And maybe Jeff Bennett will become Mariano Rivera

07/11/2009 at 1:28 pm | In Frenchy | 19 Comments

The Mets …… hope that he will not strike out as much, that he will walk more and that he will infuse right-handed power into a lineup seeking it in any form. What they know is that Francoeur’s arrival jolts a sagging team.

– NY Times

All the Pan bashing aside — and we’ve of course done our fair share — it’s sad that it ended this way for Jeff in Atlanta. We wish him well in Flushing, except when he’s playing the Braves. What kind of reaction do you think he gets at the Ted next week? I’ll bet he gets at least one standing O. And that’s fine.

In the Mets, he’s joining a team that is doing about what he has done. They are decimated by injuries, true, but the Stinkins have been playing bad baseball. So bad that they made this move, just to do something, anything, it appears. Sort of like what the home team did with Pan — something, anything.

Pan was the most frustrating Brave since…who? Who else flashed such raw talent, and then stuffed it deep into the bat bag, never to be seen again? Andres Thomas? Craig McMurtry? Komminsk doesn’t count because he never succeeded in the majors. Earl Williams? Pete Smith? I’m having trouble with this one. Avery? Doesn’t quite fit. Ave’s downfall was mainly because of injuries, I think. And he reached a level Pan did not.

I’ll go with Thomas. What y’all think?

–CD

19 Comments »

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

  1. Nothing more than a gamble or jolt to their team, as far as the Mets’ go, for sure. But I think he may fare better under a different hitting instructor. TP and Pan obviously weren’t on the same page, but no one can deny that he has talent. I wouldn’t be surprised if he averages .280 and 20 homers over the next 162. But then again, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s working at Home Depot in a year, either.

    Comment by wuky — 07/11/2009 #

  2. Not fair to pin Frenchy’s struggles on TP. Pan spent the offseason with Jaramillio and he’s every bit as clueless at the plate as he was last year. If TP is responsible for the performance of every player, then he deserves credit for Prado and McCann. Prado was a singles hitter in the minors — he leads the team in doubles this year and is the only Braves regular with a slugging percentage above .500. McCann’s career minor league numbers: .276 BA, .799 OPS.

    I don’t know how much, if any, credit he truly deserves for their progress, but I know this much: TP never instructed a guy to swing at every first pitch.

    Comment by atlmalcontent — 07/11/2009 #

  3. I’m not pinning his struggles on TP. In a game flush with failure, TP deserves much credit. In fact, I’d submit that if he had only listened to TP and no one else then he’d probably still be a Brave. But for some reason, him and TP never seemed to connect. Perhaps I’m oversimplifying their relationship (or lack thereof), who really knows. But Pan came out of Spring Training fairly strong, arguably because of an offseason spent tutoring under Jamarillo, and then eventually reverted back to his 2008 form. Not saying its TP’s fault, but I am saying it will probably be to Pan’s benefit to have a change of scenery. A fresh start. And that would include a new hitting instructor.

    Comment by wuky — 07/11/2009 #

  4. I don’t recall Andres Thomas really succeeding at the big leagure level, either. I recall him playing well for about six (6) weeks once upon a time and then making a lot of errors for the next four years. At least Francouer has a couple 100 RBI seasons. I am now curious as to how many full seasons Andres played, and how many times he led the league in errors. Just hearing his name takes me to some very dark places. He was so bad I missed Rafael Ramirez. And when we finally had enough, I don’t think anybody would take him. What a piece of shit. Francouer was pretty good for two and a half years. Don”t lump him in with the likes of Andres Thomas.

    Comment by Jack Straw — 07/11/2009 #

  5. Jack,
    My point isn’t that Francoeur was as bad as Thomas. All I’m saying is that Thomas had a good half season when he was about 23, made the all star team, and then never did anything again. Pan has been better than Thomas, no question. Still, it’s not like teams were lining up to take Jeff. I’m just trying to think of former Braves who showed promise, then quickly fizzled. If you’ll recall, there was serious talk of trading Thomas for a young, albeit then unproven, Barry Bonds. So he obviously showed some potential, at least. Maybe McMurtry, who won 15 games as a rookie, then was never the same, would’ve been a better pick.

    Comment by charlesad — 07/11/2009 #

  6. I don’t think he’s fixable. This is the same guy who said “if on-base percentage was so important, they’d put it on the scoreboard.”

    Comment by atlmalcontent — 07/11/2009 #

  7. I think John Rocker qualifies in this context. We thought we had the next Goose Gossage and we had Johnny Rocker instead.

    Comment by rankin' rob — 07/11/2009 #

  8. Remember when Rocker and Kevin McGlinchy were going to be our big 1-2 punch out of the ‘pen? Best laid plans of mice and men…

    I wouldn’t include Pete Smith here. Like Avery, his problems were injury related. The guy we saw him be down the stretch in ‘92 is who he could have been if completely, or even largely, healthy.

    Comment by PepeFreeUs — 07/11/2009 #

  9. Rocker would also be my pick to play Lenny in the former Braves amateur playhouse production of “Of Mice And Men”, btw.

    Comment by rankin' rob — 07/11/2009 #

  10. He’s definitely right for the part, but I doubt he’d play a “retard.” Even if he did, he’d get fired for calling the director a fag and refusing to work with any Mexicans.

    Comment by atlmalcontent — 07/11/2009 #

  11. How about #1 draft pick Barry Bonnell? He hit an empty .300 in his rookie season and was thought to be a future star, what with the blond hair and the righteous ways and all. The chicks dug him, but much like Frenchy he was off the market at an age when, really, one should be on the market.

    He fell off a cliff the next season, then rebounded somewhat, but the bloom was off the rose and we traded him to the Blue Jays. I seem to remember a similar air of gradually decreasing expectations surrounding Bonnell.

    Comment by sansho1 — 07/11/2009 #

  12. Andres Thomas NEVER made the all star team. All stars during Thomas tenure:
    1985 Murphy
    1986 Murphy
    1987 Murphy, Ozzie Virgil
    1988 Gerald Perry
    1989 Smoltz
    1990 Greg Olson

    Comment by NahaGomez — 07/11/2009 #

  13. That Ozzie Virgil made the All-Star team, and he wasn’t the only Brave, says a lot about the sorry state of NL catching in ‘87.

    Comment by atlmalcontent — 07/11/2009 #

  14. What is amazing about Virgil making the all star team in 1987 is that he could have been the MVP in that game (Raines got it). The Atlanta Braves have actually had at least 8 catchers make the all star team:

    Joe Torre (1966-67)
    Biff Pocoroba` (1978)
    Bruce Benedict (1981,1983)
    Ozzie Virgil (1987)
    Greg Olson (1990)
    Javy Lopez (1997-98,2003)
    Johnny Estrada (2004)
    Brian McCann (2006-2009)

    I know it’s old school but how about Earl Williams as a young player who flamed out? 1971 Rookie of the Year with 33 homers and then traded two years later.

    Comment by NahaGomez — 07/12/2009 #

  15. CD mentioned Williams, and stats-wise he’s the best comparison. Great as a rookie, less-impressive but still productive the next two years (season 3 was in Baltimore) and then power and average numbers similar to Frenchy, circa ‘08-’09.

    Comment by atlmalcontent — 07/12/2009 #

  16. We got Chris Chambliss for Bonnell, so he gets major points (by extension) for that.

    Comment by PepeFreeUs — 07/12/2009 #

  17. I wouldn’t lump McMurtry in with Pan. Yeah, he won 15 games as a rookie, but he had good, not great, stuff, and his margin of error was really narrow. In the off-season after his rookie year, I was working for a small newspaper in Central Texas near his hometown, and we interviewed him, and his goal for the next season was merely to make the Braves’ roster again. I figured right then that he didn’t have the confidence to repeat his rookie performance, and he didn’t.

    Comment by Tokyokie — 07/12/2009 #

  18. Actually, I think dude is going to bat .285-.295. Sucks for us, but getting a boot in the butt is (a) exactly what Francoeur needed, and (b) is way, way overdue. I just wish we’d traded him to another division.

    Same could be said for Church, actually. I expect them both to have good seasons against their former teams.

    Comment by Some Other Mike — 07/12/2009 #

  19. Actually, I take back that second part. I gather the Mets folks just didn’t like Church. Good for us. :D

    Comment by Some Other Mike — 07/12/2009 #


Leave a comment

XHTML: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <pre> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.