Farewell Frenchy?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

If it were just the 'FAN, that would be one thing. But I hear enough people in the real world/teh internets to make me wonder a little more than a little, y'know?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Baseball Prospectus' very prescient analysis from their 2010 annual, released this preseason:

There's nothing wrong with putting balls in play if you're driving them, but Francoeur's overeager approach (his 3.34 pitches seen per plate appearance was the fifth-worst in the NL) meant everything but line drives, which are the foundation of batting average -- an excess of grounders and popups. Unable to correct his tendency ... he was dumped on the Mets. Francoeur wasn't any more selective in New York but he did square up on more balls. His line drive rate leaped to a career-best 25 percent, a rate that would have ranked in the full-season top 10 (Jason Bartlett led the majors at 27.4 percent). With the Mets thinking about making a multiyear contract offer to him, is he likely to maintain his hitting on a high line-drive rate alone? Perfect data do not exist, but we'll use the numbers we have: going back to 1988, there have been 5,701 seasons of 300 or more plate appearances. Of these, just 264 seasons (4.6 percent) had a line-drive rate of 24.5 percent or higher. Of the 264, only 36 hitters reached that percentage in two or more consecutive seasons, and only three, Mark Grace, Mo Vaughn and Paul O'Neill did it in four straight seasons. In short, Francoeur is extremely likely to regress, leaving the Mets with what he was before, an out machine with a good arm.

[batmagadanleadoff]

There's the Met way of doing things, and the right way:

* Texas is not asking or expecting Francoeur to be an everyday player and a savior. This is about adding a piece to put out there against left-handed pitching and someone who is a good defender. Francoeur, going into Tuesday's game, has hit .278 (in 97 at-bats) against left-handed pitching this season with three homers and 12 RBI.

[Zvon]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: I know how we feel, and how most of the informed-fan circles in which I traffic feel, but I wonder: do we have the numbers? Or do most Met fans think Carton's way-- that trading Francoeur (and Barajas and Cora) are "giving up" moves?

The trade of Frenchy coupled with losing the first two games of this series,...I'd say that the Mets as an organization have officially thrown in the towel.
Yea, they have given up.
But as a fan I have the luxury of still hoping beyond hope.
I have seen too many wacky things happen in baseball to ever give up before the math shows we are actually done.
So part of me will still hope.
The wacky part.

I'm not as wacky as I used to be so that's just a small sliver of hope.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Maybe they indeed have given up. But if giving up Frenchlick and Corazon and Barachi is throwing in the towel, that's a mightly unimpressive towel.

They did what all teams do --- weighed the needs of today against the needs of tomorrow, and made a calculation. No need for a retired quarterback to get all dramatic about it.