Friday, September 3, 2010

Mets Send Wrong Message In Trading Frenchy


Armando Diana
Mets Gazette Correspondent

Jeff Francoeur certainly has his free-swinging ways. Sure enough, he displays poor plate discipline. Couple that with his low on-base percentage and you have the reasons why he couldn't stay in the lineup.

Yet, he has talent, and it seemed to me that he was making a concerted effort to change his approach.

On one hand, a guy like Oliver Perez (whom the Mets have tried to part ways with, but still have on the current roster) frustrates Dan Warthen and Jerry Manuel to no end with his refusal to do even the basics, such as repeat his pitching motion. In addition, Perez demonstrated what an awful team player he was in refusing a Minor League assignment.

By contrast, in 2009, with the season in complete tatters and devoid of hope, Jeff Francoeur played out the season with torn ligaments in his thumb. Isn't that the type of player us Met fans should want to root for? Especially as opposed to a selfish player such as Perez, who in essence has turned a 25 man roster into 24 this year.

Is this the message the Wilpons want to send the fans as to the type of character they endorse? They'll trade players who care in order to try and improve weaknesses, but will keep lazy players that rob them blind and spit in their eye?

With work and dedication, a willing player can be taught to adjust their approach to hitting. But, you can't teach a workmanlike mentality and dedication to a team. It matters not how much talent Perez possesses because he has proven to be anything but a stand up player. It's true that winning brings more fans and having a player that swings at just about anything is not a way to produce a winner. But building a loyal and happy fan base begins with assembling a team of players that fans want to watch. It then continues with success.

The Mets moved a player they felt was not living up to his potential. Fair enough. But they also told the fan base that they are tolerant of laziness and selfishness.
at 1:02 PM

15 comments:

  1. Great job Armando, I agree completely, very few Mets care about the fanbase and team as much as Francoeur did, he showed his toughness last year and he did positively impact the clubhouse culture.

    I do think that the Mets definitely sent the wrong message by keeping Perez and trading Frenchy, but the Rangers are in contention and he, along with Alex Cora will be playing meaningful baseball in September and hopefully in to at least mid-October.
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  2. Please tell me you are joking...Francouer is the worst starting right fielder in baseball. Period. And he was making as much money ($5mil) as Jose Reyes.

    In other words, not only was he soaking up at-bats with his hacking mass of awfulness, but he was also soaking up a significant chunk of the team's resources (money).
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  3. Trading Francoeur for a guy who's
    also an iffy hitter but has the added disadvantage of being a poor fielder ... so like the Mets organization/
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  4. Francoeur was not going to return in 2011 - certainly not at +/- $5 million. With the season on the shelf there was no reason to keep him. The Braves tried to work with Francoeur and gave up. The Mets took a shot; he was frustratingly inconsistent and showed no signs of making any improvement.

    In no way does this deal indicate to anyone that the Mets "tolerate laziness". In Francoeur's case it was all about getting rid of an unproductive player who would not have returned in 2011, and getting a little something in return.

    Ollie is on the team because he was owed $12 million this year and the next. The Mets tried to dump him on another team but found no takers. They'd love to demote him, but he has the right to refuse. In Ollie's case it is more about being selfish than lazy.

    Building a loyal and happy fan base begins and ends with winning.
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  5. To the fan (Anonymous) who questioned dealing Francouer for Arias...what would you expect to get from another team for a bench player who will only be on their roster for the last 5 weeks of a season? You're not going to get much value in return.
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  6. I'm a Mets fan. I don't like Francoeur. It's great that hustles and tries hard and gives everyone back rubs in the clubhouse (or whatever the heck it is he does to be a great clubhouse guy), but he is not good at baseball and I prefer to root for players who are good at baseball.
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  7. Francoeur is a terrible baseball player. The only sensible thing to root for is the Mets dumping him. They really should have done it sooner, maybe they could have gotten a little more for him. As it is, he has been traded twice for players that were DFA'ed, which tells you that he isn't worth much.
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  8. Sorry but this is one of the worst articles I have ever read. I had to give it the FJM treatment at Mets blog Surviving the Citi.
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  9. Sean, while your passion and interest is appreciated, I believe you are a little off in your viewpoint. A few things: 1) If this is the "worst" you've ever read, you have not read many Mets blogs or many articles on Bleacher Report. The grammar, punctuation and lack of facts on many of them are disgusting. 2) I believe, with all due respect, that you missed the writer's point. He was obviously delving into a deeper issue here.

    The ownership that embraces the rotten eggs and discards the ones that call into question character, integrity and accountability. That issue is worth exploring. Perhaps you may not agree with the subject he chose in order to make that argument, but it still is an issue nonetheless.

    Again, we do thank you for your read, your passion, but we hope you understand that there was a bigger topic in this article that many people have missed. Thank you again and we invite you to keep reading and commenting, as we value the opinions of all of our readers.
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  10. Frank, there's no deeper issue. Francouer stinks at baseball. Maybe he tries hard and is a team player, but most guys who play in MLB try hard. It's about performance. His track record said he wouldn't perform. But team management (and fans) hoped that track record would be wrong. It wasn't wrong. He continued stinking. So the Mets cut their losses.

    And the contrast with Ollie Perez is stupid because if the Mets could in any way dump Ollie without eating all of his salary, they would.

    Francoeur smiles. Ollie doesn't. So what? They both stink. Frenchy's gone and I'm happy. Ollie's still here and I'm not happy. But these two facts have nothing to do with each other.
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  11. Sean,

    There was a deeper point and it seems you missed it. I was speaking to the type of players I think most Mets fans want on the team. As such, I like the type of player Fracouer embodies.

    I disagree with your assessment that Francouer "stinks at baseball". No player who can play in the Major Leagues "stinks". That type of comment reveals a lack of understanding of the game. Plus a person who had two 100+ RBI seasons as Francouer did has more potential than most.

    It's true the league has adjusted to him and he has not made the counter adjustment yet but at 26 I would have waited a bit longer. I appreciate your candor and willingness to use your name. I think this is a case where two people disagree.
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  12. I have to agree with Sean, this is at best a misguided attempt to validate a bad baseball player. I don't think you need 30 years experience as a baseball scout to see that, just look at his stats, 830 games, 3,100 AB, he is not going to get better. If anything, the Mets wasted too much time on him, they should have dumped him earlier.

    I can think of a lot of things to blame the Mets, but this is just silly.
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  13. Armando,

    Thanks for being a good sport. When I use humor and swear words, it's nothing personal. Your writing style/grammar/etc. is fine. It's your argument I disagree with. I write the way I write to entertain.

    But, I still hold firm to my assessment that Frenchy stinks at baseball. Don't bring in the "you have to be good at baseball to make the major leagues" argument. Of course you have to be good. You have to be good at baseball to even play college baseball (which I did; my career ended with my graduation). You have to be phenomenal to even play minor league baseball. And you have to be top 0.1ish percent in the world to even reach MLB for a cup of coffee.

    But that is all beside the point. When I say some big leaguer stinks at baseball, the implied assumption is that I mean "in relation to other people who play at the Major League level." Of course he's better than me and you and anyone else writing on baseball chat boards (with the exception of motor mouth Curt Schilling). It's not as if I magically forgot that Frenchy (like every bleeping MLBer) was the star of his high school team. I don't lack an understanding of the game. I know how hard it is to play at a high level. And congrats to Frenchy for making the majors and having a few hot streaks to con teams into giving him lots of playing time. But he's not good at MLB (although he can play for my company softball team anytime...if I had one).

    The ruse is over. Frenchy's finished as a Met. But I'll give you this: he does have a great smile.
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  14. I never take anything personal as my thick Italian skin comes in handy most days.

    My post was not a scouting report on Francouer or Perez. I was expressing the type of player I like to see on the Mets. I prefer team players over selfish players. I would prefer my team players to be of higher caliber than Francouer but given the Mets 2010 roster I would have kept him. I also prefer scrappy players like Wally Backman and Lenny Dykstra over homerun hitters like Adam Dunn or Dave Kingman. Of course, given my druthers, I would want a roster filled with players like Albert Pujols.

    I enjoy our discourse and appreciate your temerity of signing your name. I will not respond to anyone with the moniker Anonymous. If they don't have the guts to sign their name I won't waste my time in responding.
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  15. Hey Armando,

    I've enjoyed the back and forth, as well. And I agree with your dislike of anonymous commenters. Although, to be fair, sometimes I remain anonymous when I post on political blogs. People get too heated with that stuff.

    The nice part about arguing about sports is that it is all in good fun.

    And wouldn't we all like to see a Mets team filled with a bunch of Albert Pujols'? :-)
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