Francisco's Locker Cleared Out. Traded? Released? Update 3/24: Released

[torts]

maybe they just didnt like the guy

[reillymcshane]

maybe they just didnt like the guy

I heard Francisco took up two spots in the parking lot with his car.

 

And he once borrowed someone's soap - and never gave it back.

[torts]

oh man... he's THAT guy, huh? good riddance.

[mertonmonk]

The Brewers defense has been sparkling this year, which is why they've won so many close ballgames. It was brutal watching Juan play first base - he probably leads to a few runs being given away, and hence a few games as well. His bat wouldn't make up the difference, so I'm very much ok with him not manning 1B. I hope Hunter Morris barges his way to Milwaukee (how is he doing?) or we find some help. Reynolds has been fine at 1B, but with Braun and Ramirez missing time, our offense has sure lacked much punch lately. It was amazing that the 2-5 hitters missed a game in STL, yet we won! Segura, Braun, Ramirez and Lucroy were on the bench, and the replacements still beat the Cards - so the replacement players can come through, but it's hard to get into the postseason if you rely too much on replacement players.

[Bombers]

I hope Hunter Morris barges his way to Milwaukee (how is he doing?)

Hunter Morris 2014

140 / .290 AVG / .336 OBP / .489 SLG / .824 OPS / 5 HR / 7 BB / 4 Errors in 282 chances

 

Morris vs LHP - 47 AB / .298 AVG / .313 OBP / .404 SLG / .717 OPS / 1 HR / 0 BB

Morris vs RHP - 84 AB / .286 AVG / .348 OBP / .536 SLG / .884 OPS / 4 HR / 7 BB

 

All Morris can do is just keep hitting - he will be brought up eventually. (Especially with Lyle's .699 OPS vs RHP)

[mertonmonk]

Bombers - thanks! I just assume that the Brass knew that Morris would be the '1B of the future', so it was kind of a toss up of another year of Francisco (please no!) or find a stop-gap. They found Overbay and Reynolds, both of whom have been ok (their defense has been nothing short of superb!). It does make it painful when you have Overbay as your cleanup hitter, as much as I like him, that just puts a big red flag up that we don't have anyone other than Aramis who can hit in that spot without fans everywhere experiencing a serious case of facepalm. Morris has been lurking for a couple of years - has his development been delayed, or do I just lack patience?

[adambr2]

For me I think its less about the merit of Francisco and more about Overbay just being a total waste of a roster spot. I'd be fine with Morris instead once we're past the point of Super 2 concern.

 

Its hard for me to want Overbay gone because he seems like a real decent guy. But from a baseball standpoint, looking at him logically, he wouldn't make another 25 man roster in the entire league if he was cut tomorrow.

 

He isn't a good lefty bat off the bench. He can't play anywhere besides 1st. He doesn't have upside. His glove is fine, but that only helps us if our other option is inferior. Reynold's glove is just fine to justify being in there every day. We don't need a backup at 1st. Not that defense at 1st isn't valuable, but its arguably the easiest position to cover in an emergency. Lucroy, Maldonado, and probably others can play it in a pinch if Reynolds needs a day or two off.

 

Juan is at least a good lefty power bat which is already more than Overbay. Maybe he's a bad clubhouse guy, I don't really know. I'm just saying Overbay has absolutely no value. I'm frankly a little surprised he's still here especially with the short bench at times.

[SRB]

Bombers - thanks! I just assume that the Brass knew that Morris would be the '1B of the future', so it was kind of a toss up of another year of Francisco (please no!) or find a stop-gap. They found Overbay and Reynolds, both of whom have been ok (their defense has been nothing short of superb!). It does make it painful when you have Overbay as your cleanup hitter, as much as I like him, that just puts a big red flag up that we don't have anyone other than Aramis who can hit in that spot without fans everywhere experiencing a serious case of facepalm. Morris has been lurking for a couple of years - has his development been delayed, or do I just lack patience?

 

He had a great AA season in 2012, and a pretty poor AAA season last year that sort of derailed his prospect status. When you can only play 1B you really need to crush minor league pitching in order to project much value. His stats have looked a little better this season so far, but personally I don't think he's the answer at 1B. Probably better than Overbay though, might as well see what he's got.

[TooLiveBrew]

Morris has been lurking for a couple of years - has his development been delayed, or do I just lack patience?

He's basically looks like a platoon-only player at this point. You can check MiLB splits on Baseball-Reference.com -- look right above the red "Player News" icon on Morris's page. Really it comes down to his hit tool not being strong enough. He clearly has plenty of power. And even with the platoon concern, he should be up right now to replace Overbay. He'd be a nice upgrade for the 1B platoon.

[adambr2]

Maybe they are waiting for waiting for his Super 2 eligibility date to pass. I'm not sure that's a big concern with Morris, but if he breaks out in a couple years, it could be.

 

If Morris is still hitting righties well in a month and Overbay is still here, I'm really going to start to question the FO on Overbay. He's OPS'ing .588, he's 37, and he's limited to 1st base. He's one of the most head scratching roster spots in all of MLB.

[Fear The Chorizo]

If the disaster of having Overbay and Reynolds playing 1B can manage to keep this team in 1st for the next 3 weeks, the Brewers could sign Kendrys Morales without giving up a draft pick, suddenly that black hole isn't nearly as glaring, and message boarders like us will need to find another position/roster spot to gripe about.

 

Francisco hits baseballs very far on occasion...he also strikes out at an outrageous rate and could never come close to playing adequate defense anywhere on the field. Had the Brewers been an AL team I think he's on this team instead of Overbay to start the season, but since they are an NL team I'd rather have a player that can at least play the position defensively at an acceptable level.

 

Reynolds is the RH offensive version of Francisco, but he also is much better defensively at multiple positions than him.

[Thurston Fluff]

If the disaster of having Overbay and Reynolds playing 1B can manage to keep this team in 1st for the next 3 weeks, the Brewers could sign Kendrys Morales without giving up a draft pick, suddenly that black hole isn't nearly as glaring, and message boarders like us will need to find another position/roster spot to gripe about.

 

That is what I believe their thinking is. I think they feel if they can afford to wait until then it gives Morris a shot to show he can be the answer. If he isn't they can go the Morales route and not lose a draft pick in the process.

[fondybrewfan]

Even if they were to consider Morales in mid June wouldn't it take him a while to be game ready? Probably a week or two in the minors right? We probably are going to be status quo until probably closer to the all star break. At that point maybe there are more options available than just Morales.

[RobertR]

Yeah, Overbay shouldn't make it through the year, but at least he can play defense. And he's still quite the improvement on Yuni B.

 

I agree though, Morales, Morris, or trade will need to happen, but I never was expecting Overbay to be much more than a Band-Aid in the first place.

[Thurston Fluff]

I can see a trade scenario as well but keep in mind that costs more than just money. We don't have a lot of depth as is and a trade would depreciate that even more. Especially if we want someone for more than just a two month rental. Morales gives us someone without hurting our farm.

[danzig6767]

 

Reynolds is the RH offensive version of Francisco, but he also is much better defensively at multiple positions than him.

 

I've been very surprised by the defense played by Reynolds so far, both at first and especially at third. I know that he played third for a long time, but i just thought for whatever reason that he'd be a sizable liability if forced to play there often via a Ramirez injury.

 

Watching him play both first and third though has made me appreciate his signing even more given we have nothing in the minors at third to call up when Ramirez got hurt. What a huge pickup Reynolds was.

[HiAndTight]

Even if they were to consider Morales in mid June wouldn't it take him a while to be game ready? Probably a week or two in the minors right? We probably are going to be status quo until probably closer to the all star break. At that point maybe there are more options available than just Morales.

 

 

Why wait until mid June? I'm guessing that they could sign him about 2 minutes after they make their selection on June 5th. He's working out and training right now, similar to Lohse last year. Maybe he plays 7-10 games in the minors, he's ready ~June 15th. That's a full month before the ASG break, and 6 weeks before the trade deadline.

 

I don't think they're going to wait much longer to upgrade at 1st base.

[RightFieldCoder]

I don't think they are going to upgrade 1st base at all. We went all in for 2011 and left Yuni at SS for the entire year and McGehee at 3B for most of the year.

[HiAndTight]

I don't think they are going to upgrade 1st base at all. We went all in for 2011 and left Yuni at SS for the entire year and McGehee at 3B for most of the year.

 

 

We traded for K-Rod who put up a 1.85 ERA for us and we added Hairston who started every game in the playoffs that year over Casey McGehee. They also added Nyjer Morgan who had a very good year for the Brewers that year putting up a OPS of .778 playing CF which would be good for 4th on this current team(among regulars).

 

And the difference between McGehee and our current 1st basemen is that McGehee bought himself some time by posting a line of 291/.346/.477/.823 the two years prior.

 

With Reynolds offering value not only with his ability to play 1st but also 3rd(and the fact that he's a low BA, high K guy) as well as the Brewers efforts to improve the 1st base position prior to the year, AND the fact that they always seem to try and add something, I would bet they try and make a move to add somebody.

 

They also led the league in HR's and had the 2nd highest OPS that season. So while there is no excuse to go with Yuni on a playoff caliber team, it was a little more palpable with a couple guys who put up OPS's near 1.000 and a couple more who were in the .800's.

 

This team has far more question marks. We don't have the stalwarts like Weeks, Braun, Prince and Hart. And given how aggressive Mark A and Doug Melvin have been when we've been competitive in the past, I have to imagine we're going to try and add someone this year. Again, even if it's a Martin Prado type guy.

[igor67]

I certainly agree that they will try to do something, I just hope they aim big. I'm not interested in selling the farm but we do have a little bit of that pitching depth and I'd happily trade that for a true middle of the order bat at first for the next few years.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Does Doug have ANY semblance of a long term plan at 1st base for this team?

 

Don't tell me "Hunter Morris", as the minor league numbers don't warrant it, and he'd have been given a shot by now.

 

Last year we ran a clown car full of the worst first basemen MLB has ever seen out there, and this year we have a sub-.600 OPS guy on pace for 350+ plate appearances. Yay! He can play defense! He can't hit his way out of a wet paper bag anymore.

 

Doug hit the panic button when Hart got hurt, then (probably rightfully so) got outbid for him this year, but his plan in the intervening 200+ games has been a patchwork of absolute crap, and the only guy in the minors who looks like he MIGHT be an answer is a guy the organization seemingly has no interest in giving a shot.

[HiAndTight]

Does Doug have ANY semblance of a long term plan at 1st base for this team?

 

Don't tell me "Hunter Morris", as the minor league numbers don't warrant it, and he'd have been given a shot by now.

 

Last year we ran a clown car full of the worst first basemen MLB has ever seen out there, and this year we have a sub-.600 OPS guy on pace for 350+ plate appearances. Yay! He can play defense! He can't hit his way out of a wet paper bag anymore.

 

Doug hit the panic button when Hart got hurt, then (probably rightfully so) got outbid for him this year, but his plan in the intervening 200+ games has been a patchwork of absolute crap, and the only guy in the minors who looks like he MIGHT be an answer is a guy the organization seemingly has no interest in giving a shot.

 

 

I'm curious what move do you believe the Brewers could have or should have made at 1st base? We looked pretty stocked there not long ago with Hart playing very well at 1st, Mat Gamel was an exceptional hitter and by all appearances looked like he was going to be a good big league hitter, and I still believe he would have been had he not gotten hurt. He had almost a perfect left handed stroke.

 

As of 2012 we had Hunter Morris who certainly looked like the answer at 1st base putting up a line of .303/.357/.563/.920 in AA with 28 HR's and 113 RBI's at age 23.

Corey Hart put up a line of .284/.348/.518/.866 in 2011 and 2012 combined with 57 HR's, 165 RBI's and a OPS+ of 131.

And Mat Gamel was raking in AAA in 2011 to the tune of .310/.372/.540/.912 28 HR 96 RBI in 128 games, almost all coming at 1st base.

 

So I don't think this is the result of poor planning so much as it's the result of bad luck.

 

Hart looked like he'd be a top 5-8 1st basemen going into last season before he hurt his knee. Our fall back Gamel blew out his knee for a second straight year, and Morris certainly regressed.

 

That didn't leave us with many good options. Ike Davis for Thornburg would have been foolish. Logan Morrison I suppose would have been a good move. The biggest mistake I believe he made was not offering Hart a little bit more money, but you yourself said that was understandable.

 

1st base has been a black hole, but I just don't think you can put that on Melvin. He has to have more to work with in the minor leagues. I'm also confident that Morris will be given a chance if he keeps performing well in Nashville and it's too soon to say the Brewers have no interest in giving him a chance.

[Thurston Fluff]

His first plan was to pay Hart but would you really prefer him to stick with that plan and pay that much for a .644 OPS? I think now the plan is to wait until someone worth the money/prospects is available then get him. What I know he can't do is dial 1-800-1stbase and have one that fits that criteria magically appear.

[DuWayne Steurer]

His first plan was to pay Hart but would you really prefer him to stick with that plan and pay that much for a .644 OPS? I think now the plan is to wait until someone worth the money/prospects is available then get him. What I know he can't do is dial 1-800-1stbase and have one that fits that criteria magically appear.

 

 

If you read my entire post, and not just the part you wanted to disagree with, I said "(rightfully so) got outbid for him". The meaning there is that I'm certainly glad we're not overpaying for an aging, oft-hurt, bad-kneed guy.

 

Secondly, I should have said "the organization" and not "Doug". I realize 2012 was a confluence of bad events (both Hart and Gamel getting hurt) but that's no excuse for starting the season without an actual first baseman on your roster, and then believing Yuniesky Betancourt is EVEN so much as a band-aid in a lost cause season.

 

I/we don't know what other options were explored, and I know Francisco is HOOOOOORRIBLE at defense, but unless his 'character flaws' were as egregious as running through the clubhouse threatening to eat other team member's newborn children, I can't see the justification for keeping (and continuing to give regular playing time) to a guy like Overbay, who will struggle to sport a .600 OPS this year. If he can't even do THAT.....bring up Morris and let the kid sink or swim, service time be damned.

[The stache]

Francisco hit another homer tonight. For the season:

 

.292 AVG, 4 doubles, a triple, 8 home runs, 19 RBI. 11 walks vs 36 Ks. Slash line of .373 OBP/.629 SLG/1.002 OPS

 

His defense might have been awful, but you have to believe that bat would be welcome right now. We've scored 11 runs over the last 5 games.

 

He's certainly better than Overbay and his .576 OPS would ever be.