The Marlins announced tonight that they have acquired outfielder Jeff Francoeur and cash considerations from the Braves in a three-team deal that also involves the Rangers. The Braves will acquire minor league shortstop Dylan Moore from the Rangers and minor league catcher/first baseman Matt Foley from the Marlins. The Rangers, meanwhile, will receive three international bonus slots — two from the Marlins and one from the Braves — that total $860K in value.
Francoeur will give the Marlins a right-handed bat to play in right field in the wake of Giancarlo Stanton‘s injury, possibly sharing time with the left-handed-hitting Oswaldo Arcia (whom Miami claimed off waivers from the Rays earlier this week) and veteran Ichiro Suzuki.
While the veteran Francoeur’s overall .249/.290/.381 batting line isn’t especially impressive, his .273/.313/.431 line against lefties is much more palatable, and he regularly draws positive reviews for his presence in the clubhouse. Any alignment featuring regular time from Francoeur and/or Arcia figures to be sub-par from a defensive standpoint, but the pair’s platoon stats (Arcia is a .244/.317/.468 hitter vs. righties) complement each other nicely, and Ichiro still profiles as a useful defender in right even at 42 years of age.
The 32-year-old Francoeur is a free agent at season’s end, making this is a short-term pickup for the Fish. Francoeur inked a minor league pact with Atlanta this offseason that came with a $1MM base salary and another $1MM available via incentives. Presumably, the cash considerations headed to Miami will help cover the remaining $213K on Francoeur’s deal plus any incentives he may have already reached. (The specific nature of his performance bonuses was not reported at the time of his signing.)
As Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News points out (Twitter link), the $860K total value of the international slots in this deal, when paired with the $210K the Rangers acquired in the trade that sent outfielder Ryan Strausborger to the Mariners, mean that Texas has acquired the maximum $1.07MM they were allowed to add to their international signing pool. Per the league’s stipulations, a team can only acquire up to 50 percent of its original bonus pool, and Texas entered the current signing period with a pool of $2,157,400 (per Baseball America).
Neither Moore nor Foley ranked within the top 30 prospects of their respective organizations. The 24-year-old Moore, though, has enjoyed a nice season split between Class-A and Class-A Advanced, hitting .263/.377/.440 with 14 homers and 40 stolen bases. While it should be pointed out that the 2015 seventh-round pick spent most of the season playing at Class-A, where he was a good bit older than the average player in the league, his production didn’t really take off until he was moved up to High-A, where he has slashed .351/.400/.649 with five homers in just 17 games. He’s a bit old for that level as well, but his quick adaptation could prompt further promotion. Beyond that, he’s a jack of all trades in the field, as pointed out by David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link). Moore has played every position on the field except catcher, and that includes pitcher (though the seven hits he allowed in his lone inning of work probably mean he won’t be spending much time on the mound in the future).
Foley, meanwhile, has spent the season with the Marlins’ Rookie-level affiliate in Arizona before recently being bumped up to short-season Class-A. The 2015 40th-rounder has totaled just 44 plate appearances and batted .257/.386/.257 and caught one of four runners that have attempted to steal against him.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported that a trade between the Braves and Rangers had been agreed to (via Twitter). Joel Sherman of the New York Post added that it was a three-team deal that would send Francoeur to Miami (links to Twitter). Rosenthal tweeted that international bonus money would go to Texas, and Sherman tweeted that the Braves would send one slot while the Marlins would send two. MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweeted that Foley was in the trade, and
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Maybe ATL will pay 50% of Kemps salary!
Three-team swap. Involving minor leaguers. Considered minor. I’m fascinated.
Third team is the Royals and they’re tossing in Mike Minor
Hey Texas would indeed be a good team for Kemp with no Fielder, Hamilton, Beltran, or Moreland under contract next year.
Kemp or Markakis?
Four power hitters who they have lost or may lose, hence Kemp.
Except Fielder is under contract. Not technically retired, he is medically unable to play. He is getting paid 9 million by Texas, plus they owe Hamilton 2 million
True, I should have said “On the 40-man,” I suppose.
Needed a 3rd team for Francouer to go to the Marlins?
Marlins had nothing the Braves wanted.
The Braves are quickly running out of teams to trade Jeff Francoeur to in the NL East.
Thought the same. Sign with Washington on offseason and he has been on each East team.
Really? I loved having Frenchy back on the team 🙁
Same. Really almost find this trade unnecessary. He was a great voice in the clubhouse for a young team.
Him and KJ will both more than likely sign back with the Braves in the offseason.
We’ll see. It would be fantastic, now doubt, but at some point we’ve got to bring in new guys as well as get the young guys who are part of the long term piece at bats. If you bring both those guys back, that takes up bench roles. Both have earned the right to enter a major league camp with a bench job in place.
Well the thing is, you don’t want young players who you project as long-term starters sitting on the bench. That can stunt their growth and development. So unless there’s a starting spot for them in the majors it’s better to keep them in the minors getting everyday at-bats. That’s why guys like KJ and Frenchy stick around. They’re not good enough to be starters but they’re good bench guys.
^this!
Bye frenchy see ya next year lol
lol you just know they’re signing him in December
Exactly. Hope the Braves resign him, good guy to have on the team.
Thats a whole lot of mediocrity in one trade.
Ikr. I got an alert on my phone about a three-team trade and was genuinely excited. Once I came here and read the terms, I was prettydisappointed lol
The thing is.. Being after the non waiver trade deadline, only do much excitement can happen on a three team trade. I will be honest though.. When I saw three team deal, I did expect a little bit more than what happened.
However, I do find every trade interesting because it shows what each team is valuing at the time.
Right Ik. I wasn’t expecting some blockbuster, but this was kind of a letdown. Francoeur does make some sense for Miami though. I like this move for them
I’m more interested to see what JD has planned to do with all this international money he has gathered together…
It’s too late to do anything too exciting. And any big time player that could become a FA is going to cost more than their allotment anyway. Nothing major here.
Matt Foley will have plenty of time to play for the Braves or Rangers while he’s living in a van down by the river.
Glad someone said it, lol.
I actually had a “van down by the river” joke in the post and pulled it last minute, ha.
Ha!
If this Foley kid ever gets to catch Daniel Norris, I will know what the motivational meeting at the mound will be about.
That is awesome.
I was waiting for someone to go there………I have to admit, it was the first thing I thought of when I saw the name…funny!
Matt Foley must live in a van, down by the river.
i don’t get it
nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/motivational-spe…
+1
I can’t believe Frenchy is only 32 years old….
Well he debuted at 20 or 21. Both Him and McCann were both extremely young.
was just gonna comment the same thing !
Did the Rangers just get a free million dollars?
Not quite free – they sent a minor prospect. But they made out pretty well in the deal, maybe the best.
What is interesting is that Texas got the million dollars for a guy not projected as a prospect of note, which gives you a pretty good idea of how artificially suppressed player salaries/signing bonuses are for low-round draft picks. Moore’s bonus was 10,000 dollars, and a year later Texas sold him for a million.
If Frenchy would have been playing left field in the bottom of the 11th last night, he may have thrown out the runner tagging up to win the game!
He always has had a killer arm
Yes, I remember when he first came up. It was worth watching just to see him rocket a throw in from the outfield, on a line right into the third baseman’s glove, and get the runner with a step to spare.
I know it’s a lot easier to say in hindsight, but I think Kemp would’ve been better suited to play it on a hop rather than diving. Lamb still had to wait at the bag, and obviously it would’ve kept the force at the plate in order
the more they lose, the better, at this point
Always enjoyed listening to Bobby Cox yell “let’s go, Frenchy!” from the Braves dugout. Had the pleasure of meeting JF years ago, he’s a class act. All the best, “Frenchy!”
Dylan Moore is an interesting player. He plays a lot of positions, draws a lot of walks, and gets hit by a lot of pitches. I’ll be looking forward to see what he does in AA next year and if he can become a legitimate prospect.
I find it kind of sad when teams keep looking for rethreads of ML “talent”. Why take a risk on a guy that’s barely hitting .250. Why not look in their minor league system and give a young guy a shot. To many teams these days keep guys in the minors to long so they can control their free agency year. To many dumb incentive laden contracts are causing resentments among manager and player. Sometimes I’m sure managers are being directed to make sure a player doesn’t make the incentive. Teams don’t want to be “stuck” with marginal players because they reached a “goal” , aren’t they supposed to reach GOALS anyway, geez. Teams need contracts that are team oriented and can downsize a contract if a player say hits 20 points below his lifetime average. maybe that will motivate them.