With all of the Braves players hitting the disabled list today, it was necessary for the team to recall Jeff Francoeur from his three day stint at Double-A Mississippi. Obviously, Frenchy can mash Double-A pitchers as he went 7 for 13 with a triple for a .538 batting average while there.
I’ve got a few problems with this… Let me explain by commenting on a few quotes.
It was originally planned that Francoeur would stay in Class AA for a minimum of 10 days, until after the All-Star break. However, with the rash of injuries that hit the Braves over the weekend the Braves saw an opportunity to call him back up.
If this demotion was really a learning experience, and not punishment, why would the Braves bring him back after only three days? And, better yet, why would they only “originally plan” on leaving him in Mississippi for 10 days? How much could Jeff really learn in 10 days about his swing? And, if 10 days was really the plan, why even send him to Double-A? The Braves could have benched him and gave him personalized, on-on-one instruction here in Atlanta, and not wasted the travel time, expense, and headache caused by this whole ordeal. And, in a pinch, Frenchy could have pinch hit. I still believe that a slumping, and benched, Francoeur would have been a better pinch hit option than Ruben Gotay or Jason Perry.
“It had everything to do with the four hits he had yesterday and seven hits he had in three days and starting to relax,” Braves general manager Frank Wren said Monday. “It was not until we had our call with the coaches this morning we had made the decision. It was not predicated on injuries at all. When we felt like he was comfortable swinging the bat and looking like his old self, we wanted to bring him back.”
If you believe this, I’ve got some beach-front property here on Peachtree to sell you. It’s going to take more than three days to get Jeff back to looking like “his old self”. He’s been manhandled by Major league pitching this season, and, obviously, he can manhandle Double-A pitching. This is the equivalent of a washed up boxer beating up on some grade schoolers and feeling he’s ready to challenge for the Heavyweight belt again. Francoeur isn’t ready for Major League pitchers, and three days of beating up on 20 year-olds isn’t going to help in the long run.
Update 7/7/08 4:32 PM : Good insight from the folks over at Fanhouse. This whole thing stinks to me!
Aaron Hanks
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