for-25 or.280 – up from .250 from his record for the Braves.  Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come.  I doubt there is anyone rooting against his resurgence.

Yesterday, Francoeur commented, “I’m looking forward to getting out of here. For me, I don’t think it’ll be that weird when I come back later in the year, just the fact that it’s right away after the break and not being gone long.” The Mets are currently scheduled to return to Atlanta in mid-September. One would imagine that if Francoeur does manage to turn his season around, more than time, that will ease the blow of return.

Francoeur himself said, “One team you’re never supposed to like, you’re on.”  What better way to make Atlantans regret his departure than to do right by the one team he was never supposed to like?

Take it from Joe Torre: Living well is the best revenge.