The Francoeur Rumor

A few days ago I wondered whether the snark level surrounding Dayton Moore and the Kansas City Royals had grown out of hand. They are what they are: an extremely easy target given their record and history of transgressions. At the same time, the farm system is having a nice year. Even if part of that is because the Royals stubbornly refused to promote Alex Gordon amongst others. The Royals’ front office has smart people within. They have a bunch of nice people too. There is no reason to wish ill will or outcomes upon them. None. In fact, you hope they get everything in order so one of the more loyal fan bases in the game can experience playoff baseball again.

But then rumors like this happen and all the warm fuzzy thoughts quickly vanish to where they came. The Royals like Jeff Francoeur? Well of course they like Jeff Francoeur. They seemingly like every former product of the Braves’ farm system that eventually washed out of the organization for one reason or another. Just last night, Thursday night, they had Bruce Chen and Kyle Davies pitching for them. Francoeur isn’t quite the hitting version of that pair because he actually had two very good seasons with Atlanta in 2005 and 2007, but … well, put it this way: 7.1 of Francoeur’s 7.3 career WAR came in those two seasons.

He’s never walked much. He probably never will. He may never replicate the power surge from 2005; at least not over a period longer than 300 plate appearances. His BABIP is .271, which is well below his career norm, but not absurdly so. Look, he’s probably better than his .292 wOBA suggests, but what is his upside? Is it .320? Is it .330? Is it .340? Probably not. He’s just not a good player even when you ignore the fielding, which is about average — give or take a run here or there — despite a strong arm and so-so baserunning despite a supposedly high baseball IQ.

Here is the thing: the Royals could actually acquire Francoeur and have it turn out to be a useful move. For all the jokes and all the ridiculous bravado around Francoeur’s clubhouse demeanor – supposedly, he is the one who dictates when the rest of the team shaves … and this is highlighted as an endearing quality to have in the clubhouse; only in baseball would being the guy in charge of everyone else’s facial hair be such an important position – Francoeur could actually be a decent platoon mate. For his career, he’s hit lefties at a .345 wOBA clip. Take away the .249 figure in 2008 and he’s always maintained a wOBA above .350 versus southpaws until this season. That is absolutely useful.

There are three issues with this idea: 1) The Mets will almost certainly want more than a player of that ilk is worth; 2) Kansas City will almost certainly not value Francoeur as a platoon player either, and by extension, won’t use him as one; 3) Francoeur is being paid $5 million this season; right-handed hitting corner outfielders with average defense who hit lefties aren’t exactly a rare flock of bird. Put that all in a bowl and mix it and you’ll produce some quality snark cakes. Hopefully the Royals ditch the recipe. For everyone’s sake.