Juan Francisco

[mth123]

With all his flaws, I would like to see Francisco stay with the Reds, platoon in left field with Gomes, maybe occasionally play third.

Against righty pitching, Francisco would add a major dimension to the Reds' lineup.

If his problems with plate discipline get the best of him, he could then be sent down for more seasoning.

He potentially adds much more than Dickerson or Nix from the left side. I would try him.

Me too. The Reds lack an ideal option to be the LH half of a LF platoon. Dickerson lacks power to the point of being detrimental. Nix has power and not much else. Francisco has oodles of upside, even more power and though his plate discipline is poor, he hasn't failed with it at any level. If Gomes isn't the full time guy, Francisco should be the platoon partner unless a better option could be brought in from outside the organization. JF has earned the right to fail IMO.

[HokieRed]

Francisco does not have a short stroke at all.

He's got a shorter stroke, better hand action, and better hip movement than Wily Mo Pena ever showed. I didn't say he had a short stroke; I said he had a "relatively short one" and he does for somebody with his kind of power.

[Falls City Beer]

I know the Reds need OB and everything, but I like Francisco's grip it and rip it action. He gets pretty solid base coverage with it, so I can live with a middling OB % if he sends a good many over the fence.

[fearofpopvol1]

I'd prefer to sell high on Francisco. Let another team take on the risk, since he seemingly has value.

At a bare minimum, he needs to be at AAA getting ABs.

[Caveat Emperor]

I know the Reds need OB and everything, but I like Francisco's grip it and rip it action. He gets pretty solid base coverage with it, so I can live with a middling OB % if he sends a good many over the fence.

He's the perfect 6/7 hitter -- clean up the clean up guys.

[Will M]

I'm torn on Francisco. Go to AAA & develop plate discipline vs stay in Cincinnati.

IF the guy were to get 400 PAs as the LH part of a left field platoon as well as filling in at 1B/3B then I can see the logic of keeping him here. I think everyone is in agreement that if Nix is on the roster it should be as the 5th OF/pinch hitter. I think there is debate over who show play LF vs a RHP. Dickerson give you good defense & OBP. JF gives you power.
I personally would go with JF. Huge upside. IMO Dickerson is fine as a platoon partner in CF but I want some thump from a left fielder.

I personally would have used Balentien as the platoon partner for Gomes & sent JF to AAA. Since thats water under the bridge I'd choose JF over Dickerson.

vs RHP:
CF Stubbs
3B Rolen
1B Votto (L)
RF Bruce (L)
2B Phillips
LF Francisco (L)
C Hernandez/Hanigan
SS Janish

vs LHP:
CF Stubbs
3B Rolen
1B Votto (L)
2B Phillips
LF Gomes
RF Bruce (L)
C Hernandez/Hanigan
SS Janish

Bench:
Dickerson gets some PT in CF vs some RHP.

Nix is almost exclusively a pinch hitter. ocasionally gets a start in LF with JF playing 3B in a 'stack the lineup with lefty hitters' motif.

Cabrera, i agree that we may be in for some rough times with him. I hope he shows more with the glove but I have a bad feeling that Janish overall will be better as the starting SS & Cabrera as the utility IF.

[Redsfan320]

What about making him a catcher. Then after this year we could have him catching, with Hanigan behind him. Has this been tried with him before?

320

[chicoruiz]

Francisco has oodles of upside, even more power and though his plate discipline is poor, he hasn't failed with it at any level.

That's the key. While the vast majority of guys with poor plate discipline are exposed at higher levels, occasionally you'll find an outlier who can get away with it, and when you do you get a Vlad Guerrero-like talent. For me, he's much more likely to be Wily Mo than Vlad, but he's pulled it off at every level so far, so let's ride this thing and see where it goes.

[dougdirt]

What about making him a catcher. Then after this year we could have him catching, with Hanigan behind him. Has this been tried with him before?

320

It takes a whole lot more than 1 year to become a catcher.

[Redsfan320]

It takes a whole lot more than 1 year to become a catcher.

How long would you say the minimum time is then?

320

[dougdirt]

How long would you say the minimum time is then?

320

3 years.

[Redsfan320]

3 years.

Um.. okay... wow. Scary fast on the response. If it takes at least 3 years, then just forget the whole idea.

320

[Mario-Rijo]

I was surprised to see that in 2009, Sandoval was roughly league average in terms of contact rate. I assumed he'd be in the upper 20%. I think he's due for a fairly big batting average regression in 2010. His 20th percentile PECOTA seems likely to me: .298/.351/.473

I don't think Fransisco has contact issues, just plate discipline issues. I'm beginning to think of him as Wily Mo Pena with more development time and better hand-eye coordination. If he can simply learn to lay off the breaking stuff out of the zone (easier said than done, I realize...), his BB% will go up, his K% will go down, and he'll be an absolute beast.

I think we'll all soon see that he does indeed have contact issues in addition to plate discipline issues and the former is maybe even a bigger problem. It's simple, you can't possibly curl up like that, get out on that front foot and continue to make contact. His balance will look fine as long as he is getting fastballs but those breaking balls will eventually throw his timing off and then when he begins to wait on those (because he'll start getting a lot of them) the fastball will start to get past him too. Pretty soon the opposition will have him severely out of sync.

[wally post]

I have trouble understanding why ANYONE would want to be a catcher.

[Mario-Rijo]

Can't walk like him either.

Jeff Francoeur anyone?

That would be the best possible semi-successful player he could be compared to IMO. And even then Francisco comes up short in the comparison, which is telling. Follow Jeff's career arc and that is best case scenario.