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

[SoupTown]

As we have always said: Doug always over-reacts to problems. Last year he put all sorts of NON first basemen at first. So now Doug values D much, much more than O. Before last year Doug valued O much, much more than D.

 

To me it is funny to watch Doug mature as a GM. If he lives to 150 he may make a well balanced GM. Right now (and likely for the future) we will have a herky, jerky ride.

[torts]

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.

 

you think he'd have those numbers playing in the NL Central? 36 K's in 102 AB (26 games!)! I mean, that is awful, sure he's hitting for power and what not but lets temper our frustration with losing him since he's played half the time everyone else has

[DuWayne Steurer]

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.

 

you think he'd have those numbers playing in the NL Central? 36 K's in 102 AB (26 games!)! I mean, that is awful, sure he's hitting for power and what not but lets temper our frustration with losing him since he's played half the time everyone else has

 

 

SO what you're saying is, if he were playing every day.......he'd have 16 homeruns.

[adambr2]

Why do people make a big deal out of Juan's 36 K's? Reynolds has 49 in 122 AB's and I don't see anyone saying that he shouldn't be an everyday option right now at 1st or 3rd because of it.

 

Rag on his defense if you want, or say it's not sustainable, maybe it's possible he's a bad clubhouse guy, but a 1.002 OPS is a 1.002 OPS. If you're carrying an OPS that high, you're perfectly entitled to strike out 1/3rd of the time and still be very beneficial offensively to your team.

 

All I'm saying is, even if you play him in the field virtually never, (just start Maldonado or Lucroy at 1st for now if Reynolds needs a day off at 1st, and/or sign Morales in June), he would still be a big benefit with the bat on a team with no offensive punch right now. Yes he may cool off but that bat would have helped us so far. If the option we kept was superior, I can understand. But Overbay is completely worthless -- harsh, yes, good guy, yes, but he just has no value.

[Thurston Fluff]

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.

 

And if you read my entire post you would have noticed I said what I think the plan is. The same as it was since all the alternatives we had didn't pan out. That was more than just do a patchwork but they all got scuttled for the same reason the Hart plan got scuttled. They all cost more than they were worth. Which was why I mentioned you can't just create a viable alternative out of thin air.

[torts]

Red Sox Claim Juan Francisco

By Jeff Todd [November 19, 2014 at 2:23pm CST]

The Red Sox have claimed Juan Francisco off waivers from the Blue Jays, Boston announced today. Francisco, 27, had been noted as a non-tender candidate by MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk, and obviously was headed in that direction before the move by the Jays to expose him to the wire.

 

Francisco is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to take home a $2.2MM payday through arbitration. Boston still has time to determine whether it will go down that path, of course, but obviously his power left-handed bat holds enough appeal that the team decided to open the possibility.

 

Last year, Francisco posted a fairly typical .220/.291/.456 slash over 320 plate appearances for the Jays, swatting 16 home runs in the process. That is rare power in this day and age, especially for a player who is capable of playing third base. But Francisco’s strikeout issues — he was second-worst in the league, 300 PA minimum — have shown no signs of abating. And his defense at the hot corner has generally drawn substandard reviews.

 

The timing of the move is somewhat interesting, of course, given that Boston is said to be hotly pursuing free agent third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who also hits from the left side. But the two players profile quite differently, needless to say, and Francisco looks more like a platoon or bench option — particularly given his extremely poor splits against lefties — if the team is unable to consummate a deal with the high-dollar Sandoval.

[torts]

so much for that "hot start" last season, huh?

[3and2Fastball]

Crazy that .220/.291/.456 gets you $2.2 million!

[brewcrewdue80]

Crazy that .220/.291/.456 gets you $2.2 million!

 

It's arb money which isn't just going based on last season's numbers. Gotta make it up to him for paying him 500k-ish for 3 seasons.

 

Of course that's reading that statement in today's money. Yeah thinking what the general pay was 15years ago that is crazy.

[torts]

guess all the "cant believe we let him go and replaced him with Reynoverbay" can finally end once and for all since they all ended up with the same awful numbers.

[pacopete4]

guess all the "cant believe we let him go and replaced him with Reynoverbay" can finally end once and for all since they all ended up with the same awful numbers.

 

 

False. I would have gladly taken a .238ba/.306obp/.504slg for a .810 ops from the left side of the plate vs. RHP's. Not only that but he slugged 15 bombs to go along with it. That alone is/was an upgrade over Overbay. Overbay's defense was no real asset last season and he ops'd 122 points lower than Francisco(against RHP). Melvin made a mistake on this one.

[bill hAll Star]

Good god. Overbay slugged .333. Francisco is a butcher on defense but there is value in having a guy that is a flawed, yet decent hitter against RHP.

[3and2Fastball]

Crazy that .220/.291/.456 gets you $2.2 million!

 

It's arb money which isn't just going based on last season's numbers. Gotta make it up to him for paying him 500k-ish for 3 seasons.

 

Of course that's reading that statement in today's money. Yeah thinking what the general pay was 15years ago that is crazy.

 

Thanks, that makes sense. Yes indeed times have changed

 

I agree with others that Francisco was better than Overbay or Reynolds last year (I'd still rather have Lind than Francisco)

[RobertR]

Between Reynolds, Overbay, and Francisco can "none of the above" be a choice.

 

I really wish Melvin had pulled off a deal for Morneau.

[3and2Fastball]

According to Fangraphs, the Brewers WAR between Reynolds & Overbay was, collectively, 1.4 ..... Adam Lind's WAR was 1.6

 

Expecting that adding Lind is going to somehow take care of the Brewers' problems and put them in the playoffs, without making any other significant changes, is foolhardy at best

 

Lind as a replacement for Overbay (-0.2 WAR in 2014) is a difference of 1.8 WAR, which is not insignificant. But more needs to be done

[pacopete4]

According to Fangraphs, the Brewers WAR between Reynolds & Overbay was, collectively, 1.4 ..... Adam Lind's WAR was 1.6

 

Expecting that adding Lind is going to somehow take care of the Brewers' problems and put them in the playoffs, without making any other significant changes, is foolhardy at best

 

Lind as a replacement for Overbay (-0.2 WAR in 2014) is a difference of 1.8 WAR, which is not insignificant. But more needs to be done

 

 

I guess if you want to sink all of your faith into WAR, the more power to ya but 1B is already been upgraded from the left side of the plate going into this season whether you want to believe it or not.

[3and2Fastball]

According to Fangraphs, the Brewers WAR between Reynolds & Overbay was, collectively, 1.4 ..... Adam Lind's WAR was 1.6

 

Expecting that adding Lind is going to somehow take care of the Brewers' problems and put them in the playoffs, without making any other significant changes, is foolhardy at best

 

Lind as a replacement for Overbay (-0.2 WAR in 2014) is a difference of 1.8 WAR, which is not insignificant. But more needs to be done

 

 

I guess if you want to sink all of your faith into WAR, the more power to ya but 1B is already been upgraded from the left side of the plate going into this season whether you want to believe it or not.

 

Correct. We have upgraded 1B vs RHP..... again, I'm saying that alone doesn't catapult the 2015 Brewers into playoff contention. More needs to be done to upgrade the 2015 Brewers

 

Who is going to play 1B & 2B vs LHP? Who is going to replace K-Rod in the bullpen? What options do we have if/when Aramis gets injured? And much of what I just mentioned gets us back to an 82-80 record

[pacopete4]

Who is going to play 1B & 2B vs LHP? Who is going to replace K-Rod in the bullpen? What options do we have if/when Aramis gets injured? And much of what I just mentioned gets us back to an 82-80 record

 

It's November 20th, 2014. We have over 3 months until we even report to spring training. I get the questions you have but hopefully, going forward, we will find guys to hit RHP's. The fact that we already secured Lind, at a way better value than lets say Billy Butler for 3 years of $30 million is already promising for the off season considering how putrid of a 1B we had offensively last season.

[xisxisxis]

It's November 20th, 2014. We have over 3 months until we even report to spring training.

 

Looks like Melvin may want the rest of the winter off......

 

From mlb.com on November 14, 2014:

 

Brewers say their roster is set for Spring Training

Melvin: 'We've got a team that can play tomorrow'

 

another clue from the same article:

 

This is the same basic plan that the Royals followed last winter. GM Dayton Moore made a trade on Dec. 5 (acquiring right fielder Nori Aoki from the Brewers for left-hander Will Smith) and followed that with a free-agent signing (of second baseman Omar Infante on Dec. 16), then rested on those two relatively matter-of-fact moves.

 

No team raised its profile more in 2014 than those Royals, and the Brewers are poised to follow a similar path in 2015.

 

I have no doubt Dougie's brain actually made that logic leap. 'Yeah the royals stood pat last year and look what happened to them so if we stay pat then bingo, world series, aye......'

[pacopete4]

Looks like Melvin may want the rest of the winter off......

 

From mlb.com on November 14, 2014:

 

Brewers say their roster is set for Spring Training

Melvin: 'We've got a team that can play tomorrow'

 

 

This is GM speak completely. Of course he will say something like this but that does not mean he's not searching the other avenues to make this team better and if that opportunity comes along, he will make that decision. Comparing our situation with the Royals has nothing to do with the off-season, nor will it make an impact on what DM believes is best for his squad. Now I'm not guaranteeing a huge move, or even a bunch of little moves, but to say that he believes he is set, no matter what becomes available this off-season just does not fly with me.

 

From a day ago...

With Duke gone to the White Sox and no indication the Brewers will try to re-sign Tom Gorzelanny, I asked Melvin what the plans were for left-handed relievers other than Will Smith.

 

"There's still a lot of time left in the offseason," he said. "We'll look at it. Will Smith is important, obviously. Zach Duke is a tough guy to replace. He's not the first guy we gave a minor-league deal to who went on to get a better deal. It's disappointing when you lose guys like that."

[Thurston Fluff]

Correct. We have upgraded 1B vs RHP..... again, I'm saying that alone doesn't catapult the 2015 Brewers into playoff contention. More needs to be done to upgrade the 2015 Brewers

 

I guess that all depends on what you mean by playoff contention. They were in contention for the playoffs last year. Gennett, Davis, Segura, Peralta, and Nelson can all be reasonably expected to improve somewhat. That is a pretty substantial part of the team that can be expected to get better to add with Lind.

 

Who is going to play 1B & 2B vs LHP?

 

Someone at least as good as what we had vs LHP last season would be my guess. It isn't like we are replacing Fielder or something.

Who is going to replace K-Rod in the bullpen?

 

K-Rod could very well be back. If not then Broxton and hopefully a healthy Henderson will pick up the slack.

What options do we have if/when Aramis gets injured?

 

The same as we had this season or perhaps someone better. Very unlikely it will be someone worse. Again it isn't like we are replacing someone who was actually good. We are trying to upgrade from Reynolds. If we can't we can get Reynolds type players all day long. While it would hurt to lose Ramirez for any significant amount of time that can be said of many players on many teams. There are very few, if any, teams who are covered two or three deep at every position.

 

And much of what I just mentioned gets us back to an 82-80 record

 

And adding Lind makes us better than 82-80 all on its own. Considering how little better we have to be to make it to the playoffs that should go a fairly long way toward that goal. Internal player progressions should outweigh regressions by a decent clip so that very well could be enough to get there as is. That does not mean I don't want to improve on what we have but I think we could be considered playoff contenders as is. After all we were contenders last season and just got better.

[reillymcshane]

Juan Francisco is clearing out another locker:

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/11/red-sox-designate-juan-francisco-for-assignment.html

[pete]

I think Juan is just taking phone calls in the DR from his agent and probably living pretty well too.

[torts]

how many locker rooms do you think he will be in before opening day? im going with 5. maybe.

[Roderick]

According to Fangraphs, the Brewers WAR between Reynolds & Overbay was, collectively, 1.4 ..... Adam Lind's WAR was 1.6

 

Expecting that adding Lind is going to somehow take care of the Brewers' problems and put them in the playoffs, without making any other significant changes, is foolhardy at best

 

Lind as a replacement for Overbay (-0.2 WAR in 2014) is a difference of 1.8 WAR, which is not insignificant. But more needs to be done

 

Isn't WAR a counting stat? If so, is that counting when Reynolds (as 3B) and Overbay were both playing full games the same day or even when one was a PH or is this just their WAR as 1B? Also wasn't Lind injured for part of 2014 and missed some games?