Giles/Linebrink for Jeff Francoeur?

by Enzo Hernandez on Nov 13, 2006 11:09 AM PST Comment 14 comments

I'm going to start an Internet rumor here with the hope that it reaches John Schuerholz and catches his fancy: Brian Giles and Scott Linebrink for Jeff Francoeur. Francoeur is an outstanding right fielder. Maybe the best in the game (now that Ichiro is in CF).

Here are Francoeur's numbers for last year:

AVG .260 | HR 29 | RBI 103 | OBP .293 | SLG .449

As a rule, teams do not like to trade great, young players for good, older and more expensive players. But I hear that Atlanta really likes this idea.

This FanPost was written by a member of the Gaslamp Ball community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Gaslamp Ball managers or SB Nation.

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No way...

I can't imagine Atlanta would do this trade. As a Padre fan I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Let's have some fun out here! This game's fun, OK? Fun goddamnit.

by Drama on Nov 13, 2006 11:33 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Why would we trade a good reliever to downgrade RF

Giles was much better than Franceour last year because you just cannot have a .293 OBP from a starting player. Giles also is pretty good defensively in right. This trade would make the team much worse this year, and there's no guarantee Franceour will figure out that he needs to start taking pitches.

by benrb on Nov 13, 2006 11:49 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Trade...

Listen, I love Gilly and Liney...but Francoeur is 22. He makes $385,000 a year. He's a damn good player. Is his OBP as good as Brian's? No. But I don't think I would exactly call him a downgrade. He's young...he can learn to take more pitches.

We shouldn't even be talking about this...there's no way it's gonna happen.

Let's have some fun out here! This game's fun, OK? Fun goddamnit.

by Drama on Nov 13, 2006 12:30 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Aw, Come On ...

How can an Internet rumor catch fire with that attitude? ;

Agree re: Francoeur -- anyone who thinks he would be a downgrade from Giles has not seen Francoeur play and still thinks Giles is the Giles he was in Pittsburgh.

by Enzo Hernandez on Nov 13, 2006 1:14 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I wouldn't trade Giles or Liney...

for Frenchy.

In 686 PA, the guy drew 23 "unintentional" walks while striking out 132 times. That's bad and projects poorly. A .244 EQA is not good from a corner outfielder. He had a lower OPS than Giles and that's w/o playing half his games in PetCo and Giles having perhaps the worst season of his career (complete with fluky low babip). The guy looks like he's going to take a run at the Outs record every year.

Friar Faithful

by Richard Wade on Nov 13, 2006 1:44 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Friar Faithful....

Happy to see Richard and I are back to normal again.

Let's give Francoeur the benefit of the doubt here. The kid only has 908 career at-bats. His patience is improving...slowly, but surely. In the first 94 games of his career he drew only 11 walks...in the last 29 games of 2006...he drew eight.

The Braves website has a comparison of him to a young Dale Murphy that is very similar:

"During Dale Murphy's first two full big-league seasons, he compiled 914 at-bats and hit .247 with 44 homers, 136 RBIs, 212 strikeouts and 80 walks. He was just 23 years old in the second of those seasons (1979).

Three seasons later, Murphy won the first of his consecutive National League MVP Awards.

It remains to be seen whether Francoeur will ever win an MVP award, but he's following a path similar to the one taken by a former winner.

In his first 908 career at-bats, Francoeur has hit .271 with 43 homers, 148 RBIs, 190 strikeouts and 34 walks."

Let's have some fun out here! This game's fun, OK? Fun goddamnit.

by Drama on Nov 13, 2006 1:55 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Murphy

Dale Murphy had more than twice as many unintentional walks in his age 22 season and that was with roughly 100 fewer plate appearances. It's not very good comp.

Friar Faithful

by Richard Wade on Nov 13, 2006 6:36 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Old School

I don't consider myself an old school, from the gut, eyeball him and project him guy, but after reading what printed out from your Bat Computer, I say throw it against the wall -- it is worthless. Frenchy is an elite young player and would be a steal akin to the Pirates theft of Jason Bay.

by Enzo Hernandez on Nov 13, 2006 8:53 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Francoeur...

was lousy this year. He swings at everything and isn't a great contact guy. .260/.290/.440 is below average for a right fielder and I doubt he could manage even that playing in PetCo.

Friar Faithful

by Richard Wade on Nov 13, 2006 10:13 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Id trade...

Giles for a ham sandwich (but only if it was topped with bacon). The guy takes more pitches than ANYONE. He's led the NL (or close to) in walks for the past couple years. I know a few of you will argue that a walk is better that a strikeout, but i will argue that a hit is better than a walk. For a guy that bats in a power position, he acts like he is leadoff.

Pssst Giles...You are a muscle with feet. Put those steroids to use and swing eh?

by Mikegedup on Nov 13, 2006 5:55 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Id [sic] trade...

You'd be right that a hit is better than a walk. A single is roughly 25% more valuable than a walk. It's hardly Giles' fault that he was being mis-used.

Friar Faithful

by Richard Wade on Nov 13, 2006 6:31 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I'd totally go for that trade

I love Giles, but not enough to pass up on Franceour if he was available. I've seen that guy do way too much good for his team, and I can't even count the number of times that I thought, "why can't he be on our team?". I think the Braves might go for it because then they'd have 2 Giles's

by Cy Young 44 on Nov 15, 2006 5:54 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

talking about trades that wont happen...

why dont we just throw out..Giles/Linebrink/prospect for Andruw Jones

solve our power problem big time.
Giles wont be missed, linebrink already replaced with trades made. nice.

by frequentfriar on Nov 16, 2006 10:54 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Naw, there's no need for Andruw Jones

We already have a power hitting, really good defensive center fielder on the last year of his contract.

If we're gonna fantasize, let's go with Brian McCann. Solves any question marks at catcher big time. Maybe have them throw in Giles to play second for us too.

by benrb on Nov 17, 2006 10:28 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs