A-Z Reviews: F

Julio Franco
-Ugh, the old man should have never come back and he scared the bejesus out of me when he did. 49 years-young, Franco was cast off by the Mets after hitting .200 for them and found a new home with the Braves because any old Brave that the Mets no longer want, the Braves will take back (see Glavine, Tom). Franco hit a bit better for the Braves (.250) but showed his age constantly by never getting around on fastballs. After Teix was acquired, Franco grabbed four games at both Rome and Richmond over the next month until he was reactivated for September. He went 1 for 4 with an RBI after returning.

2008 Outlook: His future with the organization is completely tied in to Scott Thorman. I could see the Braves bringing him back (sadly) if they trade off Thor. If not, Franco might be sitting around. Could play some independent ball to stay active and hope some team has a need for a non-power hitting first baseman who can't hit good fastballs. Hey, I can do that!

Jeff Francoeur
-I do not like being wrong. It bothers me. Francoeur was never going to show much more improvement in OBP, I argued, after he posted a .293 clip in 2004. Then, he did. He batted .293 last year with a .338 OBP. While sabermtrically, his EQA of .268 and WARP1 of 5.6 really isn't that much to write home overall, it was a massive improvement over '06. Defensively, he was as weird as ever. If you watch Francoeur run, he reminds me of a cartoon character trying to run with his legs spinning, but not going anywhere. Francoeur is not slow, but he just does not have much top speed. He takes odd routes to the ball, too. With Andruw gone, he's going to need to do a better job to try to hide some of the defensive loss. Some people talk about his HR going from 29 to 19, but I just don't see him as that much of a power hitter at this point of his career anyway. He's a line drive guy. Some years, the 2B/HR just fluctuate for players.

2008 Outlook: How good can Francoeur get? I do not know. I give up trying to come to a conclusion. In general, I can see him improving on this year, but he's never going to be a superstar on his hitting alone. I expect him to have a long-term deal with the Braves signed before spring training. Next year, I will continue my long-standing rule of never calling him "Frenchy" and cringing each time someone does.