John Franco DFA

[Guest rpackrat]

[url]http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2099580[/url]

[Guest Edgy DC]

Home to Staten Island or to burn in the Bronx. You decide, John.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Assuming this caps off his career, Franco will have pitched in his forties from 2001-2005 for mostly old, mostly bad last-place teams (mainly the Mets) for an aggregate total of about 150 innings over the five seasons for an aggregate salary of over 10 mil (that's about 65 grand per IP).[url]http://baseball-reference.com/f/francjo01.shtml[/url]


Now, if those 30 IP per season were quality IP, that would be one thing, but they've been pretty mediocre IP (about league average ERA). So you've gotten neither quality nor quantity, just the privilege of having a big-name reliever on your staff and the cold comfort of having been able to say "Well, Franco could always come around, the man's got sixty bazillion saves," despite what your own lying eyes told you.

As Everett Dirksen used to say, "10 million here and 10 million there and pretty soon you're talking about wasting some real money." Of course Franco's just a prominent symbol of a policy of throwing money at reputations without considering the real-world return on investment--I could name you other names but you can guess who I mean--that just hasn't worked out well for the Mets.

OE: "I'm disappointed, but my numbers aren't that good," Franco said. "It's part of the game. They have a number of young guys that they want to take a look at." I mean, that's been true for quite some time--I'd much rather take a look at younger, cheaper guys--or develop some, or sign some, or throw the 10 mil into an offer for Vlad or Carlos D.

[seawolf17]

It's slowly becoming my standard line, but John Franco could be a Duck. In fact, he'd make a good Duck.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Between Franco, Strickland and Turk, the Astros have signed and released a lot of former Mets relievers this season.

[Theoldmole]

And Leiter eased out of the starting rotation....

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Yes, but the Astros really didn't have anything to do with that one.

[Guest SwitchHitter]

OTOH, Wheeler is shaping up pretty well this year.

[smg58]

What did we get for Wheeler? For all the talk about the Kazmir deal, this one might be the one from last year we most want back.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Dan was neither ace nor deuce
So we traded him for Adam Seuss
Said he, "No ace nor deuce am I
But I'm a useful bullpen guy!"

And useful did he make himself
With cahnfidence, strength, control, and health
But Seuss, his bounty, where is he?
A B-Met or a Tide is he?

Did we send him up or send him down?
Or option him to Hagerstown?
O, check the net, learn of his fate
He got only seven trips to the plate

Then the Mets released him without condition
The had enough at his position
They cut him, shunned him, punched his ticket
Told him just where he could stick it

Were they smart or were they dumb?
To be sure, there is more news to to come
Now the Astros re-signed Adam Seuss
(Though he's been suspended, he's on the juice)

But the release is not the issue here
But the initial trade that sent Dan there
So Duquette's demoted, 'cause he's no dealer
As the 'Stros now have both Seuss and Wheeler

[Theoldmole]

Edgy - that's great.

[Guest 86-Dreamer]

Bump. Thanks Edgy - I really enjoyed that rhyme.