Odds & Ends: Boras, Francoeur, Cubs

Francoeur needs a change of scenery. I think a switch to the AL could help him out.

OH WAIT.... my bad, what was I thinking, it HAS to be steroids right? Because around here, any player that declines in production had to be on roids.

But seriously, I think trading him to the AL for a fresh start would be a good idea if there was a team willing to take a chance and part with something fair. I can think of 4-5 teams that should take a chance on him. For some reason I feel Minnesota would be good for him. The Yankees might be an idea as well.

I just have a feeling that he has it in him to light it up but he's gotten bored in Atlanta.

Minnesota already has too many outfielders (Cuddy, Span, Gomez, Young) who can't get enough playing time so I don't see Frenchy ending up there. Do agree he needs to go somewhere.

I never envisioned the day I would see an everyday Major League Outfielder with an .643 OPS.

Failcoeur had the audacity and perception of taking the Braves to an Arbitration hearing after that abysmal 08 season. The Braves got bent over by him by giving him 3.375 MIL to avoid an Arb. Hearing

The front office needs to man up and inform him it is time to back up his bags.

Melky's actually playing 100 times better than JF right now, and he'd get killed in New York. Guillen isn't producing enough to put up with. Maybe JF and a RP for Delmon, but it might take more...

So, because Gomez isn't hitting well the Twins should take on another OF who isn't hitting well? I fail to see the logic.

You two are also forgetting about Jason Kubel who's batting about .350 and back in the OF with Young taking family emergency leave.

I'm not for a trade for Delmon, personally. Just saying that Minnesota would probably want more than one of the worst OFers in the game. I'd be for Dye or Holliday, since they're not locked up for 10 years.

I know this will probably sound biased coming from a Mets fan, but who would actually give up anything for Francouer? Maybe the braves could get some organizational filler, but I can't see much more. It's nice that he's under team control, but his bat has been awful for about two and 1/2 years now, and it makes you wonder if he's worth having control of. If he was a free agent after this season, you have to doubt he'd get 4 million. He's likely to, though, if the Braves tender him a contract in the off season. I can't see a contender going after him, and why would a rebuilding team take on that contract (although it's not that big), and give up prospects, for a guy they might be able to sign cheaper in the off-season? I just don't see him as having any value to anyone other than Atlanta until he starts to hit a little.

I would add that the Braves should have taken Frenchy to arbitration and put him in his place for once.

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2009/02/13/the-francoeur-arbitration-case/

Jeff Francoeur sucks. He's terrible. I'm a Braves fan and I've plain had enough. He's finished. He can't see the ball, he can't handle breaking pitches, he doesn't make the opposing pitchers throw him hittable pitches, he doesn't walk, he strikes out all the time, he doesn't hit for any power, he doesn't cover a lot of ground in right, he doesn't get on base at an acceptable rate, he doesn't hit for a high average, he doesn't drive in runs at an acceptable rate, and he doesn't do any of the little things right. Basically, he does nothing well except throw the ball in from right field. Which isn't worthless, but isn't nearly enough to make up for his shortcomings with the bat. He is done contributing (or whatever the opposite of contributing is) to a major league club. He's awful. Get him off my team.

"You sure you want to call my Royals GM an idiot after the offseason Frank Wren just put the Braves through?"

Need I remind you, that Dayton Moore does have the history of being stupid on trades, especially dealing with the Braves.

Ink-stained, I agree with that 100%. I really think Jones and Diaz are probably both better options in that outfield right now than Francoeur. Does anyone know if he has any options remaining? I really think it would be better for both him and the Braves if Bobby Cox just had him take some time off. That said, I'm glad Bobby is so stubborn.

Wren's offseason was pretty good so far. The Vazquez trade looks great so far, but it will be a few years until it can really be evaluated well. Lowe is the same thing...he's helping now, but it remains to be seen how good an idea 4 years was for him. Kawakami looks like a #5 starter at best, and an expensive one, but I think he also needs a larger sample size to fully evaluate. Garrett Anderson has been pretty bad, but for 2.5 million he's still a bargain if he produces anything above replacement level from this point forward.

You can criticize Wren for the smoltz thing, but do you really think he would have signed lowe if he spent 5 million on smoltz? That was a risk Boston could take, and that the Braves really couldn't. Was the Furcal thing really Wren's fault? The way he's been playing, it looks like the Braves might have caught a break there anyway. Was Griffey really that big a loss by not signing him? I think that keeping Anderson would have been smart, if only so that they could give schafer some more time in the minor's.

I don't think Frank Wren had a grat offseason by any stretch, but saying it looks pretty good right now isn't a stretch by any means. As a Mets fan, I'd definately be more concerned playing this year's brave's than last year. Casey Kotchman is no Tex, but where else are they downgraded from last year's team? The pitching is more than upgraded enough to make up for that. I don't think they are ready to be a contender this season, but if they stay patient and some of these kids in the minor's develop to their potential, they have the foundation to be a contender for years to come.

oh and word just in.....

Happ to the phillies rotation, Park to the bullpen.

ITS ABOUT TIME!!!

86mets,

but Park won't see much time. With condrey doing well, Romero about to come back, madson Park will be relegated to mop up duty until he earns playing time.

Oh and BTW, I believe Lidge to be injured and when Romero comes back we should shut him down, give him the same surgery that he had last year because his knee is still ailing (you can see it when he pitches) and then have him back for the stretch run at 100%.

oh really? Hamels is back to the Hamels of old in his last 2 starts. Myers has been solid his last two starts as well. If Happ can produce in the rotation as he has in long relief roles he'll be a solid 3 or 4.

If Moyer gets his calls again on the corners he'll be fine as well. blanton, well he's a 5.

If i were the Mets i would be more worried about my 4 and 5 plus all the injuries you've had.

I think Wren had a pretty good offseason. His main goal, building the rotation, he obviously accomplished very well. He also did some of the little things very well. He kept the bench together when he easily could've traded or let go some of it and he acquired David Ross who is one of the only reasons the Braves are treading water right now (they'd have gone 0-fer if Corky Miller was filling in when McCann was out). I don't think he handled arbitration very well. Especially Kelly Johnson and Jeff Francoeur. I think he waited too long to agree to a contract with Kelly while he shouldn't have even thought about budging from the 2.8 million he offered to Frenchy. Infante's situation was handled very well (signed a contract that bought out his final arb year and 1st FA year). Diaz's arb case I have no problems with. Bringing Greg Norton back for under 1 million was a solid move as well. Mike Gonzalez's situation was handled fairly well, it's a big sum for someone coming off surgery, but a lowball sum for a final arb year. Kotchman's arb situation was handled alright. I really don't have an opinion on it. I like the Vazquez trade. He overpaid for Lowe. I like the Kawakami signing just because we're in the Japanese market now. I'm guessing he didn't have much of a choice other than to sign Glavine. I wouldn't have, but I feel like he was under pressure from the organization to sign him. The biggest regret is not acquiring a big bat. Maybe we do that at the trade deadline, though.

86mets,

the reason i posted here is because it was in odds and ends. Not sure if Tim D. would have included a note on that change for the team and its impact, but whatever. Sorry. Please let me know where I can post things from now on so i don't upset you. And it was you that kept going on and on in reply stating it was a "band aid on a bullet wound".

If you knew anything about our team Happ is light years better than Park but i don't expect you to know anything (about our team).

Also in reference to Moyer you said he's run out of gas??? Seriously??? He's never had gas. He works on pinpoint control and keeping hitters off balance. Same reason Wakefield is effective still (ya i know one's a knuckleballer and one isn't before you have a comment) If you've ever watched him pitch you'd see that he works corners better than almost anyone. This year he isn't getting the close calls on those corners. IF/When that changes, he'll be just fine. Earlier in the year I forget against who he was breezing through the first 3 innings when he was getting the close calls and then all of a sudden it seemed as if the same calls that were strikes turned to balls, he was forced to come in off the plate and he got tattooed. He'll be fine, trust me. I'm more worried about Blanton than Moyer.

phils, as pitchers age velocity is not the only thing that goes. Basic motor skills decline, and it's not unreasonable to expect control to go along with it. When I say Moyer is running out of gas, this is what I'm referring to. I got to watch Tom Glavine here for years. If an ump wasn't giving him a call, he got killed because he didn't have the stuff to get major leaguers out if he had to pitch in the strike zone. You can make an argument that a pitcher gets squeezed to explain a bad game here and there, but I have never heard that used as reasoning to not worry about a bad season. At some point Moyer needs to see the pattern of how umps are calling him and adjust, or he needs to pack it in. You can't make a reasonable argument by blaming it on the umps.

You're correct about Blanton, he's a number 5. You know what to expect out of him, and he doesn't get hurt. Myers has been wildly inconsistent since his return from the pen. He's eerily similar to Ollie, great some days, others he walks 3 to let the 4th guy homer. If you read my post, I mentioned that the offense and middle relief have been great thus far. The point I was making was that JA Happ is probably not the answer to the teams issues in the rotation. Manuel has had the luxury of using him where he matches up well, and he hasn't had many instances where he had to go through the lineup more than once. Looking at his 5 career starts, and his 6.53 ERA in those starts, he always looked good the first time through the order. I just don't believe he's the answer. You don't have to be offended by it.

I also agree that our #4 is an issue. Livan is a good spot starter, to stash in AAA for double headers, but a poor long term answer. Tim Redding is fine as a #5. He's probably as similar a player to Joe Blanton as the Mets have. Once again, I'm not trying to insult the Phillies. You commented about a change in the Phillies rotation, and I made the point that JA Happ probably isn't the savior of the staff with the worst starters ERA in all off baseball. I'll stand behind that as well...if the Phills want to defend their title, they will probably have to look outside the organization for pitching help...espescially if lidge, moyer, myers and blanton keep performing as they have.

alright i guess i took a bit of offense to your overuse of the word "lousy". I consider Happ about as lousy as you probably consider Parnell. Different roles but both effective so far this year.

I certainly don't think he's a savior but I also don't see the organization honestly spending any more money to bring in someone even though we're selling out a lot of games. We're about tapped out financially I'd expect.

And wow I realized we were near the bottom but not so firmly in the bottom of starters ERA. That's amazing and we're still in first place. Imagine if/when we improve upon that???

As I said before Lidge is still hurt and they need to realize that and scope his knee and have him out for about a month. Get him 100% after Romero comes back and in the meantime move Madson to the closers role and gear up for another run at the postseason with a strong bullpen of Condrey/Romero in the 7th, Madson in the 8th and Lidge in the 9th. Once we have that we'll be fine. Up to this point in many games Charlie has been trying to not tax the bullpen and its hurt the starters somewhat. Charlie's let them go a bit too long when they've obviously lost it.(Mets bullpen has pitched the most innings in the league BTW. Wonder how that will affect them as they go along???

Parnell has been lights out as a reliever, and gets by with well above average stuff. But he only has two good pitches, so he'd probably be a terrible choice for a rotation spot. I don't think he's a good comparable for Happ though. Happ is more on a pitch to contact guy, ideal as a long relief man. Parnell pitches in the high 90's with prototypical bullpen stuff.