When this Sports Illustrated came out in 2005 Jeff Francoeur seemed every bit Roy Hobbs as the the magazine wanted you to believe. Indeed, young and talented with a great swing, and cannon arm, the Braves were the envy of the league when they premiered this young slugger to the world early that year and did not disappoint. 14 homers, 20 doubles, 45 RBI, .300 average in 70 games with some sterling defense, it seemed inevitable that Francoeur would beccome a perennial all-star, a fixture in the MVP voting year and in year out, and perhaps even with his southern boy charm, become a new "ambassador of the game" a Derek Jeter for the new decade. Today these claims seem quite silly and ridiclous, but in 2005 it was hard not to get swept away in the sheer beauty of all aspects of his game. I for one took a liking the Frenchy in his early days, with his healthy swing and quick hands and his rifle arm in right field because he seemed to play the game so fluidly and gracefully, he seemed every bit worthy of the Hobbisan comparisions, at least for a time. In his first full season Francoer hit 29 home runs and drove in 103, very respectable numbers except that his holes became to be glaring, hitting .260/.293/.449 in deceivingly unimpressive fashion.
For all the guys talent and grace, the dude is a hacker, he swings big and his swings often and as so many other free-swingers have been revealed, its that good major league pitching will expose that and that's exactly what happened. After another year that was actually slightly better, his OBP was .336 but with even less power, clubbing only 19 home runs the next year saw his game fall apart 239/.294/.359 looking absolutely lost and a shell of a guy OPS+ing a horrible 68, I mean they guy wasn't even close to league average! What happened to the Natural? Where has all the promise vanished? For certain, the sunny promise of Francoeur's 2005 has clearly since vanished before our eyes, traded for a guy who's at best a platoon right fielder, and even then he's still not the most valuable guy. How the mighty have fallen.
It seems kind of strange to think that Ryan Church, a guy who was a part-timer in the Nationals organization and later with the Mets could possibly the better chip between him and "The Natural" but the numbers show this is as true. Indeed, just going by OPS+ Church, also a left-handed hitter which is a natural advantage, is clearly the better player, having OPS+ of 131, 114, and 106 in the last three years compared to Francouer's 87, 103 and 72 the last three years. Even at his best he still didn't possess the offensive prowess of this glorified platoon player, but it is in fact true. Consistently getting on base at a much higher clip .345 career to Francouer's .308 as well as a better batting average by a good fifteen points Church has proven himself to be the more valuable player over the last few years.
Yet despite these clear facts, Omar Minaya in his infinite wisdom decided that he should play the Braves extra for the pleasure of getting an inferior player, cash? I'll get to Minaya and my loathing in other posts in more gruesome details, but this is a really baffling move. At the very best, this is a lateral move, and even that is really a insult to Church. As you can see, despite Francoeur's big entrance to the major leagues, he has never capitalized on that early promise and proven himself to not only not be that player, but not even really a major league starting outfielder! And yet here Minaya is in all his wisdom that somehow he's going to re-kindle that hot start and be the sparkplug that the mets so desperately need, and I don't get it all. For all of Church's faults, his concussion last year that kept him from being effective all year, his baserunning gaffe, at Dodger Stadium he's proven to be a legitimate major league starter who can provide some pop from the left side. Now not only do the Braves have that, but they've also receieved relief in the form of just straight cash and have effectively made out like bandits.
Don't get me wrong, Church isn't a great player by any stretch, he's hitting a fairly pedestrian .280/.332/.375, but at least there is some value in that. As a lefty he can provide some excellent lefty platooning possibilities to their rather punchless outfield, or at the least he can go in right field to replace Francoeur (where he was actually benched) and provide the Braves with less than a total zero out there. As for Francoeur, he's going to a lineup that is absolutely punchless and a ballpark that has proven to be a terrible hitters park that should only make his already putrid numbers even worse. What's there to like?
I hate to see guys with so much promise fall by the wayside because its just wasted talent. A few years ago it was unfathomable that the Braves would move a guy who seemed so poised to be a fixture in the Braves lineup for years to come, let along inside the division to a rival, but that time has come to pass. At the very least for the Braves they got something of value in return, but for the Mets who are now a little bit poorer and left with the inferior player, there's not much to like. Sure there's the possibility of Frenchy re-discovering his groove, but with a .308 OBP that's only getting worse, I dont see it.
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