Jeff Francoeur And Why I Like Certain Players

I nearly cried. And then one this morning wants to trade Wright because he strikes out too much with men on base.

merely because they are good and play for my favorite team.

Not every fan who responds in a positive way to Frenchy is oblivious to the fact that he isn’t a good starting outfielder and would prefer him off the team. Earlier in the season I argued (it’s the contrarian in me) that he would be decent as the righty half of a platoon, but even in that regard he has slipped.

I did not particularly like Frenchy as a Brave. Not merely because he was an enemy, and one with poor plate discipline at that. I assumed he was a dumb redneck, like I assumed that with Chipper. Not that I am necessarily anti-red neck. My folks are North Carolinians. I like Hank Williams and the Allman Brothers. But that was my unknowing opinion of him.

Once I heard him speak a few times as a Met, I was disabused of that notion.

You’re right, of course. These guys are not drinking buddies, and I have no way of really knowing them. But I think you do get a sense. Filtered through interviews, reporters, etc.

Now, we rag on reporters. They don’t know from sabermetrics, they hail grit, disparage superstars for random events out of their control. However, I think you can get a sense through them of what some of these players are like to deal with. Francouer they like. he probably was decent to them, understood they had a job to do. A guy like manny ramirez, even before you read he pushed a traveling secretary, etc., you could tell from how reporters describe him, not an easy guy to deal with. Ted Williams evidently the same way. A real jerk. Bonds too.

You might say so what, those guys are idiots, why should Bonds or anyone give them the time of day? he’s great, they are peons, and don’t recognize his greatness sufficiently.

We often judge people by how they treat others. I think that’s why people like Francouer. he seems decent. He seems like he cares and tries hard.

I know that trying hard doesn’t make you a good ballplayer. From what I can gather, I respect Francouer. I wish he wasn’t so clueless about taking walks. He has seemed oblivious to it in the past. And if he has tried to improve in that area, he has failed. But that doesn’t make me not like him.

Carlos Beltran, he does not seem like he is difficult to get along with, and seems respectful enough. And i think when healthy he is a very good player. He leaves me a little cold, what little I know of him. Reyes on the other hand does not. I know a lot of folks thinks he showboats, but that doesn’t bother me. i like the exuberance.

But Carlos Beltran not giving me the warm fuzzies when I think of him doesn’t mean I didn’t want him on the Mets when he was performing. I wish he’d swung at Wainwright’s curve in 2006, but I don’t really hold that against him. That shit happens.

Fans in general want to see a player try hard. They don’t care how good he is, or really how meaningless making a show of effort (which it often is, like Rose running to first-I hated that shit) is. Even if a guy is great, if he looks like he sometimes goes through the motions, even if overall he is benefitting the team, they will resent the lack of effort.

Beltran has at times seemed less thn passionate. He has been injured, and he is such a graceful player, that impression may come off as not caring. I don’t think that’s true with him. I think he cares. How the hell should know with dimestore psychologizing? But he seems to. He seems to care maybe too much. He seems a brooder, not a slap you on the back kind of guy.

Since we do know so little about what players are truly like, I mostly put that aside myself. Beltran, ok, maybe something he said in an interview once stuck with me sub-consciously. Whatever. If he’s healthy, i want him on the Mets.

I’d take Manny too. From what I have read about him he seems like a jackass. I don’t care. I want him on the Mets.

K-Rod is a bridge too far. I want him off the Mets.

All of this is a roundabout way of saying why people like players or dislike them is complicated, and i don’t think everyone that likes what little they know of Frenchy as a person is blind to the fact he isn’t very good. Maybe he’s gritty on the field, shitty at home. I don’t know. But I am not gonna dislike him because he sucks.

as a follower of the Mets I dislike TERRIBLE baseball players.

I have been trying to convince a few of my Mets fan friends this exact point, but they just don’t get it. Great read! I think Dae Sung Koo deserves a spot at the top right as well.

Kevin Elster, David Cone, Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, Doc K, Straw, Olreud, Ventura, Piazza, Blaine Beatty (he gave me my first and only Mets’ autograph, haha), Benny Agbayani, Fonzie, Mackey Sasser, Tim Teuful, Brian Bannister, Piazza, Mookie, (heck the entire 86 Mets), Angel Pagan, Bruce Chen, Jae Weong Seo, Pedro Feliciano, Bobby J. Jones, Pedro Martinez, Roberto Petagine, Charlie O’Brien and Lance Johnson.

a/k/a “a Kevin McReynolds”

we’ll soar to the top.

Can’t wait!!