The Brewers have requested waivers on corner infielder Juan Francisco for the purpose of his unconditional release, tweets team senior director of media relations Mike Vassallo. Any team claiming Francisco would owe him his $1.35MM salary, though the Brewers are only on the hook for 45 days' pay, around $332K. Francisco's impending departure from the Brewers became known yesterday when they cleared out his locker.
Francisco, 26, hit .227/.296/.422 with 18 home runs in 385 plate appearances for the Braves and Brewers last year, playing first base and third base. A left-handed hitter, Francisco faced righties in 91% of his plate appearances. He joined the Brewers via trade last year in June.
Rather than use Francisco at first base this year, the Brewers will put non-roster invitees Mark Reynolds and Lyle Overbay on the Opening Day roster.
Could be hopping on the Pirates AAA 1B train… ALL ABOARD! Maybe rotate the lefty 1B side of the platoon in the big leagues on a weekly basis… McGuiness one week. Lambo the next. Then Fancisco, oh wait, now it’s Travis Ishikawa’s turn, sorry Matt Hague.
Don’t forget about Brent Morel!
I didn’t think that Morel played 1B, just 3B… although at this point, the Pirates might lefty-hitting bullpen catchers at 1B, and it wouldn’t surprise me.
Morel has seen limited playing time at 1B. In 2013, he played 4 games there for AAA Charlotte. He also played 2 games at 2B 2B in AAA
you know, i had a similar feeling last year when Det released Brian Boesch, but this is the type of pickup the Yankees like to make to fill a hole, which in this case can be 3B, unless they’re thinking Roberts and Johnson will give them 162 games in the field this year…
The Yankees should have tried to trade for Francisco. He would have been a fine backup 1B and an option at 3B, especially if Brian Roberts gets hurt and Kelly Johnson has to play 2B. I doubt they will be able to get him via waivers, because Pittsburgh will probably have a crack at him before they do.
I am not all that certain that the Pirates want him, but it’s possible. He isn’t significantly better now than anyone the Pirates already have, although he certainly has more potential than any of the current candidates. His ability to also play 3B (not well, but he can play it) and the fact that he hits left-handed are what would be interesting to the Bucs.
he’s not worth enough to trade anything for. And i mean signing him for the vet min, they would have had to have Mil eat salary if they traded for him…
Anyone who thinks he’d be a ‘fine backup’ has not seen him in the field. Milwaukee may have had the worst historical performance by their 1B last year, and Francisco still couldn’t make the roster? He’s a DH at this point.
This is one of those cases where the “eye test” and the advanced stats really agree – I’ve personally never seen anyone worse at playing first than Francisco was, and this was after years of watching Fielder.
I’m admittedly surprised that we went straight to release waivers. Obviously I don’t know what exactly happened between yesterday and today, but if we didn’t have any trade discussions, I think we lost out on potentially acquiring a minor-league piece.
Francisco only got two starts at 1st base with the rest coming at 3rd base (vs Overbay 12 starts, Reynolds 6), so they may have been showcasing him for trades at his natural position all along.
You’re right Novak. The ship sailed on Francisco as a Brewer last year. He was awful offensively as well as defensively the last 6 weeks. They thought with extensive play this winter, he’d come to camp and look good enough to generate some trade interest. He had a decent spring but teams weren’t fooled. Brewers erred in not getting a better alternative than the washed up Overbay though.
Any team in desperate need of 1B help would be better off signing Fransisco than giving up something of value in a trade for Ike Davis.
Agreed, a bit surprised the Brewers got rid of him for how young he is yet. I don’t think Overbay gives you better offensive numbers, although he’ll be better in the field.
Francisco may be young, but it’s pretty clear what he brings to the table. A whole lot of strikeouts and awful defense. He’s just not worth a roster spot.
He’s tolerable at 3B/1B. Doesn’t hit well enough though.
I dunno…”tolerable” is being kind. He’s pretty terrible with the glove.
Enter Mark Reynolds, a whole lot more strikeouts… Just saying
Overbay is batting .179 this spring, I understand he is a better defender than Juan but the Brewers have to be able to do better than this.
Overbay at least has a chance to be (even slightly) above replacement level. Francisco probably does not, especially if he was expected to actually play a position on the field.
Toronto should go after this guy
Funny. The brewers spent all the off season telling us fans how much potential fransisco has – trying to convince us he was a good idea at first. Then they sign overbay and reynolds and release him