Maikel Franco

[WestCoastPhan]

Hit another HR tonight & now has 29 combined between reading and clearwater this year so far. Makes so much sense to play mcdonald, casper, and that former expo bernadette. Afterall we need to see what we can assemble for next year.

 

[_phiLLies_]

they are never going to let him win a job any time soon.. that's why he didn't even get a bump to AAA. i see he played both games at 1st base today though.. so maybe they'll bring him up in september and use him there.

 

[Retroram52]

Do you think that brain-dead has even a whiff of a clue?

 

[WestCoastPhan]

He hit HR #30 tonight...a 2-run shot. He now has a combined 100 RBI's for the season!

 

[_phiLLies_]

don't forget the guy who won it after franco tied it.. kelly dugan. hit his 20th. .292 avg, .356 obp, .870 ops. batting .348 against lefties.

 

[jvett77]

I think they'll bring Franco up next week and then promote him to AAA next year. Since neither Asche nor Franco can play SS, he'll be stuck on the farm until Utley goes down.

 

[WestCoastPhan]

don't forget the guy who won it after franco tied it.. kelly dugan. hit his 20th. .292 avg, .356 obp, .870 ops. batting .348 against lefties.

Here's a good article detailing the phillies top prospects that just came out today...dugan is ranked 7th...

PhoulBallz.com: Reading Eagle Survey: Franco Ranked Top Phillies Prospect

 

[jvett77]

Good article on the prospects. If either Utley or Howard develops hitting cramps or injuries in 2014, Franco is the perfect replacement.

 

[_phiLLies_]

interesting list. i'm not high on some of it though. i think the top 3 are accurate. franco and biddle are clearly tops. crawford is good at #3 for now because he's ripping the ball at lakewood, after ripping it in the rookie league. very impressive early on.

the rest though.. i'd move morgan to #4. i thought he was ready before the season and he's been great since coming back from his injury. then i'd have rupp at #5. great defense and a .274 average at AAA. can't ask much more from a catcher. and he's still improving. i'd drop quinn out of the top 15 because of his slight struggles and injury. also very surprised to not see severino gonzalez anywhere on that list.

 

[Cedrique]

I'm a little worried that the article said that Franco recently began playing first base. Why? That is the position that gives them and him the least flexibility. Is he that bad defensively? If he can play third or outfield or any other position he should be playing that. They don't need a first baseman waiting in the wings in case Howard goes down. Ruf, Utley or almost anyone else could do that. Franco should be playing other positions so he can come up if Asche is injured(I'm assuming he is their 3rd baseman next year) or one of the outfielders. Or if Howard is hurt Ruf can play 1b and Franco could join the team as an outfielder. It wouldn't be that big of a deal except based on recent history, if he was playing mostly 1b in the minors and a spot did open up at 2b, 3b or OF the front office would make him waste a month or two working on his defense at whatever position it was.

 

[jvett77]

It's simply a good idea for Franco to play some 1b. It gives the Phillies more flexibility because of the Howard/Utley injury potentials. 1b Howard / Franco, 2b Utley / Franco, ss JRol, 3b Asche. OF Brown, Revere, Ruf. Nothing is in stone but those are good possibilities. If JRol goes down (unlikely since he's not aggressive) we'll likely see weak hitting Galvis. or Bernadina or Wells? Ha, ha, ha.

 

[jvett77]

Actually, of Asche and Franco, only Asche has played a little 2b so we'd be stuck with Galvis or some unknown candidate in the minors or via trade. Sandy will figure it out.

 

[Cedrique]

I disagree with that. First Base should be the last stop before DH. Almost anyone can play first base. John Kruk, Pat Burrell, (ok a 42 year old Jim Thome couldn't but most players can). That's why signing Howard long term was a bad decision, especially for a National League team. If Ruf had been an outfielder the last couple years and Howard went down at the beginning of the year he probably would have come up as a first baseman quickly, whereas with Ruf considered a first baseman we were subjected to Delmon Young and John Mayberry starting at one of the corner outfield spots.
then again, with Amaro, who knows....

 

[jvett77]

If Howard went down, then 1b and 2b would be covered by Asche and Franco, whoever works out best at the either position. I don't see how else Franco would work into the lineup. This assumes Franco will show something in September here and/or in AAA next year.

 

[_phiLLies_]

they said they moved him because it's always good to play multiple positions. i believe they moved him because he'll be taking over for howard.

have to remember.. ryan has 3 more years left (then a ridiculous 10 mil buyout on the 4th year because amaro is an idiot).. but, franco just turned 21. so even at the end, franco will still be fairly young.

he has a really good arm and glove at 3rd, but is very slow. so he's stuck at 3rd, 1st or catcher. and you certainly don't want to waste his potential at catcher. asche did not handle 2nd base well when given the chance. this was years ago, but still a fact. right now, franco and asche are probably even at 3rd. but, asche can and will improve as the years go on, franco will never be able to improve his speed. so it seems asche will not be leaving 3rd.

unless amaro sucks it up, trades howard and pays 90 plus percent of his bill (which i totally do not ever see happening) .. then i think franco will be slowly working his way into 1st base. a full year of AAA next year (maybe even starting at AA first) and then if he keeps doing what he's doing, amaro will have to start answering after next year (when howard still has 2 more years left.)

but who knows, a lot of shit can happen. i thought ruf might have been the new howard.. stealing his spot while he's hurt. but it looks like he can survive in the outfield ok. it could very well be franco stealing it. the chances of howard going down next year for some kind of stretch are fairly good. if franco is being franco, i think he'd be coming up.

i always caught massive shit/insults for complaining about howard and his deal back in the day. wish i could tell all those "fans" to suck a dick now. you see what happens.

 

[Retroram52]

You had pretty good prescience phillies about Howard and you were absolutely correct in that forethought for all the reasons you explained. No one including brain-dead considered Howard getting hurt and along the way developing the worst batting slumps imaginable to render himself almost completely usesless while draining the club of megabucks and painting the Phillies into such an inflexible personnel corner as to make the deal one of the worst of the freakin' century if you ask me.

Yea Howard was pretty good at one time but the length of the deal and the money involved-somebody had some serious beer-googles on and was sporting a major-league stiffy to the point of absolutely not even thinking this one through with any business or sports acumen. Damn freakin idiots!!!

 

[Cedrique]

i always caught massive shit/insults for complaining about howard and his deal back in the day. wish i could tell all those "fans" to suck a dick now. you see what happens.[/QUOTE]


I would say I feel bad for you but it seems like you do a pretty good job of reminding everyone when you're right about something

 

[WestCoastPhan]

they said they moved him because it's always good to play multiple positions. i believe they moved him because he'll be taking over for howard.

have to remember.. ryan has 3 more years left (then a ridiculous 10 mil buyout on the 4th year because amaro is an idiot).. but, franco just turned 21. so even at the end, franco will still be fairly young.

he has a really good arm and glove at 3rd, but is very slow. so he's stuck at 3rd, 1st or catcher. and you certainly don't want to waste his potential at catcher. asche did not handle 2nd base well when given the chance. this was years ago, but still a fact. right now, franco and asche are probably even at 3rd. but, asche can and will improve as the years go on, franco will never be able to improve his speed. so it seems asche will not be leaving 3rd.

unless amaro sucks it up, trades howard and pays 90 plus percent of his bill (which i totally do not ever see happening) .. then i think franco will be slowly working his way into 1st base. a full year of AAA next year (maybe even starting at AA first) and then if he keeps doing what he's doing, amaro will have to start answering after next year (when howard still has 2 more years left.)

but who knows, a lot of shit can happen. i thought ruf might have been the new howard.. stealing his spot while he's hurt. but it looks like he can survive in the outfield ok. it could very well be franco stealing it. the chances of howard going down next year for some kind of stretch are fairly good. if franco is being franco, i think he'd be coming up.

i always caught massive shit/insults for complaining about howard and his deal back in the day. wish i could tell all those "fans" to suck a dick now. you see what happens.

you started bitching about howard back in '09 or maybe sooner...i remember so many of your posts were about him and it went on and on for years! it got tiring...besides in '09 he was still a stud. he was just completing his 4th consecutive year of 45 or more HR's and 136 or more RBI's. he was a lot of fun to watch from '05-'09. when they signed him to that $125 Million contract I, like many others, knew it was a big mistake. it seems like right after the ink was dry, everything about howard declined rapidly...no one, including you, could have predicted that.

 

[_phiLLies_]

where's the fun of debating if you don't go back to when you're right? (or wrong?) why waste a set amount of time only to never re-visit the actual results?

i believe i started "bitching" about howard as far back as 2008. people kept busting a nut on his 48 homers and 146 rbi. they did not want to hear about the .251 avg, the .339 obp, the .224 avg against lefties, the bad defense, the strikeouts, etc. that's all it ever was with howard, the obsession over homers and rbi.

i have 2 main problems with all this..

1) the issue with the howard dealings were this; HE STILL HAD 3 ARB YEARS GOING INTO 2009. THREE. instead they bought it out and gave him 54 million. 18 million per year, which he would have not come close to making with the results he wound up having. they paid him just to pay him, which you do not let happen in this business. no player is ever going to give you money back when they perform poorly.

that was bad, but at least it was just on the money side. but then a year later as 2010 started, they gave him the insane 5 year deal on top of it. there was absolutely no need to rush as he wouldn't have been a FA until 2012, at age 32!!!

2) at the time, only 1 or 2 fans agreed with me on how horrible the deal was. the rest were media type people, mostly outside of philly. again, no one could stop busting a nut on his homers and rbi, thinking he was going to hit 45+ for the rest of his baseball life.

i was constantly called a 'thome lover.' an idiot. i didn't know anything about baseball. howard was still being underpaid (my favorite.) it's not my money, so who cares. and the list goes on and on.

as the years have passed by, those 1-2 people have turned into 40-50-60. "i totally agree with you _phillies_" .. "i knew signing howard was stupid." .. "i was 100% against the deal at the time."

BULL FUCKING SHIT.

all the insults and crap i took pointing out how hard it will be to trade howard, how his money will slow us down, how we'll be stuck playing him, how he'll block future players at 1st, how he'll break down in his mid 30's, etc.. now most of those people complain more than i did and fully blame amaro for that signing that they endorsed and wanted so much.

that's why in those 12 years over at ESPN, i never really liked to get into serious discussions with my 'own fans.' most have trouble looking at things objectively, especially when they are going well at the time.

 

[WestCoastPhan]

where's the fun of debating if you don't go back to when you're right? (or wrong?) why waste a set amount of time only to never re-visit the actual results?

i believe i started "bitching" about howard as far back as 2008. people kept busting a nut on his 48 homers and 146 rbi. they did not want to hear about the .251 avg, the .339 obp, the .224 avg against lefties, the bad defense, the strikeouts, etc. that's all it ever was with howard, the obsession over homers and rbi.

i have 2 main problems with all this..

1) the issue with the howard dealings were this; HE STILL HAD 3 ARB YEARS GOING INTO 2009. THREE. instead they bought it out and gave him 54 million. 18 million per year, which he would have not come close to making with the results he wound up having. they paid him just to pay him, which you do not let happen in this business. no player is ever going to give you money back when they perform poorly.

that was bad, but at least it was just on the money side. but then a year later as 2010 started, they gave him the insane 5 year deal on top of it. there was absolutely no need to rush as he wouldn't have been a FA until 2012, at age 32!!!

2) at the time, only 1 or 2 fans agreed with me on how horrible the deal was. the rest were media type people, mostly outside of philly. again, no one could stop busting a nut on his homers and rbi, thinking he was going to hit 45+ for the rest of his baseball life.

i was constantly called a 'thome lover.' an idiot. i didn't know anything about baseball. howard was still being underpaid (my favorite.) it's not my money, so who cares. and the list goes on and on.

as the years have passed by, those 1-2 people have turned into 40-50-60. "i totally agree with you _phillies_" .. "i knew signing howard was stupid." .. "i was 100% against the deal at the time."

BULL FUCKING SHIT.

all the insults and crap i took pointing out how hard it will be to trade howard, how his money will slow us down, how we'll be stuck playing him, how he'll block future players at 1st, how he'll break down in his mid 30's, etc.. now most of those people complain more than i did and fully blame amaro for that signing that they endorsed and wanted so much.

that's why in those 12 years over at ESPN, i never really liked to get into serious discussions with my 'own fans.' most have trouble looking at things objectively, especially when they are going well at the time.

That 5 year deal was insane considering they didn't have to do anything when they did it. I felt that way back then...except I didn't complain about howard...he was probably my favorite player from '05-'09. It took me awhile after that to come to terms with the fact that he wasn't ever going to recapture those big years.
Anyway, that was then. No need to rehash the old stuff. Today, I enjoy you as a poster and most of what you have to write.