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Mets Acquire Gary Matthews Jr. From Angels.

The Mets may have found a temporary replacement for Carlos Beltran.

Friday morning the Mets agreed to trade reliever Brian Stokes to the Anaheim Angels in exchange for Gary Matthews Jr., once one of the Angels prime hitters.

Matthews Jr. once played for the Mets in 2002, and got only one at bat in the regular season before the Mets released him. Matthews Jr. went on to become a All Star caliber player for the Texas Rangers. In 2006, Matthews Jr. hit .313 with 19 homers and 79 RBI earning a All Star berth.

In 2007, he signed on to become the left fielder with the Angles, joining Tori Hunter and Vladimir Gurrero. He played 140 games that year, hit .252 blasted 18 homers and drove in 72. However, injuries in the last two years, and the addition of Bobby Abreu in 2009, cut into Matthews Jr.'s playing time. He played in only 103 games last year.

Jr. will be asked to become the Mets everyday center fielder until Carlos Beltran returns from knee surgery, which he had last week. Beltran is expected to miss the first month of the season, if not more until he is completed with rehab. In short Matthews Jr. could be the Mets center fielder until June at the latest. After that, he could fit nicely as a bench player.

Matthews Jr. is very athletic, and known for making acrobatic catches in center field, as he did in Texas years ago.

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