The Braves signed third baseman Maikel Franco last week, according to Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle. The signing took place prior to September 1, as per The Athletic’s David O’Brien, so Franco would be eligible for inclusion on a postseason roster.
It can be assumed that Franco’s deal is a minor league pact, and if he does reach Atlanta’s active roster, the Braves will only owe him the prorated portion of a minimum salary. The Orioles are on the hook for the remainder of Franco’s salary (what is left on the infielder’s one-year, $1MM deal) after releasing Franco on August 27.
After a solid season with the Royals in 2020, Franco couldn’t keep the momentum going during his lone season in Baltimore, hitting only .210/.253/.355 with 11 home runs over 403 plate appearances in an O’s uniform. These struggles prevented Franco from being a trade chip for the rebuilding Orioles at the trade deadline, and so the team opted to cut him loose to open up more playing time for younger players.
Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos has shown a propensity for adding veterans as roster depth, and Franco’s presence will provide some extra backing for Austin Riley at third base. Riley (enjoying a big breakout season) has seen almost all of the action at the hot corner this season, with utilityman Ehire Adrianza serving as the primary backup. Franco also has experience at first base, so he could theoretically also back up Freddie Freeman
Franco was a Riley-esque top prospect himself when coming up in the Phillies farm system, though now in his eighth MLB season, Franco hasn’t been able to consistently deliver on that potential. As per the wRC+ and OPS+ metrics, Franco has been an above-average hitter only three times (2015, 2018, 2020) in his career, and he has a .246/.297/.423 slash line over 3185 total PA in the big leagues. He does have 121 home runs, as Franco has topped the 20-homer threshold three times.
What a bust this guy is
“Bust” seems extreme, I’d say. He had three fairly good seasons in Philadelphia. That’s not nothing.
Now, as a reserve, a club could do worse.
He’s a lot better then Adrianza, which is the only metric that matters.
“He’s a lot better then Adrianza”
…What? His (Franco) OPS is 100 points south of Adrianza’s and his glove is graded worst by just about every defensive metric.
Maybe he ends up performing better in however long a look he gets, but I doubt it.
Sorry, but gotta agree with the bust here. I would think 1.7 lifetime WAR over the span of 7 seasons, considering his prospect status too, would be considered “bust” worthy.
Sure it happened Sept 1st…
I know this isn’t a headliner, but how does this happen and no one mention it for a week? I know AA runs a tight ship, but wow
LOL
I can no longer second guess AA. I think his acquisitions by the trade dead line were spot on. If he sees something good with Franco, I’m all in.
I don’t think Franco will see the team unless they cut Heredia or Arcia. Probably just a depth move or maybe even trying to keep Franco away from other contenders.
@FredMcGriff for the HOF, can this be a backup for Reilly in case he goes down? Ugly thought, but is there a backup for 3B anymore? A move for the future? Reilly is just killing it now.
The worst thing the Braves could do to other contenders is let them sign Franco…
Probably a potential RH pinch-hitting candidate for the playoffs when a team can afford to carry and extra bat.
he’ll kill the Phillies the 2nd to last series this year. just watch.
He’s worth it for what he does to the Mets.
Not really. Especially with how few games they have left against them.
Braves will call him up when they play the Mets. Might be a top 3 active Met killer
Exactly. They’ll call him up for that series lol.
This was obviously a move bc they saw the Mets coming for them.
Interesting @MetsFan22, Is he a Mets/Phils killer?
Lol. Because the Mets and Phillies pounded on Washington the Braves are scared? Nah. Braves play Washington next week. They’re an awful team.
The only reason the Braves are relevant right now is that they beat the Marlins, Nats, and O’s. Then they embarrass themselves against the Dodgers and barely split against the awful Rockies. Both the Braves and Mets are bad teams.
Ian the Dodgers embarrass a lot of teams. Funny. The Braves are a good solid team lead by a former Dodger FO exec. They’ll do fine. Much better than the Mets.
You’re just a troll. Go scurry under a bridge.
Braves handled San Fran right before playing LA. Braves are fine.
At this point, it is you beat the Dodgers or you don’t for the Braves. They still can’t, effectively making the team once again bad.
So every team, but one is bad? Ridiculous.
I don’t care about other teams. I’m speaking of the Braves and they are a bad team whether you want to admit it or not.
@ whoever said the Braves aren’t relevant.
So playing the Dodgers perhaps the best team in MLB on the west coast with the 3 hour time change isn’t tough ? Winning against the Rockies with second best home record in the NL isn’t a hard task ?
Hmmmm …
When will the excuses end? Let me guess, you are one of those ppl who will say the Braves will improve and will be ready for the Dodgers next season. Have you been saying that since 2018?
Imagine rooting for a 1st place team and constantly whining about how terrible they are. Man, it must be hard to find joy in many things for a “fan” like that.
@Outlaw I agree with you 100%
@Ian, the Braves did take 2 of 3 from the Dodgers in Atlanta this year. Granted, in 6 games played between the two this year that is only 2 out of six. But, there’s a chance that by the time the Braves start play in the playoffs, either the Dodgers or the Giants will be eliminated from said playoffs. Because either the Dodgers or the Giants are going to be wildcard team.
So if that’s the case why did the dodgers spend all season looking up in the standings, especially with all that talent and bloated payroll?
I am convinced Ian aka BumgarnerEqualsNLCS is most definitely not a Braves fan.
@Ian Theodore didn’t fan anyone son
“Embarrassed” right. Atlanta lost 1 game by 2 and 2 games by 1 against LAD-that is NOT “embarrassed”. If Snitker doesn’t make a dumb move and bring in Martin we probably win that game, and I’m not going to cross examine the other 2, furthermore we would have split the season series 3-3, and that’s with no Acuna and no Soroka. You are nothing but a poor troll. The Rockies have one of the best home records in all of baseball comparable only to TB, CWS LAD and SF and if you take Blackmon out of their lineup they don’t get close, your continual negative trolling comments aptly demonstrate that you know nothing about baseball whatsoever. ‘Braves supporter’, how laughable indeed, you still haven’t fanned anyone son.
He’s obviously not a fan, just a very sad man.
The final piece of the World Series puzzle…
Good luck with that.
Ironically challenged, pw? I can spell it out for you if you have special needs. I’m there for you.
This guy is so streaky. Will go on a tear then not hit for awhile… catching light in a bottle.
But if that tear is in the playoffs it might be worth it.
Yeah and Philly scrape by the Marlins. SMH this road trip showed a lot. The Braves didn’t get pounded by these good teams but did show the gaps that are present. Bullpen, Starter reliability, and Depth.
If the Phillies won’t touch him again with a 10’ pole, you should tamper your expectations
Julio Franco could hit.
He probably still can. Random fact: Julio Franco was part of the Phillies/Cleveland infamous 5-for-1 trade for Von Hayes. Manny Trillo, George Vukovich, Jay Baller, Jerry Willard, and Julio Franco for Von. Von Hayes was a real good player, but Franco had a solid career for a long time.
Maikel Franco is basically similar to Ryon Healy who flamed out with the Hanuwa Eagles this year.
Franco has not played in the KBO, and the KBO is a lot harder than people give it credit for, hence why guys like Healy have struggled mightily.
Healy had a superior career OPS and higher OPS+ than Franco while Franco was less awful on defense though and has had worse babip luck so Franco could do better.
He’ll hit .600 against the Mets, at least he always seemed to when he was with the Phils.
I see this as a depth move. AA has to prepare for the playoffs and if adding a little depth for certain matchups he may see in the playoffs is what he thinks he needs be doing than I’m all in on it. The guy had a seriously impactful trade deadline and at this point he knows how to push his teams buttons and make the right acquisitions to get the best out of them!