Baseball Thread 5 - #5 George Brett Has a Story to Tell

If you're a Pirates fan, how mad are you at the "offers" the club made to Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez. After getting rid of McClouth, it seems like Pirates management didn't think it could field offers for Wilson and Sanchez without the fans going apeshit.

So, instead of just shipping them out, they say they're going to enter negotiations for extensions ... then they offer both players extensions for LESS than what they're making now! Obviously, Sanchez and Wilson balk at the pay cuts and then management says something to effect of, "Well, we made them an offer and they haven't made a counteroffer which is how negotiations usually work. They feel they're worth more than that, and we respect their opinion, so we're going to look to trade them."

What transparent, bullshit way to dump their salaries. I really hope than any remaining Bucs fans don't actually buy those lowball offers as "negotiations" or an effort to keep either player.

 

sanchez has a right to be pissed. If I was Wilson, I'd take whatever guaranteed money I could get. The Pirates are going to decline his option and I'd love to see the team that gives Wilson more than four million per year.

 

bigpern, I think PR was only part of the reason the Pirates did that. I also think it was a bluff meant to drive up their trade value. Those offers came out shortly after a story came out that they were trying hard to trade Sanchez. Once again, not only are they looking to dump salary, they are making it so ridiculously obvious that no general manager with any sense will give them decent value in return.

I'm guessing they pulled the offers once it became obvious that they weren't fooling anybody -- the fans, the media or potential trading partners.

 

Yes, I'd advise Wilson to Google "Jody Reed" if he doesn't already know the story ...

 

During his rookie year Francoeur didn't draw a walk until his 128th plate appearance. He was rushed to the big leagues and never got the opportunity to develop any sense of discipline in the low minors, which is where you do such things (and not in the majors).

I think working with the guy in Texas over the offseason has actually made him worse.

 

I think this has been mentioned here before, but Chipper Jones was quoted a couple weeks ago saying, "Jeff has a thousand batting coaches, and he listens to every one of them." At some point you have to settle on one approach and give it time to work, and Francoeur is just not that patient.

 

Warning: Slight statheadery to follow:

Francouer was just never that good. He had two seasons where a lot of hits dropped in for him, and it made him look good. His walk rate is the same as it's always been, and his power has been pretty steady (though he's lost a little bit this season). He's just a .240 hitter who had a half-season and then a full one where luck made him into a .290 or so hitter.

BABIP by season:
2005 - .341
2006- .286
2007 - .342
2008 - .277
2009 - .284

A batting average on balls in play in the .340s is simply not sustainable for a guy with a career line-drive percentage of 19.2%.

 

I think Sanchez should have grabbed it while it was there too. he's not that good, and people are going to figure it out eventually.

 

As long as his option vests, which is almost certainly will, he only has to make $1.7 in 2011 to come out ahead of that deal.

 

Good stuff. The Mets got a player who's about as ill-suited to their new ballpark as they could find. To go along with Citi's badly tailored resident team.

 

Exactly, and it's not like he is terrible. He has made himself into a good defensive player and he will hit for a high average. The guy did win a batting title in 2006, so it's not like he hasn't done that before.

 

Did you Francoeur bashers realize that after Wright walked in the first inning Sunday, Francoeur got an RBI single.
He was the star of the pathetic Mets feeble offense yesterday.