I didn't RTFA, but wouldn't trading Francoeur now be selling low?

I don't know, I think there are always some GMs willing to throw resources at toolsy under performners *Cough*Sabean*cough*Bowden*Cough*.

He is too young to go to work for Sabean, but he would be right up Bowden's alley if he had room in the outfield.

No team values Frenchy more than Atlanta. Nowhere else will teenage girls pull down their tube tops for a below average corner outfielder. Just last night I heard the crowd go nuts for Francoeur on TV. "Chipper Jones? Pfffff! Give me Francoeur...and check out my ta-tas!" A trade would be a PR nightmare. The damage has been done. He needed to be sent to the minors in 2006, but the team wouldn't admit it and instead went with the Terry Pendleton stay-aggressive-and-slap-it-the-other-way program that worked so well with Andruw Jones.

The solution to the Frenchy situation is to play him less (especially on the road), bat him low in the order, but continue having Frenchy bobblehead promotions to generate revenue.

Oh, and here is Jeff's other blog.
http://www.jeffbfrancoeur.blogspot.com/

If Francoeur is to turn things around this season, he needs to tune out his critics who believe his fatal flaw is his aggression as a hitter. As a young developing hitter, he is best off staying true to himself by maintaining his aggression and gradually learning more plate discipline as he gets older and more experienced. More important than improved plate discipline is mechanical perfection. His mechanical flaws are causing too many strikeouts and batted balls to land softly in gloves. He has poor balance at the plate this season. His hind leg seems to go out from under him, causing a hitch in his swing. It almost seems that he is too conscious of the criticism that he is pull happy. Like a pitcher who alters his mechanics so that he can “push” or “aim” the ball for a strike, Francoeur seems to have altered his mechanics to hit the ball to right more. Of course, the result is that he isn’t hitting balls the other way and isn’t pulling balls with authority either.

Um, this is the Terry Pendleton--Joe Simpson approach that he's been using for three years. It doesn't work. He's not pull happy. He doesn't know what that is. He's a see the ball, hit the ball hitter. He has no idea where he's hitting the ball. He just swings really f'n hard. When he's late or hits one of those outside pitches, Joe then claims he was going the other way rather than trying to stay alive and that outcome happened. But hey, he's only 24, and last year he was only 23, and the year before that only 22. Next year, he'll be only 25.

Um, this is the Terry Pendleton--Joe Simpson approach that he's been using for three years. It doesn't work. He's not pull happy. He doesn't know what that is. He's a see the ball, hit the ball hitter. He has no idea where he's hitting the ball. He just swings really f'n hard. When he's late or hits one of those outside pitches, Joe then claims he was going the other way rather than trying to stay alive and that outcome happened. But hey, he's only 24, and last year he was only 23, and the year before that only 22. Next year, he'll be only 25.

That about sums up what I was thinking. Francoeur has zero plan when he comes to the plate, and after he's struck out he comes with the same approach the next at bat. The funniest thing for me is his media treatment. Mark Bradley, the most vocal baseball guy in a one paper town, basically wrote an article that seemed to take Chris Crocker's "Leave Britney alone" rant and apply to Francoeur. He can't understand how baseball fans want to judge Jeff on his inability to have an OBP over 300 and his year by year regression, and not based on the fact that he's from Atlanta, he's dreamy and he smiles a lot.

I guess he's not the next Roberto Clemente.

He still has time to develop, but I have my doubts. Never showed he had any discipline in the minors, and yet so many Braves Primates were convinced he could learn it on the job.

The other night, during the Braves telecast, the announcers were talking about Francoeur's batting average with RISP. It was around .320 in 2006, .340 in 2007, and .226 this year. Of course, the announcers attributed this to something that Francoeur was doing or not doing. I don't really agree. Francoeur has some big holes in his swing. Mix low, outside breaking pitches with high inside fastballs and Francoeur will generally get himself out. However, prior to this season, opposing pitchers still felt compelled to throw Francoeur strikes with RISP, and Francoeur is dangerous if you throw him low strikes. This season, opposing clubs have come to realize that you never have to throw Francoeur strikes, even in clutch situations. That explains the apparent decline in his clutch hitting.

In 2006, if memory serves me, some site did a video analysis of Francoeur's swing. I think it was Baseball Musings, though I wouldn't swear to that. They showed that Francoeur has a big swing that he starts sooner than most batters, clearing his hips out of the way early. He apparently swings more like a golfer than your average baseball player. The result of the analysis was that Francoeur needed to do more than make a few adjustments to his approach at the plate. They concluded that he needed to completely re-make his swing, something which would take a couple of seasons back in the minors, and still might not work. So basically, with Francoeur, what you see is what you're going to get.

As for Francoeur's mindset, the Braves announcers were talking with Smoltz during a spring training telecast. Smoltz told them about a golf outing where he, Glavine and Francoeur got a chance to play with Tiger Woods. Smoltz mentioned that Francoeur didn't have such a good round because he kept trying to outdrive Woods. That sounds believable, given the way he hacks at the plate.

However, prior to this season, opposing pitchers still felt compelled to throw Francoeur strikes with RISP, and Francoeur is dangerous if you throw him low strikes. This season, opposing clubs have come to realize that you never have to throw Francoeur strikes, even in clutch situations. That explains the apparent decline in his clutch hitting.


I said in this thread almost 2 years ago that opposing pitchers should be fined if they EVER throw Frenchy a strike

you don't have to--he'll get himself out

Francouer screams "Future Diamondback" to me.

Nowhere else will teenage girls pull down their tube tops for a below average corner outfielder.

Do they really do this? I need to get to some Atlanta games...

The theory a few years ago was that Francoeur was going to be the center fielder when Andruw left. He always looked awkward and average as a corner outfielder (aside from his arm) to me, but his bat would play in center, even this year, especially with the other 3 up the middle spots being occupied by very good hitters. Either way, he's not very good, but he's not even the biggest corner outfield problem on the team. Their left field spot has been a vortex all year (pre-Brandon Jones).

"Chipper Jones? Pfffff! Give me Francoeur...and check out my ta-tas!"

In fairness, Chipper is getting a little old for the teenage girl set. On the other hand, he has previously shown a weakness for Hooters (pun intended).

Francouer screams "Future Diamondback" to me.

Hey, Omar, we'll swap you Jeff Francoeur for Lastings -- dammit.

In fairness, Chipper is getting a little old for the teenage girl set.

Hell no. This is the Viagra generation, Chipper ain't even peaked yet.

So did Francoeur, Hermida, and Markakis all play against each other in high school? I'm guessing there weren't many high school pitchers from the area drafted in the first round...

What To Do With Jeff Francoeur

Hot dogs, Armour Hot Dogs...

So did Francoeur, Hermida, and Markakis all play against each other in high school? I'm guessing there weren't many high school pitchers from the area drafted in the first round...

Actually, most teams wanted Markakis as a pitcher.

So did Francoeur, Hermida, and Markakis all play against each other in high school? I'm guessing there weren't many high school pitchers from the area drafted in the first round...

Don't forget Brian McCann, Micah Owings, and Kyle Davies. Blaine Boyer was just a couple years older. All drafted from the Atlanta metro area.

He can't understand how baseball fans want to judge Jeff on his inability to have an OBP over 300 and his year by year regression,

He still has time to develop, but I have my doubts. Never showed he had any discipline in the minors, and yet so many Braves Primates were convinced he could learn it on the job.

I'm not sure where this comes from, since he almost doubled his walk rate from 2006 to 2007 (and more than doubled it, if you remove IBBs)...

Don't forget Jeremy Hermida.

They didn't, Alex.

A bunch of my friends played against the older group of this era of players - more the Brandon Phillips/Blaine Boyer set. Francoeur et al were too young for us. According to my (completely unreliable) good friend, Phillips sucked when he was at Redan and my friend struck him out "at least twice" in one game.

I'm not sure where this comes from, since he almost doubled his walk rate from 2006 to 2007 (and more than doubled it, if you remove IBBs)...

He improved it, but it still stinks. He now walks about 1 per 15-16 AB. That's Juan Encarnacion (probably not a bad comp for Francoeur).