But when I look at things like francouer’s regression I just don’t see how he can return to his stats from a time when pitchers weren’t aware of the gaping holes in his swing, and he had bats like Chipper, an effective Andruw and McCann around him (5 guys on that team had over 24 homers, and renteria put up a .293/.797 line). Also, his HR/FB rate has gone down every season since he reached the bigs (17%, 15%, 9%, 6%, 5%). I love looking at half full glasses as much as the next guy, but to me I just don’t see this player ever delivering on the hype he created when he was first called up (see, kevin maas).

And omir may have a good avg. with RISP and 2 outs, but his other clutch stats are not overwhelming.

He’s been just what we needed, just when we needed it, so I completely see why a lot of folks are loving him. I am too, he’s a met, I’m always pulling for our guys to succeed. All I’m saying is, don’t get your hopes up. He hasn’t changed anything with his swing or approach to hitting (not that I was expecting some miraculous shift in his first month in Queens). I’ve had to watch the guy his whole career, and the only thing different this year is that he hasn’t come up with some new “timing mechanism” to help figure out why he’s slumping. At the end of last year, it was a toe tap (which he still does, but sometimes doesn’t). The year before that, it was an elbow twitch. It’s always some odd change he comes up with to compensate for his inability to pick up the ball out of the pitcher’s hand. He’s always been able to put it together for periods of success, it’s the prolonged slumps that I’m dreading.

Also, it’s not a saber thing, it’s a baseball thing. If he’s not being selective, if he’s not recognizing what’s coming at him, he’ll consistently find himself in pitchers counts with less opportunities to look for a pitch in a zone and attack it. I don’t want the guy to walk like everyone keeps saying, I want him to swing at strikes and work the count to his advantage. He has a natural ability to put the bat on the ball, which is what we’re seeing now… imagine if he could combine that with the ability to recognize pitches? He’d be a monster. Unfortunately, for three years he hasn’t made much of an improvement… and it’s not like our coaching staff is known for development. That’s what worries me.

We don’t bash, David Wright for instance, for his 100+ RBI seasons because he does everything else right. He hits for power, usually, hits for a high average, and takes the free base when they give it to him. Francoeur goes up there and swings as hard as he can. He makes good enough contact, but when he has his mind set on swinging, he does it. It’s almost as if he decides to take a pitch or swing before the ball is even thrown. He’s just not going to be a good player for any length of time. He’s hot now and lets hope he keeps it up. I’m just not optimistic

and surprised – but still happy

I definitely made up something I read in order to strengthen my opinion in a pointless and anonymous internet argument. Good call there. You caught me.

I’m mostly just amused at how your head is exploding because Francouer has been getting positive reviews. I picture you punting your remote every time he hits a HR. It’s obviously very important to you that he fails so that it validates your analysis.

Don’t worry, we’ll still think you are brilliant even if Francoeur plays well in NY.

Anyway, the amount of all out hatred for the guy here is hilarious. I think Bobby Bonilla is more popular.

Personally, I think Francouer has been a great addition so far, and I root for him to succeed, because when he does, it helps the Mets.

I know, that’s asinine.

Now he’s taking more first pitch ball/strikes and actually works the count. That can only increase his chances of getting a pitch to hammer….