The White Sox have signed right-hander Frank Francisco and assigned him to the Triple-A Charlotte Knights, according to the Knights' official Twitter account. Francisco is a client of Praver/Shapiro.
The 34-year-old Francisco spent the past two seasons with the Mets after signing a two-year, $12MM contract that proved to be a regrettable move for New York. Over the life of the deal, Francisco pitched just 48 2/3 innings of 5.36 ERA ball, averaging 9.8 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9. He missed nearly all of the 2013 season with elbow issues.
The White Sox will hope that Francisco can get back to the form he showed with the Rangers and Blue Jays from 2009-11 when he posted a 3.71 ERA 10.0 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and a 36 percent ground-ball rate that led to a 3.41 FIP and 3.32 xFIP. During that time, opponents batted just .236/.299/.382 against Francisco, who racked up 44 saves between the two teams.
Chicago manager Robin Ventura named Matt Lindstrom his closer to open the season, much to the surprise of many pundits that had pegged Nate Jones as Addison Reed's replacement. However, Jones is on the disabled list now, and Lindstrom hasn't inspired much confidence with his new role, so the added bullpen depth makes sense for GM Rick Hahn.
The Charlotte Knights just have to be sure to keep any folding chairs well out of Francisco’s reach.
haha forgot about that
Former Sox farm hand. You’d hope that between him, Mitchell Boggs, Javy Guerra and Tommy Hanson that at least one can contribute something positive to big club.
The smart pundits weren’t surprised. Letting Lindstrom close ideally builds a little trade value while keeping Nate Jones, who’s young and talented, cheap. Saves are important in arbitration, and basically nowhere else.
It’s like Kenny Williams’ *first* trade for Carl Everett never happened!