Your NL MVP through the first week and a half of 2010 ...

[batmagadanleadoff]

... is leading the league in OPS, is second in RC/27 and so far, has one hellacious Clemente-like outfield assist to his credit.



He leads his team in OBP and is 6th league-wide. He's also making like Rickey Henderson by walking 6 times in 28 official AB's. I said: He walked 6 times in 28 official AB's.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I thought you were going toward Cantu.

Wow.

[HahnSolo]

Great outfield assist, but he did strike down a barely-trying Adam Dunn. If that mars it at all I don't know. Not like he gunned down Nyjer Morgan.

Pujols has an argument for early MVP too.

[Frayed Knot]

Frenchy's walks are interesting because it doesn't look like he's changed his approach any.
That HR last night was pure Francoeur, swinging off his heels (literally) at a 0-0 pitch he had no business going after and smacking it out of the park.


I've already cast my MVP vote for Pujols for next season.


Cantu has actually tied (or maybe broken) some kind of record for consecutive games with at least one hit & RBI to start a season. His streak's even longer if you go back to the end of last year although, even then, it's still short of the all-time record. Piazza at 17 straight (if you can use the words Piazza and straight in the same sentence) in 2000 is one of the longer recent streaks. The record, I believe, is 22 from back around 100 years ago.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I'd be curious to see if there's some Dr. Jekyll potion in his Red Bull-- or to see a detailed pitch-by-pitch look at each of his PAs this year-- because his at-bat set's seemed rather schizophrenic.

There are ABs like the HR FK pointed out, and a few others in close-and-late situations, where he's good old-fashioned, guess-and-rip Frenchy. But early on, and during mid-innings situations without RISP, say... he's taking early and often. And it's not just a "I'm going to take the first one" approach-- he's actually been letting some close pitches go mid-count.

It's awesome. It's also awesomely weird.

[metirish]

The naysayers here won't be best pleased at this carry-on from Francoeur , yes LWFS I'm looking at you. Seriously though, where would we be without him this early season?

[Frayed Knot]

metirish wrote: Seriously though, where would we be without him this early season?

Last place?

Oh wait!

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

metirish wrote: The naysayers here won't be best pleased at this carry-on from Francoeur , yes LWFS I'm looking at you. Seriously though, where would we be without him this early season?

Ha. I'd be happy to be wrong about him-- and if he's this guy now as an offensive player? Then I'd take him on my team any day. (Or, since he's making 5M this year, and likely to get a raise at season's end, see if I can move him for GOOD pitching or prospects, assuming FernyM is ready to plug-and-play later this year.)

It's weird, though... again, mostly because it hasn't been a complete 180. I'll give it a month more, at least, before thinking about it again... in the meantime, I'm just enjoying the melt.

(Seeing as Church walked at season's end, and Mr. French is still putting up value for us, the Mets did "win" the trade, though, for what that's worth.)

[ashie62]

Pujols 5 15 .387

Mets-Young David

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Anything can happen in 75 PAs.

[seawolf17]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Anything can happen in 75 PAs.

Kevin Maas is still waiting for his MVP award.

God, could you imagine if Kevin Maas happened today instead of in 1990? Suzyn Waldman would be carrying his babies, and Wally Matthews would have a wet dream of himself with a unicorn's body kissing a picture of Kevin Maas on the wall.

[HahnSolo]

What would Sterling's calls for his HRs be?

"It's maas-terful."
"It's a Monster Maas."
"it's a home run for Kevin, and the pitcher says No Maas!"
"Ohhh, Kevin killed it!"

Anyhow we did live through Kevin Maas again when the Yanks were good: Remember the September of Shane Spencer?

[G-Fafif]

Suzyn was OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUSing all over Sam Militello 18 years ago.

[batmagadanleadoff]

With two doubles last night, King Albert edges past our own Jeff "Walk Like a Man" Francoeur and moves into his familiar spot as MVP-of-the-NL-if-the-season-were-to-end-today.

[metirish]

Lennon on Francoeur


Lennon: Francoeur becoming an OBP machine

DENVER It was Jeff Francoeur who once famously said, "If on-base percentage is so important, why don't they put it on the scoreboard?" In this day and age, many ballparks do, but that's beside the point. Back then, during his free-swinging time with the Braves, Francoeur would have preferred to see the statistic be wiped out completely. With his grip-it-and-rip-it mentality, Francoeur, an avid golfer himself, was like baseball's John Daly, a streaky player at his best and hard to watch when he was hacking away. When Atlanta traded Francoeur to the Mets last July, he arrived with a .282 on-base percentage, the fourth worst among NL starting players. His career mark of .308 was the lowest of any primary corner outfielder with 2,500 at-bats. To the "Moneyball" disciples, Francoeur was a punch line, the antithesis of what a general manager should build his team around. But no one is laughing at Francoeur this season now that he has transformed himself into a more intelligent hitter. Just look at the numbers. With two singles yesterday, Francoeur has hit safely in all nine games and is only one game short of tying Darryl Strawberry (1987), Robin Ventura (1999) and David Wright for the second- longest streak to open a season in Mets history. He is batting .438 (14-for-32) with three home runs, seven RBIs and - wait for it - a .513 on-base percentage. That Francoeur is reaching base more than half the time is mind-boggling for those who followed his career arc through Atlanta, where he was known for power and productivity but never patience. "I think I'm learning how to hit," Francoeur said. "I still have to remind myself sometimes that I'm still only 26, and I feel like I've taken a big step." This season, many of those steps have involved a casual stroll to first base. Francoeur's season high for walks is 42 in 2007. That was way up from the previous year's total of 23, both of which came in 162 games. By comparison, David Wright had back-to-back seasons of 94 walks in 2007-08 before dipping to 74 last year. At this rate, Francoeur is heading toward a once-unthinkable realm for him. He has six walks (second to Wright's 13) in nine games, which puts him on a pace for roughly 108. Francoeur has a more modest number in mind, and is pleased by what that number would mean to his development. "I honestly believe I'll end up walking 60 times this year," he said. "I don't see why not, and that's definitely going to help my on-base percentage. I think the one goal coming into this year was not so much to have thousands of walks but just become a better hitter altogether. Be a guy that is not just hot and cold, hot and cold." Unlike many aspects of hitting, this does not involve a mechanical adjustment. It's all about a mind-set, and perhaps maturity as well. He believes he's always had a good idea of how pitchers plan to attack him. But now he's thinking more about the situation: the outs, the men on base, the count and how that all factors into his approach. "If I had to boil it down to one word, I'd say awareness," hitting coach Howard Johnson said. "It's an awareness of himself, an awareness of the opposing pitcher. It's being able to meld all of those things together." Francoeur says leaving the hometown pressures of Atlanta for a new start in New York definitely helped him ease up a little. So has working with Johnson, who had a strategy for working with Francoeur as soon as he arrived. The two got together during the offseason for a hitting tutorial as well. Francoeur no longer is content to get by on the natural talent that made him a first-round draft pick in 2002. "I've hit close to 30 home runs," Francoeur said. "I've driven in 100 runs. I've done a lot of that. Now my goal is take that next step, to be a more complete hitter. And if I can do that, I can really help a team win. I think it's important for me to be able to get on base and let guys behind me like [Rod] Barajas drive the ball. I can score from first with those guys." 4 comments Rate Share Email Print

[batmagadanleadoff]

HahnSolo wrote: Great outfield assist, but he did strike down a barely-trying Adam Dunn. If that mars it at all I don't know. Not like he gunned down Nyjer Morgan.

Still, Francoeur's throw was a precise missile. Unfortunately, I've seen too many Mets faster than Dunn get thrown out at home on balls hit farther and deeper than that one in recent times, so I didn't dock Francoeur on account of Dunn's slowness.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Lennon on Francoeur Lennon: Francoeur becoming an OBP machine

Obviously, I'm rooting for Francoeur to continue to draw walks at this season's rate. I haven't been paying attention to the minutiae of Francoeur's AB's this season as closely as others here have, but I can see that Francoeur still needs to improve his current rate of pitches per AB. As it stands, that rate is probably too low to sustain Francoeur's currently improved walk rates for any meaningfully prolonged stretch. Perhaps pitchers are missing very wide to Frenchy this year because of their historical and justified lack of respect for Frenchy's strike-zone judgment. I'd like to see if Frenchy's learning to lay off the close pitches.

On the other hand, Francoueur's pitch recognition as a Brave was so dreadful, that simply learning to lay off of some of those missed-the-strike-zone-by-a-country-mile pitches might improve his offense significantly.

[metirish]

I don't think he's changed his approach all that much , it would be interesting to view video form his best years in Atlanta to now. In fact that is your assignment for the weekend Batmag. You can report your findings here no later than Tuesday, cheers.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Francouer is also in the papers today undermining Manuel's intentions to move Reyes down in the order.

He's just one of those guys, like Wright, who accommodates anyone with a microphone, he's just more effusive.

[Guest Edgy DC]

"I've hit close to 30 home runs," Francoeur said. "I've driven in 100 runs. I've done a lot of that. ...

Easy, Brotherman. You've done some of that.

It's to your credit, but let's not get carried away.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

"I've hit close to 30 home runs," Francoeur said. "I've driven in 100 runs. I've done a lot of that. ...

He hit behind Wright last year, and is often hitting behind Bay and/or Jacobs this year. So... yeah, he's hitting close to 30 home runs virtually every day.

[Valadius]

I'm getting the feeling that Omar's going to flip Francoeur a la Xavier Nady once F-Mart becomes impossible to hold at AAA any longer.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Francoeur has gone 0-7 today and is still batting .381.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Still shouldn't have swung with the bases loaded and Mather pitching.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy DC wrote: Francoeur has gone 0-7 today and is still batting .381.

I believe that Francoeur entered today's game as the NL batting leader. (Maybe even the Majors)

[ashie62]

Valadius wrote: I'm getting the feeling that Omar's going to flip Francoeur a la Xavier Nady once F-Mart becomes impossible to hold at AAA any longer.

Yeah and I guess Beltran's availabilty could have an impact this possibility

[batmagadanleadoff]

Tonight, he might turn into a pumpkin.

Jeff Francoeur is about one or two bad games away from having a stat line that's kind of sucky.

[TransMonk]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Jeff Francoeur is about one or two bad games away from having a stat line that's kind of sucky.

And it will still be second best on the team.

Sucky is relative...meaning this whole offense is kind of sucky.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yeah, Frenchy is whacking me in the face with the reason I get so down about this team's prospects: We can't score enough, because we give too many turns at bat to guys who make too many outs. Guys will get hot and cold over the course of the year but the totality of it could be ugly.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Breaks an 0-24 drought, swinging at a first-pitch curve and picking up the RBI.

You show 'em, Frenchy, ya drought-breakin bastid.