Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Francoeur to the Royals?

The Braves and Royals aren't talking about a Jeff Francoeur trade yet, but they are apparently talking and/or thinking about talking. From the KC Star:

The Braves appear willing to deal Francoeur, who slumped badly last season in batting just .239 with 11 homers and 71 RBIs in 155 games. But he had 48 homers and 208 RBIs over the two previous years, while batting .276, and won a Gold Glove in 2007 for defensive excellence in right field.

Officials from both clubs reacted to this bit of gossip by saying no talks have taken place, but that isn’t likely to quell speculation — especially since Francoeur might sit atop Moore’s acquisition wish list.

What would it take?

The Braves could use someone with Teahen’s versatility but have an over-riding need for starting pitching. The likelihood is they, like many other teams, would demand Zack Greinke. And that, probably, would halt any discussion. But would Luke Hochevar be acceptable? Or possibly a top pitching prospect like Danny Cortes? Would the Royals even offer them?All grist for the rumor mill.
The Royals giving up Greinke for Francoeur would be stupid on their part and Cortes would be preferable to Hochevar, but as a Braves fan, my reaction to any Royals-Braves deal involving Francouer would likely be "Great trade! Who'd we get?"

(link via Talking Chop)

13 comments:

Unknown said...

If they make this trade, the Royals will prove that they don't actually have any interest in OBP. Acquiring two corner guys with OBP less than .300 is not a good way to improve your offense. That being said, I would love for the Braves to get any of the Royals' young pitchers for him.

Anonymous said...

As a Braves fan, I hate the idea of selling low ... but logic aside, I would happily swap Francouer for a somewhat worn Onix Concepcion baseball card and one of U.L. Washington's game used toothpicks.

Craig Calcaterra said...

See, I don't necessarily know that we'd be selling low. Francoeur could but up a carbon copy of his 2008 season next year, and if he did, he'd still suck, but would be a year older. It's possible that a team like the Royals (who, as Jacob noted, just traded for an equally horrible OBP guy) may still see some value or projection in Francoeur, whether or not it's there. If he has hit rock bottom in production, however, he still could still go farther south on value.

Matt Glenn said...

Dayton Moore jumps out to an early lead in the race for the 2009 Brian Sabean Award....

Craig Calcaterra said...

Just to be clear: my disdain for Brian Sabean is only partially due to his bone headed moves as Giants GM. The real passion driving it is the spineless and pathetic manner in which he threw his own people under the bus in connection with the whole Barry Bonds steroids thing as described in the Mitchell Report. For those of you who forgot, his clubhouse manager wanted to clear the drug dealers out of the clubhouse, asked if Sabean would have his back when Bonds got pissed, and Sabean told him no, thereby effectively sanctioning Bonds' conduct. He has suffered absolutely zero consequences for this.

Moore seems like a good guy who, if wanting that guy from Florida and Francouer are any indication, doesn't know what he's doing and can't stick to a plan. That's bad, but not worthy of a Sabean Award.

Anonymous said...

Jeff Francoeur even up for Tony Pena Jr. It's a win-win.

Alex Brissette said...

Moore for the 2009 Bill Bavasi award?

Jason @ IIATMS said...

I wish I could watch Neyer's head explode if that happens.

Ron Rollins said...

Normally I would not allow this of anyone else, but I'm asking permission of the baseball gods (or the readers here) for permission to switch allegiance to another team.

I've lived in the following cities:


Los Angeles: Dodgers or Angels
Sacremento: A's or Giants
Tucson: Diamndbacks
D.C.: Nationals
Augusta: Braves
Tacoma: Mariners


I need to pick a new team becasue I just can't take this from the Royals anymore. They make life to hard to be a true fan.


I'm leaning towards the Mariners because I used to work for them, but they don't seem much better.

So, because of what the Royals have done, am I allowed to give up on them and switch to another team?

Craig Calcaterra said...

Ron -- I hereby grant you permission to switch allegiences. The potential Francoeur trade does not, in and of itself, warrant such a move, but lord knows that there have been many reasons to abandon the Royals over the past 20 years.

The choice of who replaces the Royals is yours to make, though I would counsel strongly against adopting the Mariners, as their time in the wilderness may be quite long.

Question: didn't you used to go by the handle "64 Cards"? Doesn't that, along with your Missouri background, suggest some affection for the Cardinals?

Ron Rollins said...

Craig,

Being from central Missouri, more people are actually Cardinal fans than Royals fans. The Royals fan base is KC and points north, south and west, but not too much back east.

I'm one of the few lucky ones who was able to grow up following two teams equally, due to my father, older brother and other family members being Cards fans before the Royals existed.

But I grew up in KC and came of age during the '76 playoffs. Jason can fill you in the details, I'm still in denial.

So it was Royals 1 and the Cards 1A.

I could move the Cards to number 1, but that would seem like a cop out (its a Missouri thing), so a new number 1 is needed.

Or mabye no allegiance, except to the game itself. Seems to work for others.

Craig Calcaterra said...

I may actually be turning in to that kind of fan. Losing the Braves on TV every night over the past few years has been a pain, and I find myself growing detached from them to some degree. I don't think I'd ever abandon them, but it's possible that I might compartmentalize my rooting like I have for the 1970s-80s Tigers.

Ron Rollins said...

I'm facing the same thing. Living over here, its too hard to follow a particular team, even with the MLB.com package.

Maybe its time to just be a generic fan.

World Baseball Classic in Europe.

I can't wait.