By JOEL SHERMAN

Twelve months ago, Lastings Milledge was being compared to a young Gary Sheffield. Today the Mets traded him for a defensive catcher with iffy offensive skills and a platoon outfielder.

The Mets sold Milledge at his lowest point. That is never a good idea.

In 2008, Schneider and Church should help. They will make the Mets much better defensively. Schneider is far better than Paul Lo Duca behind the plate, and Church, who has center field abilities, will be a great upgrade from lethargic Shawn Green. That should help the Mets’ pitching.

Church definitely could hit righty pitching, so he might be able to form a platoon with Carlos Gomez. Church might even be a regular.

But here’s the thing: I still think Milledge is going to be a star, and he who gets the star generally wins a trade.

I think people got too caught up in how Milledge looked or his style. He is a kid. Will he grow up? I don’t know. But the Mets should have given him 500-600 plate appearances this year as their right fielder to find out. His value would not have fallen below that of getting a Schneider/Church level deal. And the chance that his value would soar would be great.

Milledge has no fear. He loves facing the best pitchers and can hit top stuff. He is completely unafraid of New York. He has incredible faith in his skills, and I believe his skills translate to a regular .290-.310 level with big-time extra-base-hit capability.

Now he is going to play for a manager, Manny Acta, who knows him and loves him from his Met days. So Milledge is going to a place where he is going to be allowed to play. Is he high-maintenance? Maybe. But Dmitri Young is high-maintenance and he became an All-Star for Acta in Washington last year. And I would not be surprised if even next year Milledge puts up All-Star quality numbers.

My gut says we’ll look back in five years and wonder how the Mets traded a star for two good, but not great, players.