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Nationals Sign Maikel Franco To Minor League Deal

By Darragh McDonald | December 12, 2021 at 11:28am CDT

The Nationals have signed third baseman Maikel Franco to a minor league deal, reports Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post. Franco is a client of Octagon. Although transactions involving the 40-man roster are frozen during the ongoing lockout, minor league deals are still permitted.

This is the second minor league deal the Nats have given to a veteran infielder in as many days, as they signed Dee Strange-Gordon yesterday. The club has a fairly open infield for 2022, after trading away Trea Turner and Josh Harrison during last year’s deadline fire sale. They’ve since re-signed Alcides Escobar and Cesar Hernandez on major league deals, before adding Strange-Gordon into the mix, to compete with youngsters Luis Garcia and Lucius Fox for middle infield playing time.

Franco, however, should be considered as an option at third base, given that’s where he’s spent the vast majority of his big league time. (He’s also played 15 games at first base in his career, but never more than five in a single season.) Youngster Carter Kieboom seems likely to be Plan A for the Nats at third, despite his struggles at the MLB level thus far. In 106 big league games over the past three seasons, Kieboom has hit .197/.304/.285. However, his Triple-A line is much more impressive, coming in at .286/.400/.464. Given his youth, 24, and prospect pedigree, he’s likely to get an extended run at the hot corner, especially when considering that Washington is likely to spend at least a year retooling after their big selloff. Franco’s presence in the system can offer a veteran fallback plan, should Kieboom continue experiencing growing pains.

Franco has had an inconsistent stretch of late, oscillating wildly from year to year. According to FanGraphs’ wins above replacement, he was worth at least 1.1 fWAR in the past three even-numbered seasons, but was in negative territory during the odd-numbered years. After some of those up-and-down years in Philadelphia, he was non-tendered following the 2019 season and latched on with the Royals. He had a solid showing in the shortened 2020 campaign, hitting .278/.321/.457 for a wRC+ of 106 and 1.3 fWAR in just 60 games. Despite that, the Royals decided not to tender him a contract for 2021, which led to Franco signing with the Orioles. Unfortunately, his yo-yoing continued, as he slumped to a line of .210/.253/.355 in 104 games for Baltimore.

Franco was released in August and signed a minor league deal with Atlanta, but didn’t get another shot at the big leagues. For the Nationals, there’s no harm in having him around to see if he can turn the tide once again. He’s only 29 years old and has shown himself capable of solid production in the past. Even if Kieboom and Franco both get hot at the same time, there’s the likelihood of the National League using the designated hitter in 2022, giving the team some more plate appearances to spread around.

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View Comments (41)
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41 Comments

  1. Sir Gradesalot

    4 years ago

    I guess I am confused as to what the rules of engagement are for teams during this lockout. I understand that teams cannot sign players to major league contracts. But it appears that they can still sign any player to a minor league deal AND invite them to spring even if they played in the major leagues last year. If so, what is stopping a team from signing any role player to a minor league deal, and then renegotiating it as a major league deal once the lockout ends? Am I missing something here?

    1
    Reply
    • mkeyankee

      4 years ago

      You are missing a massive something. Minor league deals are not guaranteed contracts.

      11
      Reply
      • Sir Gradesalot

        4 years ago

        mkeyankee,

        You are correct, and my hypothetical would take a BIG verbal commitment between the player’s agent and the interested team. I guess what I am confused by is why can a team still talk to a player like Robinson Chirinos, but not one like Correa? What if a player is at the stage of his career where he has some teams interested in him on a major league contract, while others may see him as a risk and would prefer to sign him to a minor league deal? If the rules are how I understand them, then Team A would be prohibited to talking with this player, but Team B could negotiate however they wished. This feels like a massive loophole, making me think I am missing something big about the lockout’s code of conduct.

        1
        Reply
    • Dorothy_Mantooth

      4 years ago

      Yes, you are missing a big piece here. Only players who were not on a 40-man roster at the end of 2021 can be signed to minor league contracts while the lockout is in place.. Baltimore released him, so he was not on a 40-man roster to end the season. He signed a minor league deal with Atlanta after clearing waivers so he wasn’t signed to Atlanta’s 40-man roster.

      15
      Reply
      • Sir Gradesalot

        4 years ago

        Dorothy_Mantooth

        Thank you! This makes much more sense (but holy cow that means there are a lot of players that can still sign). Do you know how this rule applies to players who were removed from 40 man rosters at the non-tender deadline?

        1
        Reply
        • tstats

          4 years ago

          They can’t be signed

          Reply
      • StudWinfield

        4 years ago

        @dmantooth, is it that you cannot sign a minors contract if you ended the season on the 40 or simply that you would forfiet your union benefits (i.e health insurance) if you do?

        Reply
    • Never Remember

      4 years ago

      Yes they can’t have finished year on 40 man

      Reply
    • lwaba

      4 years ago

      Also the most a minor league contract can guarantee is 4 million which is usually under the asking price for top free agents like correa.

      Reply
  2. positively_broad_st

    4 years ago

    Franco is a guy who could hit big in Korea, make some coin in the process. Dude’s running out of time to cash in as a big leaguer…

    3
    Reply
  3. Orioles Fan

    4 years ago

    Does anyone play MLB the Show

    1
    Reply
    • BashBroJoe

      4 years ago

      Sure do.

      1
      Reply
  4. Kevin Kubica

    4 years ago

    Could be a decent pickup if they go to the universal DH.

    1
    Reply
    • Cosmo2

      4 years ago

      Why? He can’t hit. What good is he as a DH?

      1
      Reply
  5. Never Remember

    4 years ago

    I believe the article says Franco is 24, but he is 29.

    Reply
    • Redsoxx_62

      4 years ago

      Nah, they are talking about Kieboom being 24

      4
      Reply
  6. bucketbrew35

    4 years ago

    If they rotate him between 1st and DH he might be serviceable. I think the ship has sailed to consider him a big league caliber third baseman at this point. He needs to focus on a less challenging defensive position and his offense. Nothing more.

    Reply
    • Cosmo2

      4 years ago

      He doesn’t hit enough to be a DH and backup first baseman isn’t a real need for most teams.

      Reply
      • kodiak920

        4 years ago

        If Zim comes back, especially not.

        Reply
  7. VonPurpleHayes

    4 years ago

    He can be solid with both the bat and the glove, but he struggles to find consistency. Great guy. I’m really pulling for him.

    7
    Reply
    • Backup Catcher to the Backup Catcher

      4 years ago

      Von: “…solid with both the bat and the glove……..”

      While I was asleep, Webster must have altered the definition for “Solid”! Franco is neither solid with the glove nor the bat. Struggles to produce even an OBP of .300. The glove will always be suspect as the range just isn’t there to be a MLB infielder.

      Rooted for him while he was in Philly, but way too many holes in his game that eventually surfaced. Fringe MLB player at best, even with the advent of a universal DH.

      Reply
      • VonPurpleHayes

        4 years ago

        RE: Backup Catcher to the Backup Catcher I said “can be solid” and he was at times with the Phillies. There were times he was their hottest player, followed by months of cold streaks. There were times he really impressed with the glove, and times he’d butcher routine plays. Like I said, the talent is there, the consistency is not.

        1
        Reply
  8. DarkSide830

    4 years ago

    he’s also gonna walk us off

    1
    Reply
    • rgreen

      4 years ago

      Nationals get the win after Franco homers following a Cesar Hernandez single….It’s gonna happen.

      2
      Reply
  9. Cora the Destroya

    4 years ago

    This is a good deal. Nothing crazy but Franco is serviceable, especially on a hot streak. Just too streaky. Can’t be bad on a minor league deal.

    2
    Reply
    • Cosmo2

      4 years ago

      Definitely good on a minor league deal

      Reply
  10. nentwigs

    4 years ago

    MISSED IT BY THAT [ = ] MUCH !!
    According to informed sources, The Marlins were in on Maikel Franco right up until he signed the deal to join the Nationals.. The Marlins made a “strong” offer, but not one that matched the Nationals’ financial commitment. The Marlins weren’t the only team to be outbid.
    The Minnesota Twins had also been linked to Franco.

    Reply
  11. bucketbrew35

    4 years ago

    I wonder if Franco still pays Fantex a cut?

    nbcsports.com/philadelphia/philadelphia-phillies/f…

    Reply
  12. Metsin777

    4 years ago

    He should stay in the NL East considering he accumulates most of his stats agaisnt the Mets

    Reply
    • VonPurpleHayes

      4 years ago

      That’s a completely different Mets roster now.

      Reply
  13. cpdpoet

    4 years ago

    Too bad galvis went overseas….Washington could have had 3/4’s of the Phillies old (2016…?) infield… Where art thou Tommy Joseph….?

    3
    Reply
    • bobtillman

      4 years ago

      Not to mention half of the O’s starting IF last year….I’m not sure that’s a ringing endorsement.

      Reply
    • Bart Harley Jarvis

      4 years ago

      Nice work! Beat me to it.

      Reply
  14. angt222

    4 years ago

    Nice DH option if the universal DH is approved.

    Reply
    • Cosmo2

      4 years ago

      I don’t get this thinking. He can’t hit. How is he a good DH option? How?

      2
      Reply
  15. Rsox

    4 years ago

    Franco is not a bad option in case Kieboom struggles again. He could also serve as a replacement for Zimmerman as Josh Bell’s backup if Zim retires

    Reply
  16. Papabueno

    4 years ago

    Franco > Kieboom….IMHO

    Reply
    • Cosmo2

      4 years ago

      Right now they both stink. But Franco is at the end, Kieboom has tons of potential.

      1
      Reply
      • kodiak920

        4 years ago

        The window hasn’t closed just yet on Kieboom, but, to date, he has looked more like a quad A player, than a major leaguer.

        Reply
  17. MLB Top 100 Commenter

    4 years ago

    Last sentence of article starts”

    “Even if Kieboom and Franco both get hot at the same. . .”

    The chances are better of winning the lottery and getting hit by lightning on the same day.

    2
    Reply
    • kodiak920

      4 years ago

      Amen, brother.

      Reply

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