Bryan Stone
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Post by Bryan Stone on Jul 11, 2009 1:39:11 GMT -5
once again,... no sports section so this will get little play I deep down knew that frenchy was going to get traded eventually,... this year, offseason, or next. but to the Stinking loser Mets for Ryan Church w/ an expiring contract @ the end of the year? there better be some information that I'm not aware of b/c this makes no sense. I guess Atl. can rid themselves of #7 for all sports. I've been following Jeff for 5+ years,.... it's a damn shame www.ajc.com/braves/content/sports/braves/stories/2009/07/10/jeff_francoeur_trade_braves_mets.html
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Bryan Stone
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Post by Bryan Stone on Jul 11, 2009 1:41:14 GMT -5
I'm also pretty sure that Obama had little-to-nothing to do with this move
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Post by vanstheman on Jul 11, 2009 10:08:08 GMT -5
Seriously,what in the hell do you need a sports section...we've got Firearms and Shooting!!!!!
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Bryan Stone
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Post by Bryan Stone on Jul 11, 2009 17:26:50 GMT -5
They didn’t have to trade him, but…. 4:51 pm July 11, 2009, by David O'Brien
DENVER – So a couple of people e-mailed to ask me, did the Braves have to trade Jeff Francoeur? Well, no. They didn’t have to trade him. No one held a gun to Frank Wren’s head and demanded he make the move. But let me put it another way? Why wouldn’t they, under these circumstances? If they could swap him for a Ryan Church, a player who’ll give you quality at-bats and an on-base percentage at least 50 points higher than Francoeur’s, and has in the past couple of seasons given you reason to believe he can give you plenty more, why wouldn’t you do it? Because Francoeur is a nice guy who was a terrific two-sport athlete in the Atlanta ‘burbs? Because he has a strong arm and landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated four years ago and had a couple of 100-RBI seasons in 2006 and 2007?
Where it all began.... Because outside of that, I’m really having a tough time coming up with reasons not to trade him. If this were a year ago, it’d be different. The backlash would have still been pretty high, I think. But now? No. I think most savvy Braves fans have seen what Francoeur has done the past couple of years, and know that he’s due for a raise to $4.5 million or so through the arbitration process if the Braves were to keep him. They know that a .240 hitter with 10-15 homer power and a .300 (or lower) OBP is not worth anywhere near $4.5 million, and that the Braves would have non-tendered him this winter if they hadn’t traded him before then. They traded him for another player with two remaining years of arbitration, one the Braves believe can help them while working in some sort of RF platoon with Matt Diaz and possibly playing some LF and CF when needed or when matchups favor it. Bobby Cox said as much yesterday, that he wanted to give “Andy” (Garret Anderson) some time off. As for why they’d trade him to a division rival, well, that’s unusua, no doubt. But so is this case. The Braves simply had received no offers for Francoeur that included a legit major league player or prospect. So they dealt him while they could, before the Mets looked elsewhere. Did his three-double game Thursday convince the Mets it was worth doing? Perhaps. Because these conversations didn’t even begin until Wednesday. And when do you think Francoeur might have another game with three extra-base hits? So they traded him for a player with almost an identical salary. A player who doesn’t have Francoeur’s arm, but is at least as good going to get the ball in the outfield. A player who’s played all three outfield positions in the majors and could move over to center if the Braves needed him to.
Church will wear No. 25 A player who’s five years older than Francoeur, but still has two more years of arbitration before free agency, same as Francoeur. A player who has hit .295 with 15 homers and an .828 OPS in 370 at-bats as a No. 5 hitter. Not bad. It’s not like it’s a big risk involved. Or do you really think Francoeur is going to come back to haunt the Braves on a regular basis? If so, have you been watching him since, oh, the middle of the 2007 season? By the way, before I give you a couple of Francoeur stats, consider that Church last season was doing some serious hitting before he got kneed by Yunel Escobar on May 22, when Church slide in late and high trying to break up a double play. He got concussed for the second time on that play, and he wasn’t the same for the rest of the season, admittedly feeling woozy when the Mets inexplicably let him on the team plane to Colorado after that game in Atlanta when he got his bell rung. Check these numbers: In 43 games through the May 22 game when he got the concussion in Atlanta, Church hit .315 with nine homers, 32 RBI and a .383 OBP and .537 slugging percentage. In the 19 games immediately before the May 22 incident, he had seven homers, 16 RBI and a .648 slugging percentage. He played only 47 games the rest of the season following the incident, and hit .236 with three homers, 17 RBI and a .309 OBP and .338 slugging percentage. Church was knocked for a loop by the effects of his second concussion, and the Mets shut him down for three weeks in June and again for seven weeks in July and August. For all we know, he might still be shaking the cobwebs from two concussions. Talk to NFL players about that; concussions are serious matters. But he’s shown some signs this season of getting back to normal, hitting .280 with 16 doubles, albeit with only two homers in 232 at-bats and a .707 OPS that’s a full 97 points lower than his career OPS before this season. Still, consider that Francoeur has a career .732 OPS and .308 OBP. And this season, he was down to a .634 OPS and alarmingly bad .282 OBP that was the fourth-worst among NL lineup regulars. And think about this: Francoeur hit .373 with 10 homers, 28 RBI and a .389 OBP and .755 slugging percentage in his dream-like first 30 games in the majors, after his June 2007 callup. In 601 games since then, he’s hit .261 with 68 homers, 331 RBI and a .305 OBP and .408 slugging percentage (.713 OPS). And in 310 games since the 2007 All-Star break, Francoeur has hit .256 with just 25 homers, 153 RBI, and a .304 OBP and .381 slugging percentage. That’s 25 home runs in 1,195 at-bats, by a guy who hit 10 in his first 30 games and 110 at-bats in the majors. The ex-football player bulked up before the 2007 season, the season when everything started to really spiral. How much did that play in this? Who knows? He was a gifted prep athete whose athleticism and work ethic always allowed him to overcome any obstacles in his way. But professional baseball, at the highest level at least, is about more than athleticism and work ethic. It’s about highly refined skills and patience and — very important — the ability to make adjustments. Major league pitchers made adjustments to this young, celebrated “bad-ball hitter” who tore up the league his first time through. They started exploiting the holes in that swing that Chipper Jones once called “Captain Cavemen.” Francoeur either didn’t know how, waited too long, or possibly tried too hard in the wrong way — squeeze that bat hard and swing harder, dammit — to make adjustments to the adjustments that pitchers made to him. He got back into better baseball shape this past offseason, losing the bulk, but who knows how much of it stems from bad habits he got into as he tried to swing his way out of slumps, and when he listened to so many well-meaning people offering him so much differing advice on how to get back his mojo. We all have theories. But the point is, it’s been two solid years that he’s been one of the worst hitters in baseball.
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Bryan Stone
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I'll give it six months.
Posts: 1,993
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Post by Bryan Stone on Jul 11, 2009 17:29:27 GMT -5
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Bryan Stone
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I'll give it six months.
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Post by Bryan Stone on Jul 11, 2009 23:08:24 GMT -5
Ryan Church 0-4 in his Braves Debut
Francouer 2-4 w/ 2 RBI in Mets Debut
Church looks good in a Braves uni
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Post by Conservator on Jul 11, 2009 23:28:35 GMT -5
I saw it coming too... and yet was still suprized. My first thought was... "The METS???" Being a die hard Bravo fan for years, I have grown a healthy hatred for the Mets. I can only imagine how Frenchy had to, or is trying to get over it. He probably still hates them as he dons that God aweful uniform! And to his credit, Church almost hit a grand slam... a few feet short... I was hoping it would go out. and BS, your still full of BS in the political realm
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Post by Tsavodiner on Jul 11, 2009 23:33:59 GMT -5
Seriously,what in the hell do you need a sports section...we've got Firearms and Shooting!!!!! How come it's always 'former varsity lettermen' like you and boyfriend stoney who are always big sporting types? And probably never set foot on a campus of your favorite college team...except on garbage day....
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Bryan Stone
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I'll give it six months.
Posts: 1,993
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Post by Bryan Stone on Jul 12, 2009 1:54:31 GMT -5
yeah that's pretty funny
and what a great post from a handle of: Conservator and an avatar of: Ron Regan
seriously,....
according to the DOB blog there was nothing more than a mid-level-potential-career-minor -leaguer deal with any other team.
Do your own research for Ryan Church & the Met's Brass recently.
The 2 teams basically gave 2 Major League outfielders a chance w/ 2 years of arbitration left in a new scenario. Good move. Somebody might "win or lose" this trade but I think it means very little of the overall 2009 picture.
SO!!!!
are we going to get a "sports section" so the world police can keep shooting in "firearms" and we can talk the details that don't include President Obama
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Bryan Stone
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I'll give it six months.
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Post by Bryan Stone on Jul 12, 2009 1:59:45 GMT -5
and Church did give that ball a ride.
Just Short. First AB (a groundout) went to a count of 3 - 1. Francouer is one of my favs (well pre-mets) but he doesn't know what a 3 balls 1 strike count is.
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Bryan Stone
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I'll give it six months.
Posts: 1,993
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Post by Bryan Stone on Jul 15, 2009 15:12:58 GMT -5
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Post by davrik on Jul 15, 2009 15:54:24 GMT -5
I saw Jeff play in a t-ball tournament when he was about 6. He was spectacular then and had folks talking. I was living in Gwinnett County, Ga at the time and we had a 5 year run where several players were signed to Major League ball clubs, including Jeff, Brian and Brad McCann, and Nick and Kevin Green, formerly of the Braves organization. (Nick is now the starting shortstop with Boston.)
It is amazing that much talent came from a crop of young kids over a short period of time. It's also a shame that, except for MCann, they didnt get to play for their home team for a long time.
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Bryan Stone
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I'll give it six months.
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Post by Bryan Stone on Jul 16, 2009 12:40:58 GMT -5
MLB is a tough business,... if you don't perform,.. you gone
and Nick Green has been starting @ SS for the Red Sux b/c of injuries. He's the kind of player that can thrive in a loaded line-up. I believe when he played for the Braves it was in their final year of the 14 div champs run
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Post by Conservator on Jul 16, 2009 13:23:22 GMT -5
It would be nice to draft & keep as many local guys as possible, but like BS said, it's a business first. It sucked to see him have to go, but it was worse b/c he was the hometown hero and a very like-able guy. Takeaway him being nice and from Marrietta, and everyone would be saying ADIOS! He has been awful.
Oh, and by the way BS, I agree on the no sports section... Not sure what to call it, but they could combine Sports with Firearms... since it's the least visited anyway. Call it SPORTING/SHOOTING: EVERYTHING FROM GUNS TO GOLF
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Bryan Stone
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I'll give it six months.
Posts: 1,993
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Post by Bryan Stone on Jul 18, 2009 21:45:57 GMT -5
somebody do it
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Bryan Stone
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I'll give it six months.
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Post by Bryan Stone on Jul 20, 2009 1:39:14 GMT -5
if there was a 'sports section' then plenty would.
if you don't care regardless where the thread starts then don't respond a week later and bump it back near the top of the section.
apparently it doesn't matter,.... but a week later it's still getting noticed
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Bryan Stone
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Post by Bryan Stone on Jul 20, 2009 12:13:54 GMT -5
and for the record Billy V
I was intoxicated when I wrote that post
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