How About A Francoeur/Pagan Platoon?

Please forward to the Mets FO.

Francoeur is miscast as a full-time player. He would be a strong 4th OFer, though, and could have a nice career mashing lefties, providing adequate defense in RF as a part-timer, and (assuming he can handle the role—some guys can’t) pinch-hitting with some power v LHP. (Do we have any idea, btw, if he can handle LF?)

I wonder if it would have any effect on him, and it may be too late now, if a strong manager said to him, ‘Jeff, if I see you swinging at anything more than 6" off the plate, you’re benched for three days.’ And followed through. OTOH if may be pointless—he just may not have the ability to recognize pitches out of the strike zone.

but my faith in Jerry correctly managing a platoon is minimal.

Mets management sees the “ability to play everyday” as one of Frenchy’s best qualities. By their messed up logic, if he’s not playing everyday, we’ll be losing one of his greatest attributes. Of course it makes no sense, but that hasn’t stopped them before.

so as not to embarrass Frenchy.

and it’s embarrassing that no one’s pointed out the several reasons why yet.

There are plenty of reasons why this is a terrible idea, but it really comes down to three simple factors: age, experience (includes statistics) and health.

Here are the facts: Pagan is 28 and soon to be 29, has 872 career ABs in 267 career games and has been injured frequently throughout his 4 year MLB career.

Francouer will be 26 in 2010, has 2742 career ABs in 706 Gs and has never been on the DL (the thumb was the first significant injury in his pro-career and he played through it).

Both these guys can hit (Frankies better against lefties, Pagan against righties) and both these guys can field (who can field right better is debatable, but Franc’s arm is the best in the game), but those simple factors say Pagan’s suited for the 4th OF, spot starting duty while Francouer’s an everyday fielder.

Alright, lets forget about those 3 reasons and look at some others. Pagan, by all measures, is a leadoff hitter more than anything else. He has a little bit of power, but he’s probably a 20 HR max type player. Francouer on the hand is a middle of the lineup type who can hit for power. He has a 29 HR season under his belt already and nearly caught Daniel Murphy for the Mets lead in HRs last year, even though Murphy had 508 ABs compared to Francs 289 ABs in a Mets uniform. Clearly power is something the Mets need in their lineup and is part of the reason Bay was brought in.

The Mets have Reyes as the leadoff hitter (although I guess he could hit third lol) and also have to put Castillo somewhere in the lineup.

The opening day lineup will probably look like this: Reyes (S), Castillo(S), Wright®, Beltran(S), Bay®, Delgado(L), Franceour®, Molina/Thole/Santos, P (if delgado resigns, obviously)

Switching Pagan with Franc, you’ve got a player with no power hitting in front of two guys that won’t provide any protection. Last year Pagan batted leadoff and in theory had protection from batting in front of castillo and wright. Franc typically batted 5th and lower and clearly wasn’t getting any protection given the bandaid lineup the Mets had by the 2nd half last year.

Okay, lets take a little look around the league. Phillies and Yankees last year… no platoons at any position. Fulltime starters at every position.

The last three reasons are pretty simple. Beltran is playing on a knee that has more questions marks than the riddlers suit. Pagan is his primary backup going into next year and i expect he’s going to be getting a more than adequate amount of time in CF.

Second to last, an everyday starting spot is a privilege, a right and a sign of respect in MLB. Players become attached to their positions and with good reason. They’re creatures of habit and repetition, and each and everyone one of you knows damn well that if your boss came to you and said… hey, you only work good MWF, we’re going to have another guy do your job Tuesday and Thursday, you’d be pissed but you’d also question yourself and your ability and it would definitely mess with your head.

Finally, Franc’s been through this before. ATL’s management sent him to the minors without consultation or any sort of forewarning (not even a benching) and that created Franc’s distrust of ATL management (mostly Wren) while also messing with his head. If it wasn’t for the way this scenario went down, Franc might not be a Met (which ofcourse some of you wish for, foolishly). Anyways, the platoon situation would create the same sort of mistrust that bombed his last year and a half in ATL.

Franc’s going to get a full spring training with Hojo and his buddy Wright. If they can teach him some patience and pitch recognition against righties, he could even better than he was in 05, 06 and 07.

Give Francoeur at least a month or two to prove himself before you start calling for a platoon.

okay, two more quick reasons.

.260 for a righty against righties with a .677 OPS isn’t terrible by any means. Ryan Howard was .207 with a .653 OPS against lefties in 09. I’m not saying Franc is a player of Ryan’s stature by any means, but still, .207. That’s absolutely terrible.

Finally, money. Franc is paid like a starter. Pagan’s not. Crazy as it sounds (actually, in MLB, the idea that money and bad GM decisions don’t dictate everything that happens is a crazy idea), it does dictate to a certain amount who gets the playing time and who doesn’t, if only because the players union will file a grievance.

While you make a more compelling argument than I expected, I simply don’t trust Pagan in anything more than a bench role. If Pagan is batting against righties, that gives him the majority of the ABs out in right. While he has the skill set to succeed, the man is the outfield version of Oliver Perez.

How many baserunning blunders and fielding blooper reels did he put together in his emergency role last year? He lacks the focus to play everyday, which is extremely frustrating because he shows he’s got the talent.

So while Frenchy’s statistics don’t look sustainable, I’m not sure Pagan is the answer we need.