All-Trade Friday: Should the Braves deal Jeff Francoeur?
I thought it would work. I thought Jeff Francoeur would remember how to hit and the masses would forget he’d forgotten and all would be bliss for the hometown kid and the team of his dreams. But it’s not working, and I’ve come to believe it won’t.
Too much has happened. He got too big too fast. It wasn’t his fault. He was great from the moment of his big-league arrival in July 2005 and we — meaning the fans and the media and the Braves themselves — loved him and reveled in every detail of his charmed young life. But then, after two mostly solid full seasons, he stopped hitting. And everything changed.
Francoeur was upset when the Braves sent him to Class AA on the Fourth of July. “I don’t think there’s any way I can [feel as warmly toward the organization] 100 percent,” he said in February. “I want to play here forever; I’ve said that all along. But the business part of it is different.”
The Braves weren’t thrilled when Francoeur went to Texas to work with Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo. Said Terry Pendleton, the Braves’ hitting coach: “I asked Jeff, ‘Why didn’t you come to me?’ Obviously he felt the need to go elsewhere. It’s his winter. [But] it bugged me at first. Not hearing it from him, that got me more than anything. I told him, ‘I thought our relationship was better than that.’ ”
Loading ...Where once there was sunshine, there’s distrust and frustration. The Braves wonder if Francoeur can be coached. Francoeur wonders if the Braves have his best interests at heart. He tries too hard and falls back on bad habits. The Braves drop him in the order and struggle to be patient. And here he is, batting. 245 with a microscopic on-base percentage of .280. He’s on pace to finish with 11 homers and 71 RBIs — same as he did last year.
I thought it would work, but it isn’t working and I don’t believe it will again. Francoeur and the Braves need fresh starts. He needs to go somewhere where every swing and miss doesn’t stir civic angst. The Braves need a right fielder whose persona doesn’t outstrip production. Both parties need to breathe deeply again.
I would hate it if Francoeur played elsewhere. I’ve known him since he was a junior at Parkview — he remains the greatest high school football player I’ve seen in 25 years at the AJC — and he’s a fine fellow who tries to accommodate everyone. But I’d hate it more to see this psychodrama drag into August and beyond. It’s time for both sides to cut their losses. It’s time to trade Frenchy.
What could the Braves get for him? Probably not all that much, but that’s not really the point . They’d be better off without him, and he without them. He could slip into another uniform and be someone other than the homegrown Golden Child. He could relax. He could just go play ball again, as opposed to feeling compelled to sign every autograph and pose for every picture.
I am, as we know, wrong about everything, and I wouldn’t mind being wrong about this. I’d love to see Francoeur become the Francoeur we all thought he’d be, but the time for that seems past. I don’t see a happy ending for this player in this city with this team. Wish I did, but I don’t.
Other installments: Should the Thrashers trade Ilya Kovalchuk? And also: Should the Hawks trade Josh Smith?
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
476 comments Add your comment
Joe Public
June 12th, 2009
9:27 am
Keep Frenchy, dump Wren.
Rafael Belliard juiced, and you know it (formerly the poster known as AJC)
June 12th, 2009
9:28 am
Keeping it real,
If Chipper, McCann, Escobar, McLouth and Anderson are the only players on the Braves that can hit, than maybe they should start hitting. Or more importantly, get timely hits.
Susan
June 12th, 2009
9:32 am
I don’t think you should trade Jeff. He is not the only one in the lineup who is having problems. I think you need to get rid of TP…he is not a hitting coach. Remember their was a time that the “new and upcoming pitchers” could not relate to Leo as their pitching coach. Chipper and McCann use their dad as their hitting coach when they have problems should tell you something as well….why can’t Frenchy go to someone else for help?
When players cannot relate to a coach they don’t produce. It’s just like with teachers, if a student cannot connect with their teacher, they will struggle in that subject.
I don’t think much of FW either…he is ruining the Braves reputation in the league.
I don’t understand the Glavine thing either. So what if he wasn’t throwing hard…you don’t have to be a fast throwing pitcher to get players out. They put Smoltz in the bullpen what not Glavine…could not hurt considering we got pitchers in there that cannot get outs with “their hard throwing” stuff.
If the Braves do trade Jeff, hope he goes to Boston Red Sox and so does Glavine and the Braves can watch baseball again in October while the Sox win another World Series with three former Braves…Frenchy, Glavine and Smoltz.
ryan
June 12th, 2009
9:34 am
Wren is the worst GM in baseball. Get rid of that loser and send Terry Pendleton with him. Keep Frenchy.
Chris
June 12th, 2009
9:34 am
I think the common denominator is TERRY PENDLETON. Does no one remember that the Braves couldn’t win a World Series until they got rid of him? Now the Braves can’t win with him back in the dugout. Pendleton is too self-absorbed and needs to move on. Bobby is loyal, but he needs to find a selfless hitting coach; someone like Don Mattingly. Look what his style has done for the LA Dodgers.
The_Superhoo (Montana by way of Virginia)
June 12th, 2009
9:37 am
trade Frenchy to Miami for Uggla, move KJ to the outfield.
NORRIS
June 12th, 2009
9:37 am
When the whole team struggles you need to look at the coaching. Terry Pendleton is the problem.
Andrew Jones left us with problems and carried them over with him to L.A. But now look at him. He is showing signs of being a descent player again.
Frenchy had problems last year and had to go to the minor leagues to get some coaching.
Frenchy is struggling…yes. But when everyone is also then its a bigger problem.
1eyedJack
June 12th, 2009
9:39 am
Hitting coaches are a dime a dozen.
Potential 5 tool outfielders are not.
TP failed with Andruw, TP has failed with Frenchy, and to some extent TP has failed with KJ, Prado, Norton, etc, who all seem to be backsliding.
Maybe the problem is that we need to trade TP.
Reebok
June 12th, 2009
9:39 am
Nobody on the Braves’ roster can hit except Chipper, and he’s hurt 40% of the time. Nobody on the Braves agonizes over losses or plays with passion (although Bobby Cox-coached teams never play with passion). Whether Jeff Francouer stays or goes is irrelevant…a Braves team that couldn’t get past the first round of the playoffs with 4 future Hall of Famers on the roster is certainly not going to be any better than .500 with the average talent populating the roster now.
Noway
June 12th, 2009
9:39 am
Sorry but I disagree…I think Jeff is over reaching and so are the fans. Eventually with patience and trust in one another, Jeff can find his stake in Atlanta and it will feel like home.
SimpleDawg
June 12th, 2009
9:40 am
OK, here’s the line on Frenchy….he’s a reincarnation of Andruw at the plate. Great bat speed, plenty of power, decent foot speed…no regard for the strike zone, too intent on pulling every pitch, impatient, unwilling to adjust his approach based upon what opposing pitchers are doing to get him out, not a thinking hitter – just blind, raw, physicality unleashed without thought or recognition. Swings at too many bad pitches, can’t hit pitches low and away, even in the strike zone because he puts a pull swing on a pitch that should be hit to right field….will not, ‘just get a hit’. He needs to focus more on hitting the ball where it’s pitched….take a walk when you’re not getting strikes to swing at….be more of a student of the game and not just a thrashing brute.
Ted Williams said that the way he hit .406 was that he didn’t swing at a pitch he either wasn’t looking for or wasn’t sure he could put in play. In other words, he didn’t just swing because the ball had been thrown.
OBP may never be put on the score board, but it is an indicator of how professional the hitter is in his approach to hitting. Anyone who doesn’t think about getting on base first and scoring after that isn’t very smart. The only way to score from home plate is to hit the ball over the fence; however, once on base, there are multiple ways to score…but you can’t score by making outs.
Joe T
June 12th, 2009
9:40 am
From what I hear, Jeff has gone to TP prior to this last winter, obviously with limited success. I think Jeff was trying something different with another hitting coach and his intent was not to ignore TP. Again, these are my ideas. I am not a Jeff appologist and I do think a new uniform will take a lot of pressure off of him. He definitely needs to clear his head and maybe Mac is right. Does anyone have the number to Smoltz’s shrik? In any event, if we trade him (which about 98% of the people are calling for, including myself) we are not going to get much for him.
Reality Time
June 12th, 2009
9:41 am
Unfortunately I do think it is time to trade Francoeur. I believe that his advisers did him a great disservice when they advised him to reject the offer made to him by the Braves, around the same time that Brian McCann signed his deal, and roll the dice as to his future market value. When they did that a great amount of pressure was put on a young man to excel each and every game to make his market value go up. That type of pressure can play havoc with your head, and quite frankly most young people his age are not equipped to deal with it. I believe that signing early, and basically setting up his family for life, took pressure off Brian McCann and allowed him to relax and just play baseball, whereas Jeff Francouer sees every strikeout or error as money flying out of his pocket. There is truth behind the old saying “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” Too bad it had to happen this way. I hope he can get a fresh start somewhere else and be able to enjoy playing baseball again.
*TP DISCUSSION*
June 12th, 2009
9:42 am
The Braves have to be concerned right now about canning Pendelton, because this would be the 2nd ax-job of a former Braves star in 2 weeks. But how do you judge the success of a hitting coach? Thaink about that, what happens next season if the Falcons come out and have the worst offense in the NFC after 7 games? I don’t think it would take long to pull the trigger on that on. Very repsectable player, probably a better career hitter than 97% of the team, but that does not mean he is not the problem.
NORRIS
June 12th, 2009
9:42 am
at this point we need somebody who can just get on base.
NC Braves Fan
June 12th, 2009
9:43 am
I would remind the Pendleton bashers that Andruw Jones is a fourth outfielder in Texas who suddenly isn’t hitting much – and is working with Jaramillo on a daily basis. He also had a year with Torre in LA and I think we all remember how that turned out.
JK
June 12th, 2009
9:43 am
Look at the roster and their lineup! Its not Pendleton’s fault. They spent money on pitching and only have 2 Major League hitters – Chipper & McCann. Maybe McClouth will make it 3. Kelly Johnson, Matt Diaz etc…wouldn’t make 80% of other teams rosters. They have to keep teams under 3 runs every game to have a chance. That’s tough way ti go through a season
SimpleDawg
June 12th, 2009
9:44 am
Oh, and by the way….trading Frenchy isn’t a profitable option. Try working on his weaknesses and letting him sit until he begins to change his approach at the plate. Maybe a fresh voice to instruct him will help…
RK
June 12th, 2009
9:44 am
Yes, hitting coaches are a dime a dozen because they aren’t that important. TP isn’t up there swinging at every pitch. Unless TP is telling him “hey, go up there and swing at anything you want”, it isn’t his fault.
This was Francouer’s last chance. It isn’t working out. The only solution is to trade him, and hope that the change in scenery changes his career.
NORRIS
June 12th, 2009
9:46 am
well then why do all the players that have problems have to go outside the organization to get help. The word is that Chipper has started working with francoeur some of late. Also if you notice the last few days he has actually hit the ball hard it just hasnt fallen for him.
One in particular was a rocket to center that MCcutchen caught on the track. Mccutchen is the fastest man in the majors now. I do not beleive thhat anybody else would have caught that ball.
the next day francoeur had 2 hits. On that same day nobody else had any. so chipper may be helping here.?????????
billy
June 12th, 2009
9:48 am
Mark, I agree with you on Frenchy and I as well think he will be better off somewhere else. But one other factor that seems to be affecting Braves in general…HITTING! Maybe Frenchy was not too far off by going to Texas. Maybe we need to access our present hitting coach. He failed with AJ and now with Frenchy, but in reality sparodic hitting does not justify his present position. Maybe two changes are in the offering.
Scoob
June 12th, 2009
9:48 am
The problem for Francouer is the expectations(and the Ks). But seriously, compare him and Kelly Johnson. –
Francouer – Career BA .266; 34 HR, 201 RBI, 273 Ks(Since 2007- Kelly’s first full season)
Johnson – Career BA .269; 33 HR, 156 RBI, 265 Ks(Since 2007)
Not a whole lot different for these 2. But there aren’t any articles calling for KJ to get traded. By the way, I wouldn’t lose any sleep over trading either of these guys, but I do feel bad for Francouer for the bias…
Kendawg
June 12th, 2009
9:50 am
Francouer has the potential to be a fairly good hitter. I think it’s pretty obvious from the entire struggling Braves lineup(with the exception of Chipper and McCann) that the problem is the hitting coach. The Braves currently don’t have one. The Braves need to forget about loyalty and Bobby’s “good ole boy” method of hiring coaches and get a hitting coach who could actually help the team. I keep hearing that this is a business. Well, run it like a business. Accept nothing less than a quest for excellence.
JimC
June 12th, 2009
9:50 am
Just another brief overpaid flash-in-the-pan, then a fizzle. Time for Francoeur to go.
Deena
June 12th, 2009
9:50 am
Well duh. Of course they SHOULD trade Francoeur but they can’t because they won’t get anything (AKA NOTHING) in return. And who wants him? Really?
tenn.DAWG
June 12th, 2009
9:52 am
Your right,he’s not worth a dime right now,send him to AAA,give him one last shot.Hopefully playing in front of his friends and family in his own back yard will help him in some way.Bobby should be careful,his loyalty to JF may net him a ticket out of town.
Greg
June 12th, 2009
9:52 am
It’s really not that complicated. Francoeur doesn’t walk. Which means he swings at whatever they throw up there. Major League pitchers are very good, and very smart. If you let them know in advance that you will swing at whatever they throw, you will not see good pitches to hit. We have the entire history of Major League Baseball to back this up. Francouer has ZERO trade value because everyone in the league knows he is an undisciplined hacker with ZERO command of the strike zone. The only option is to bench him. He has to grow up, and learn to approach each at-bat like a professional in order to earn a starting job again. Just trotting him out there each day will not solve the problem.
Tom
June 12th, 2009
9:52 am
Either Frenchy is the most stubborn person on earth, totally confused, or just not able to distinguish the strike zone. Got two hits yesterday then with the tying run on second he swings at a ball in the dirt to get behind in the count. Then takes an outside pitch out of the strike zone and tries to pull it and ground out to short. Same scene over and over again. Is there any coaching going on? I really want him to do well, as I think most of Atlanta does, but he is so frustrating to watch. Give him the rest of the year and hopefully he can figure out or never will in Atlanta. Yost , Freddie, Pat Corrales all coached in Braves Glory years and were managers or became managers. I do not hear anyone talk about the current coaching staff in any great manner.
Rafael Belliard juiced, and you know it (formerly the poster known as AJC)
June 12th, 2009
9:53 am
THE BIG PICTURE, FOLKS
Terry Pendleton job as the batting coach is way overrated…These players know how to hit, but due to either not listening to good advice, being lazy, or just not being able to handle the pressure of hitting in the big leagues, they’re not even close to getting the job done as a team…A decent batting average doesn’t mean squat (from the TEAM standpoint), if your not getting clutch hits.
Pendleton as I’ve said before, is the manager in-waiting, and it’s time for him to be the manager. That’ll be the true judge of wheather Terry is a good or not so good coach in my opinion. The current group of players, sans the pitching staff for some reason, aren’t productive for Bobby, and the fans don’t deserve bad baseball..I love Bobby, but it’s time for new leadership.
FIRE COX!!!
June 12th, 2009
9:54 am
PLEASE add Garret Anderson in that trade!!!
RK
June 12th, 2009
9:54 am
JimC: yup, a flash in the pan. After the first half-season when he was great, the rest of MLB figured him out, and he can’t adjust.
Heresy Smith
June 12th, 2009
9:55 am
I must go under an assumed name for this controversial post.
Do you know which third baseman has the worst fielding percentage in Major League Baseball?
Hint: Limited range prevents his having more errors. It may be time to move him to first base. Wait! Our first baseman has the best fielding percentage in the Majors. This is a dilemma!
dap01
June 12th, 2009
9:55 am
What Jeff doesn’t realize is that if he goes to another organization, he will not be played 162 games a year while he is terrible. They will send him to AAA like he deserves. Why is he above actually having to learn how to play.
He does not even hustle anymore. Notice the baserunning the past couple of games. He never has an idea of the the game situation during an abat. He is probably the worst stolen base threat in the major leagues.
The Braves have many offensive problems and JF is the poster child.
Wren? You're kidding, right?
June 12th, 2009
9:56 am
Yeah, we need to fire Frank. All he’s done is bring us Jair, Lowe, Vasquez, Kotchmann (a 300 hitter) Soriano, McLouth ( an upgrade of 50 points of avg, w/ no dropoff defensively) insured Chipper and Mac stay in the fold. You folks are morons. Kotch’ll help when he’s back, and we have to, HAVE TO find someone to hit in RF and hope Kelly comes out of his every single year slump. Why not stick Diaz out in RF and leave him there? Why platoon two guys in LF who are each hitting 270-280 and keep a guy in RF everyday who is hitting 240? I agree with the blogger who feels French would be well served being sent to Miss. for more than three days. Let Wellman help him, maybe a month or so, see what happens, then let him come to AAA for a few weeks. If it fails, then let him go. We can’t keep wasting these excellent starts by our pitchers and we can’t keep having 1 or 2 automatic outs in our starting 8.
Friday
June 12th, 2009
9:58 am
The issue that I see with JF is that the city of Atlanta made him out to be more than he really is. When he broke into the show he was on fire. Because of this we have come to believe that JF is a great ball player. He is not and will never be anything more than average. Yes, he has a good arm for right field but he will never be more than a .250 hitter that will give you 20+ HR’s and 70 or so RBI’s. We have got to come to grips with this and realize he is what he is. The sooner we do that the sooner we can stop expecting him to save the Braves.
rlinaug
June 12th, 2009
9:58 am
It’s not hat he’s just not producing at the plate, he’s a liability. He makes outs on bad pitches, he doesn’t hit behind the runner, he hits into double plays with predictable regularity. He’s been in the bigs, what five years, and he looks like he’s never been coached. You know, if he’d learn not to swing at pitches well outside the strike zone, learn to hit behind the runner–basically, if he’d learn to treat an at bat the way fundamentally sound professional hitters treat their at bats, he’d be so much better.
stop swinging at the first pitch!
June 12th, 2009
9:59 am
Enough about Frenchy, until he stops swinging at the first pitch, which is usually out of the strike zone when he’s up, he has no chance.
Now, let’s find someone to let us have a real center for J Smoove and move Horford to 4, which is where he should be…oh, wait, that’s tomorrow. Sorry
swing away, dude
June 12th, 2009
9:59 am
Sooner or later the pitcher’s going to make a mistake and Frenchy’s gonna nail that first pitch!
fieldofdreams
June 12th, 2009
10:00 am
Gosh, yes. The only reason, in my opinion, he’s still in the line-up is to preserve whatever trade value he has, which isn’t going to be much. His career is over. You might be able to get a couple of minor leaguers, that’s all. The roster is like a stock portfolio. A couple of losers can bring the whole thing down. Unfortunately, Frenchy, and KJ, have handcuffed the Braves for three years now. Brad Hawpe would look great wearing the Tomahawk; when / if Huddy gets back, and Hanson establishes himself as a starter, we could package Vasquez, Frenchy, and KJ to Colorado for Hawpe.
dap01
June 12th, 2009
10:00 am
SCOOB: Compare the number of at bats.
Dawg A
June 12th, 2009
10:00 am
YES YES YES and take Cox,Wren and T.P. with him. But T.P. would have to go somewhere else because Frenchy would use another hitting coach. Please Braves ………… it’s time to start over!!!! Top to Bottom!
Rafael Belliard juiced, and you know it (formerly the poster known as AJC)
June 12th, 2009
10:00 am
Wren is not the problem…The problem, is the Braves position players, not trying smart enough.
Mark Bradley
June 12th, 2009
10:00 am
I’m beginning to think he’s closer to a .260 singles hitter than the .280/30/100 man we all envisioned.
Herschel Talker
June 12th, 2009
10:02 am
Mark – I agree in principle that he should be traded. But what are we really going to get for him? Unless we bribe some other GM, we’re probably looking at a mediocre prospect or a mediocre middle reliever.
timthebrave
June 12th, 2009
10:02 am
I think he once again will be a productive hitter. A .250 average with 11 hr is better than any other outfielder we got waiting in the wings and to trade him away for a bag of balls will not help this team be better. I have a bad feeling that he will be another Jermaine Dye we’re we wish we would have been patient. I can see it now, everyone will be complaining about why o why did we trade him 3 years ago.
Johan
June 12th, 2009
10:02 am
Is this the same Mark Bradley who ripped Braves fans last year for being impatient and combative towards Francoeur?
Fascinating.
Rafael Belliard juiced, and you know it (formerly the poster known as AJC)
June 12th, 2009
10:02 am
MB,
You like the Leonard Nimoy post?
dap01
June 12th, 2009
10:03 am
JF’s trade value is absolutely nothing!
RK
June 12th, 2009
10:03 am
Wow, Frenchy swings at the first pitch 47% of the time. In comparison, Chipper does 32% (career numbers).
Is it really that hard to let the first pitch go?
Keeping It Real
June 12th, 2009
10:04 am
I cannot believe the TP cop out excuses you guys give for this anemic hitting team. TP cannot step into the box and face sinkers, changeups, curves and 95 mph plus fast balls. Neither can you guys. I wonder how many of the current Braves could start for other teams.
I like TP as he has fire in his gut and he knows how to win. I remember him walking off the field in disgust when the Braves did not retaliate when Deion Sanders got plunked with a pitch. No hitting coach can make this team hit any better than they are now. They will get paid high salaries no matter how they perform. That’s the problem. They have no incentive.
Frenchy is a good player. The mistake he made is playing in front of the home folks whose expectations saw him as being the next Al Kaline. The media made him into a super star before he was one.