NEW YORK — The Atlanta Braves traded Jeff Francoeur and cash to the New York Mets for Ryan Church today 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.