I thought it would work. I thought Jeff Francoeur would remember how to hit and the masses would forget he’d forgotten and all would be bliss for the hometown kid and the team of his dreams. But it’s not working, and I’ve come to believe it won’t.
Too much has happened. He got too big too fast. It wasn’t his fault. He was great from the moment of his big-league arrival in July 2005 and we — meaning the fans and the media and the Braves themselves — loved him and reveled in every detail of his charmed young life. But then, after two mostly solid full seasons, he stopped hitting. And everything changed.
Francoeur was upset when the Braves sent him to Class AA on the Fourth of July. “I don’t think there’s any way I can [feel as warmly toward the organization] 100 percent,” he said in February. “I want to play here forever; I’ve said that all along. But the business part of it is different.”
The Braves weren’t thrilled when Francoeur went to Texas to work with Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo. Said Terry Pendleton, the Braves’ hitting coach: “I asked Jeff, ‘Why didn’t you come to me?’ Obviously he felt the need to go elsewhere. It’s his winter. [But] it bugged me at first. Not hearing it from him, that got me more than anything. I told him, ‘I thought our relationship was better than that.’ ”
Where once there was sunshine, there’s distrust and frustration. The Braves wonder if Francoeur can be coached. Francoeur wonders if the Braves have his best interests at heart. He tries too hard and falls back on bad habits. The Braves drop him in the order and struggle to be patient. And here he is, batting. 245 with a microscopic on-base percentage of .280. He’s on pace to finish with 11 homers and 71 RBIs — same as he did last year.
Tripon
Posted: June 12, 2009 at 05:21 PM |
23 comment(s)
|
Login to Bookmark
Related News:
Atlanta,
Media,
Online
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
Not exactly, although I guess that depends on your definition of mostly solid.
22/23 year old, putting up a combined 48 HR and 208 RBI, with an average around .280, while playing decent defense, and mot missing any games? By mainstream standards, those are solid numbers. Hell, to a lot of old-school fans, those numbers indicate a future star.
Yes, I understand, which is why said it depends on your definition. I'll even give him credit for being actually solid in 2007 when he OPS+ed 103. But I refuse to agree with the notion in this article that he used to know how to hit and has forgotten. He used to get by on talent and ???, but his approach has always been terrible and now the talent isn't doing it any more either. I wish I had a nickel for every terrible at-bat I've watched him have.
The problem is that those weren't solid seasons to base a career on. They were good counting seasons only in the abstract. Considering he played a power position and he struggled to get on base, he wasn't very good. And somebody at the AJC could have suggested this belief before all the stupidity the AJC has pumped out for about what? 2, 1.5 years?
Missing in this is the sheer number of plate appearances he had and at bats, which renders his slugging to be much less impressive than the raw 48 homeruns would indicate.
And, to a lot of the mainstream guys, that number will be used to show just how durable he is - he led the league in games played in back-to-back years.
Is your suggestion that the whole AJC Frenchy campaign was a grab for readership?
My only point is that the site was inundated with AJC articles telling the world how much the local Golden Boy had changed/developed all the while ignoring the fact that the guy sucked for over two seasons. They tried to keep up the Golden Boy banner, but it fell under its weight.
I find it laughable that the AJC now has something about how little the Braves could trade for Frenchy.
2008-2009, I have Francouer being worse by 25.1 runs on offense than replacement (replacement being set at .816 of the average RF).
the next worse OF is Wladimir Balentien at -17.2
Wladdy may actually be worse rate wise- but Frenchie has a PT edge.
the bottom 10:
Jay Payton -9.9
Darin Erstad -10.1
Gary Matthews -10.9
Jacque Jones -11.6
Austin Kearns -14.9
Wily Mo Pena -16.2
Eric Byrnes -16.3
Corey Patterson -17.1
Wladimir Balentie -17.2
Jeff Francoeur -25.1
Eh, at best, you'd've made like $120 by now.
Francoeur gets 100,000 of them. . .
Steroids.
Somebody had to say it.
Good ol JC has a few more harsh words for Bradley. This is what JC wrote a year ago.
David Price was a hero in Tampa Bay, a franchise without any history of stars. Yet, the Rays front office just said, “Hey folks, he’s young. We know he’s done some good stuff up here, but he needs more work.” Some fans were pissed, but the storm didn’t last long.
I don't really follow any Tampa Bay news, so what's the story here? Eyeballing Price's 2009 stats, I don't really see how he's a good example of a team being patient with a star prospect.
Jeff Francoeur with a bad attitude!
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main