Braves Acquire Juan Francisco from the Reds for RHP J.J. Hoover

[RedsFan_26]

Not too worried about this trade, there was nothing else to do with willy mo francisco and Fraizer was clearly having the better spring.

Hoover pitched in AAA last year as a 23 year old and owns a minor league career 3.14 ERA in 4 seasons


What are your thoughts

[TuneSquad]

I liked francisco, but his antics got old. If anyone has any info on this Hoover kid, please post

[TuneSquad]

Did a little digging of my own on JJ Hoover...
He was rated as Atlanta's 13 best prospect by MLB.com and they had this to say about him...
"While Hoover has had some success as both a starter and a reliever, he really took off in 2011 with a move to the bullpen. Between Double-A and Triple-A, he compiled a 0.79 ERA with 47 strikeouts and just 17 hits allowed in 24 innings of relief. His experience as a starter makes him a better pitcher, and he showed more than enough fastball and slider to compete in a big league bullpen soon."

I like that reliever stat they had in there, and their ETA of him making it to the bigs is this year!

[NeilHamburger]

Todd Frazier must be moon-walking through the clubhouse right about now.

[Assembly Hall]

Hmmmmmmmm......dont know what to make of it. I figured Juan was added insurance at third and first.

[The DARK]

Ranked as number 7 on one prospect list I saw, 13 and 17 on others. That's better than it sounds, since the Braves pitching depth is very impressive. Throws a low to mid 90's fastball that he mixes up with an improving slider and an average curveball and changeup. For a long time, he was considered one of the most average prospects around, but his arsenal seems to be steadily improving. His strength seems to be in his command. Started up until last year, where he had 14 starts and 29 relief appearances. He's gotten very good results throughout his career, but isn't seen by scouts as having enough stuff for those results to last in the majors. He's likely to become either a steady BOR starter or an above-average bullpen arm.

He's reporting to AAA Louisville, but I imagine that he'll immediately become our top bullpen option if anybody goes down.

[nmculbreth]

Looks like a great deal for the Reds.

I've always been skeptical about Francisco's ability to hit at the ML level so being able to flip him for a near MLB-ready pitching prospect seems like a great return. At the very least Hoover should be able to help in the pen and has the potential to be a serviceable back-end starter, in my mind that kind of player is far more valuable than a backup-IF.

[RedsfaninMT]

Hoover is a little short at 6' 3". Seems like he ought to be 6' 5" at least to make the Reds current height targets.

[wvreds]

I like the deal... But we now have no power lefty off the bench... IS something else in the works, or will Willie Harris make the roster not has a power hitter but a lefty bat off the bench??

[The DARK]

Originally Posted by wvreds

I like the deal... But we now have no power lefty off the bench... IS something else in the works, or will Willie Harris make the roster not has a power hitter but a lefty bat off then bench??

You have a solid point. Votto and Bruce become our only lefties likely to make the opening day roster. One wonders if Jocketty doesn't have something else up his sleeve.

[RedsfaninMT]

Sorry for the sarcasm in the previous posting. I will never, ever understand how an unproven player can show up to camp without having worked on an injury and in bad shape. He blew potential millions with his laziness. Give me somebody like Phipps who came to camp eager and in shape, versus JF.

I do worry about LH power being non existent on the bench, but I am glad to see Frazier still on the club.

[Stray]

It tells me that our FO was tired of Francisco. Weight and attitude problems get old after a while.

Good move imo.

[tedies]

Originally Posted by wvreds

I like the deal... But we now have no power lefty off the bench... IS something else in the works, or will Willie Harris make the roster not has a power hitter but a lefty bat off the bench??

Francisco is a horrible pinch hitter so I'm not worried about that... honestly I like JF a couple years ago but I am one of the people who think he can not hit major league pitching with any consistency. We do need Rolen to be healthy a lot more now

[Pete4prez]

I am O.K. with this, we have Frazier waiting in the wings at third and Francisco never really convinced me that he was the solution. If we can pick up a young arm with potential, for someone who for in all likely hood is not going to be a part of the equation, then I say do it.

[Ohayou]

Who, outside of the most insane among us, prefers Francisco over Frazier anyways?