Makiel Franco

[BrewCrewBlueDevil]

What would it take to get a deal done? Two years, 8 million? He is still relatively young and could fill the glaring weakness at 3B allowing Urias to become a platoon infielder. His defense is passable and he'd hit between 4th and 6th in the line up.

[brewmann04]

think that deal is reasonable

[DR28]

I would take that.

 

And I bet we could get Mitch Moreland for under 8 million as well.

 

Cain

Yelich

Hiura

Moreland

Franco

 

I like that!

[TURBO]

both are probably ouit of our pay range.................................sadly.

[DR28]

both are probably ouit of our pay range.................................sadly.

 

You really think so?

 

Jesus man, if we can't afford either contracts... We're in for a LONG winter.

[brewmann04]

Stearns is continue allowed to only shop at the Bargain basement.

[brewcrewdue80]

I'd think Franco is one of those 4.5mil and 7.5mil option types with 500k buyout. So expect a 2/17 deal.

[DR28]

both are probably ouit of our pay range.................................sadly.

 

I dont know if I believe that... There's a rumor that we're interested in Joc, he wouldnt be cheap, so we have money somewhere.

[TURBO]

both are probably ouit of our pay range.................................sadly.

 

I dont know if I believe that... There's a rumor that we're interested in Joc, he wouldnt be cheap, so we have money somewhere.

 

rumors are rumors...

 

I'll believe we will spend some money when we actually spend some money.

[JohnBriggs12]

I think Franco's probably going to get one year in the deal in the $6 million range in the current market. Cron makes a lot more sense than Moreland with Vogelbach under contract. Cron's about a $3-4 million player in this market. I think guys in this category for the most part will take one year deals at modest amounts. If Brewers could get those two for $10 million combined I think they could find the money.

[brewcrewdue80]

I'm unsure on Franco taking only a 1 year deal and on teams only offering 1 year. He had a good 60games in 2020 and is 28. That's an age you want for 2-3years.

Though statcast he's not improved year 2 year. Looks on the decline. About 1 step faster per sec than Smoak. Seems teams played him in a shift more than he ever faced and he beat it more than when teams didn't have the shift. So kinda luck influenced improved stats.

By the statcast, he doesn't fit the profile Stearns brought in last year. I was hopeful via statcast on Smoak and Garcia, even Gyorko. I wouldn't be as hopeful on Franco. Franco doesn't strike out as much but he's a low loft DP waiting to happen.

[sveumrules]

ZiPS has Maikel projected for a 95 OPS+ & 0.5 WAR in 2021.

 

MLBTR projected him around 4.5-5.0 million before he was non-tendered, so I'd guess he gets a one year deal around 4 million.

[JosephC]

I think Franco likely only gets a 1-year deal, and if I'm the Brewers I would only sign him to a 1-year deal with the idea of looking for an upgrade next off-season. He was better in 2020, but is just short of having 6 years of MLB service time and has been a 2.5 bWAR player and a 4.8 fWAR player. Pretty likely that the vast majority of MLB teams likely project him similar to the ZiPS projection that sveumrules posted above (0.5 WAR).

[pacopete4]

I am good with a one-year deal because he hasn't been very good. A prove it contract makes some sense given our hole at 3B but he's hardly something to get excited about.

[Brewers Numbers]

Since MLB started talking about limiting the number of games expect all deals to include signing bonuses and/or options with buy-outs so players still get paid. Brewers will probably do option years just to push pay into 2022. Franco could get something like Gyorko's deal last year.

 

Edit: For some reason I thought Gyorko's deal was larger the first year. Franco may be something like $4M with a $6M option and a $500K buy-out.

[Jopal78]

Franco is garbage. Two clubs in successive seasons decided he wasn’t worth the potential future pay and dumped him.

 

May as well sink or swim with Urias than run out a player, like Franco, who has a significant amount of major league at bats and has shown to be a below average hitter.

[patrickgpe]

Stearns is continue allowed to only shop at the Bargain basement.

last year they did pay for some decent free agents. They did give Garcia 2/20MM, Smoak 1/5MM, Anderson 1/5MM. Yes they are throwing money out there (no team is).

 

I think they are playing the long game, knowing that they could get decent free agents in February on 1 year prove it contracts.

[Simba2020]

I'd certainly rather have Franco playing third next year than Urias. He's nothing special of course but has averaged 20+ homers in his career and at least doesn't strike out much. His defense has improved the past couple of years as well.

[wibadgers23]

Stearns is continue allowed to only shop at the Bargain basement.

last year they did pay for some decent free agents. They did give Garcia 2/20MM, Smoak 1/5MM, Anderson 1/5MM. Yes they are throwing money out there (no team is).

 

I think they are playing the long game, knowing that they could get decent free agents in February on 1 year prove it contracts.

 

I’m not so sure about this strategy but might not have a choice due to the budget. Just feels like we did this last year and ended up with the Healy’s and Smoak’s of the world.

[JohnBriggs12]

Franco is garbage. Two clubs in successive seasons decided he wasn’t worth the potential future pay and dumped him.

 

May as well sink or swim with Urias than run out a player, like Franco, who has a significant amount of major league at bats and has shown to be a below average hitter.

 

 

Garbage? Really? His 38 RBI in 2020 was 6 more than any other Brewer. While not a big time power bat, he's hit one HR every 23.3 AB's. The major league average is one every 29.7 ABs. Franco has surpassed that in every season he's played. His career OPS+ is 94, which is essentially average. He's had no serious injuries. He doesn't take a ton of walks but he doesn't strike out a ton either. He'd be valuable in the 6th spot in the order as a run producer. No he's not an All Star but he's a legit major league bat which is something the Brewers lacked for most of the last couple years at 3B.