Odds & Ends: Sano, Towers, D'Backs, Fehr

I liked what Piecoro had to say. But the DBacks need a manager that's going to give the young guys a kick in the pants and getting them playing. That is really the missing element. This is basically the same squad that had the best record in the NL just two years ago. For them to fall this far, people aren't staying on top of the players to keep them focused.

The Mets tendering Francoeur arbitration is definitely worthwhile for the Braves, Phillies, and Marlins.

Francoeur was useful for the Braves for a little while. He's too expensive, even at $4 mil, for the production that he brings. Mets fans better hope they dont give him a long term deal. He'll be the Oliver Perez of the offense

Redmond's offense is nonexistent though - you need someone like Joe Mauer (hey, look at that) or Russell Martin to cancel it out. I think the Mariners would rather go with someone like Gregg Zaun, who can give them that veteranosity while still hitting his weight.

"Frenchy actually put up a good line since he was traded to the Mets. I don't know the exact numbers, but I think he had a .300+ avg."

Sorry, but I don't believe it with Frenchy, and this is why:

46 K, 12 BB, .281 BABIP in 82 games with Atlanta this year.

46 K, 11 BB, .343 BABIP in 75 games with New York this year.

Essentially, he showed zero improvement upon moving to New York, he just started to get really lucky.

"If I were the Dodger front office, I would not expect Russell Martin to really bounce back next season."

This is when I would love to see some Hit F/X data, to see if Martin is actually hitting the ball with less authority.

His line drive rate was the highest of his career in 2009, but his BABIP was the lowest, which contradicts what generally happens with those two statistics.

His plate discipline numbers were practically identical across the board outside of the fact that he starting taking more first-pitch strikes, so the issue here with Martin is clearly rather complicated.