Hopefully he can be more than a righty version of Maloney.
Hopefully he can be more than a righty version of Maloney.
"This isn’t stats vs scouts - this is stats and scouts working together, building an organization that blends the best of both worlds. This is the blueprint for how a baseball organization should be run. And, whether the baseball men of the 20th century like it or not, this is where baseball is going."---Dave Cameron, U.S.S. Mariner
Juan seemed to have all the raw skills necessary to be an All-Star 3B in the future. That being said, I never liked his walk rate and he was never fundamentally sound on defense. I was always back and forth between who I liked better between Frazier and Francisco. I hate to see Francisco go, but you can never have enough good arms.
I am lukewarm on this deal.
Hopefully Hoover turns into a good BP arm (sounds to me like that's his destination). If Francisco fulfills his potential, this will be a tough trade for the Reds to look back on. Fortunately, Frazier may be able to step in for Rolen, and it looks like HRod and Vidal could become good options at that spot too, down the road.
It might be a future move for the starting rotation too. Wainwright and others relieved for a few years before hitting the starting rotation. The guy is young.
Arroyo walks after 2013. Bailey might not be here if he doesn't get his crap together.
Dusty never seemed to like Juan.
I think this move says a lot about how the management feels at this point. They need LH bats, and yet they move Francisco. I don't think he came to camp in baseball shape (injured), and his defense has never been what they wanted at 3b. I don't think anyone is comfortable with the Reds pen at this point.
Prior to this spring, Baker loved Francisco.Dusty never seemed to like Juan.
I liked Francisco, the Braves rarely trade away good pitching so right now I'm not sure how this trade will work out.
As for Rolen's back up give me the best hitter, don't care if he hits RH or LH. I'll take Frazier over Harris any day because I believe Frazier is/willl be the better hitter.
I hope he does better than Bong and Bubba Nelson.
I read through the paragraph on Hoover in my BA Prospect Handbook. He's #12 in the Atlanta system, down two spots from #10 in the 2011 guide. Apparently the Braves moved him to the bullpen after he was hit hard in two starts at AAA Gwinnett in mid-May. After that switch, he put up a 0.77 ERA and whiffed 47 batters in 35 IP between AA and AAA.
But someone in the Braves' brass apparently wasn't impressed; he wasn't called up to the big leagues in September, instead earning a ticket to the Arizona Fall League. Hoover earned a spot in the AFL's Rising Stars game despite an 8.03 ERA. It's very common for a team to send a guy they're trying to build up for a trade to the AFL, so my guess is that they'd already decided he wasn't going to play a major role in 2012.
The worst thing BA says is that Hoover is a "below-average athlete with a maxed-out body". His pitches are generally complimented, as he worked at 88-92 as a starter but added 2-3 mph from the pen. He also throws a low 80s slider with good deception and improved his changeup in 2011. They list his likely ceiling as a No. 4 starter or seventh-inning reliever, and give him a 20-80 overall grade of 50 with "Medium" risk.
My thought is that Hoover is sort of like the Braves' version of Carlos Fisher, with a similar small-college background and modest mid-round draft pedigree- except younger (but same level) when he made the switch to relief. It sounds from reading here as though he's a fly-ball pitcher versus Fisher's ground-ball tendencies, but BA says nothing about that. The guy put up some sincerely great K/BB ratios at several levels, and did it without being old for his league. I think he could definitely be better than Fisher.
I like selling high on Fransisco and opening up a spot for Frazier, but I'm always wary of trading for a Braves pitcher. I think Fransisco will have a nice little major league career along the lines of a Marcus Thames. He'll hit for power and start from time to time, but he'll never get on base enough to be a regular.
Last edited by RedsManRick; 04-01-2012 at 01:25 PM.
Games are won on run differential -- scoring more than your opponent. Runs are runs, scored or prevented they all count the same. Worry about scoring more and allowing fewer, not which positions contribute to which side of the equation or how "consistent" you are at your current level of performance.
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