Francoeur gets walked!

by Mike McBride on Aug 21, 2005 11:20 PM EDT Comment 10 comments

Tonight in the Braves win over the Padres on ESPN sunday night baseball, the unthinkable happened... Rookie phenom Jeff Francoeur was walked for the first time in 131 plate appearances. Be it an intentional walk, he was walked none the less. He was greeted kindly by the players in the dugout, for this amazing feat. All joking aside, Jeff seems to be on his way to the rookie of the year award, and I think he might bring some needed emotion to the Atlanta Braves in October. Go Jeff, go Braves, 2005 World Series Champs!... I hope.

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That's a start...

Hello Mike McBride,

That's a start for Jeff Francoeur, but he needs to start showing the plate disciplne to draw unintentional walks to maintain his current success throughout his career.

This shows that the opposition is aware of him and do respect him, but in terms of his actually earning his first walk, it's more due to his reputation and past success rather than improving plate discipline.

He still has work to do, but I think he certainly has a shot at NL Rookie of the Year.

by indiansfan on Aug 22, 2005 12:47 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

ROY?

I don't care how impressive hes been, he'd need more than 2 and a half months of play to win the ROY.

Rios is the next Juan Gonzales, thats right, I said it.

by KaoticKlown on Aug 22, 2005 1:35 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

But

It looks like a race between him and Zach Duke. At least those are the two names I hear being thrown out for NL RoY considerations. And Duke is a midseason call-up too.

Both of them are performing spectacularly - Francoeur has 9 (I think) outfield assists, and Duke has only allowed 2 HR in almost 60 IP.

Of course, neither of these guys can slump if they want to be considered for the award, but I really don't see any other competition for them even if they do fall off a bit.

As an aside, why did Chicago send Matt Murton down? Since the IF is crowded, wouldn't have DFAing Macias or Neifi made more sense?

by sasquatch83 on Aug 22, 2005 10:33 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Responding to myself

Ok, there are a couple of others I guess . . . Ryan Howard if he flashes his power, and if only he got regular playing time, Ryan Church could merit consideration too. But that's really about it.

by sasquatch83 on Aug 22, 2005 10:39 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

NL Roy candidates

Don't forget about Willy Taveras (.301 Avg., 31 steals) or Rickie Weeks (11 HR, 11 steals)

by dodgerdh on Aug 22, 2005 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If youare going to consider

Francouer who will likely not get to 250 AB's then you have to consider Clint Barmes.

In my opinion niether deserve consideration.

---
Do not get me wrong Francouer is a great player, but 250 AB's is does not deserve an ROY.

by novaoakland on Aug 22, 2005 11:41 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Then...

Who does? What's the line at which someone can "deserve" it in your enlightened opinion? 300 AB's? 400? 500? Does he have to play 162 games? Francoeur's rookie eligiblity is being used up this season, he won't be eligible any other year.
Francoeur has come up and hit in a pennant race, brought OUTSTANDING defense and has hit like a madman so far. Provided he continues to perform that way I don't think there's any doubt he'll be the ROY and he will have certainly earned it.

by CrimsonLiederhosen on Aug 22, 2005 12:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

250?

He has 127 ABs to date in 34 games (and I think he didn't start in 2 of them). The Braves have 38 games left. Even if he gets a couple of days off, take 36 games played and multiply by 3.74 PA/G (his average so far) and you get 134 ABs. That's 261 ABs. Assume he actually walks a few times, and he still ends up around 250.

Look what he's done in those games too - Barmes was good in 225 ABs, sure. But Barmes had 25 XBH in 225 ABs, which Francoeur already has 23 XBH. What he's done in so little time, on offense and defense, is ridiculous.

Even if you don't want to give him RoY based on his first 125 ABs and 35 games, which I admit, would be silly, you have to admit that no one else has produced as much in so short a time, and come the end of the season, it's likely that no one else will have produced so much either.

We're not giving him the award now, but I really don't think that anyone has the potential to catch up to him in terms of pure numbers and hype besides Ryan Howard.

Last year, there were a ton of rookies that produced the whole year, which was why David Wright didn't get one RoY vote. But this year? There isn't anyone in the NL that really stands out. Which is why I think Francoeur will likely walk away with it.

by sasquatch83 on Aug 22, 2005 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

barmes

Barmes #s away from Coors (.659ops) are horrid as well.

by natsfan2005 on Aug 22, 2005 12:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Taveras could be a major challenger!

Hello everyone,

dodgerdh - Good point - I forgot about Taveras - he certainly could win it as well. Weeks has been good, but I believe Taveras' stats, at a glance, look more impressive, plus Houston is either leading or right near the top of the Wild Card race, whereas Milwaukee is not. Granted, the standings probably shouldn't factor into the ROY award, but they seem to, partly because most writers treat the ROY award like a Rookie Most Valuable Player (RMVP) award. That's why I think Taveras is a real contender for ROY, whereas I don't think Weeks is.

At any rate, with the games Taveras has played and the recent surge by Houston into the Wild Card Lead, it would not shock me if Taveras comes up with the ROY award, instead of Francoeur.

Francoeur has been good, but by the time he came up, the Braves had already recovered from their early-season swoon. Therefore, that might hurt Francoeur's chances, compared to Taveras, who had a hand in helping the Astros recover from their early and mid-season swoon.

The Astros recovery from their swoon may arguably be more impressive than the Braves' recovery, being that they were down further and were still down later in the season than the Braves; plus, Houston had won something like 25 out of 30 games - all this combined probably gives Taveras the edge, even over Francoeur.

Just my 2 cents on that. :-)

Even though teams may start adjusting to Taveras and he may not become Kenny Lofton, he still would have looked nice in an Indians uniform, up top with Grady and Coco.

I think that was one of Shapiro's worst trades - trading Taveras and OF Luke Scott to Houston for LHP Jeriome Robertson - I had a feeling he would be a bust - he won 15 games in '02 or '03 (not sure,) but his ERA was almost 5.00 and his H/IP and K/IP were not good.

Shapiro usually doesn't make those types of trades that seem questionable (in terms of bad statistics and such,) but for whatever reason, made that one and got the "shorter end of the stick" with that trade.

Oh well, I guess every general manager makes a bad trade or two.

I certainly can't complain about the way he has put together the Indians' roster and how they are playing - they are doing wonderfully and hopefully will keep playing well and win the Wild Card or the Central! :-)

Go Tribe! :-)

by indiansfan on Aug 23, 2005 2:41 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs