Random Acquisition Proposal: Julio Franco

by BeefMaster on Aug 2, 2007 4:11 PM EDT

The last active position player from RBI Baseball was recently designated for assignment... could he be a worthwhile acquisition for the Twins?

I'm proposing the Twins acquire Julio Franco, who the Braves designated for assignment when they acquired Mark Texiera. In my scenario, Franco would either be claimed off waivers or traded for an conditional prospect (like the Bret Boone deal), and the Twins would send down Luis Rodriguez to make room on the 25-man roster. Yes, I know Franco's almost 49 years old. Yes, I know he's only hitting .221/.324/.291 this year. But I'm serious about this. Here's an (admittedly off-the-cuff) analysis of pluses and minuses.

Pluses:

Have you seen the Twins' bench? With the standard Twins starting lineup, the only decent bench bat is the backup catcher, and although Gardy's been better about having both Redmond and Mauer in the lineup, it still wouldn't hurt to have another option available.
That horrific stat line could be an issue of small sample size. Julio's poor results this year have been in extremely limited at bats (just over 100 PA). As recently as two years ago, he put up an OPS near .800, and even the .700 he managed last year is a step up from Tyner at DH.
Really, will we miss L-Rod? Punto's move to the utility role has made Rodriguez pretty much redundant, as the Twins can back up any infield position with Punto or Cirillo.
I'd assume the Twins could basically get him for free, since the Braves will be letting him go anyway. I'm not sure of the 40-man roster situation, although I'd assume there's an opening thanks to the Castillo trade.
Karma - it seems like having the oldest player in the league on your team should be a positive force for your team somehow.

Minuses:

Did I mention that he's almost 49? That is older than both players who were inducted into the Hall of Fame this week. He's not getting any younger, and it's very possible that his struggles this year aren't a product of small sample size - they're a product of being old.
He's already been released by two teams this year... obviously they haven't found his performance acceptable.
The desire has been for a power bat... and Julio ain't it. His career high in homeruns is 20, and he hasn't had half that in over a decade (although he did hit 9 in 2005).
It's not a guaranteed upgrade by any means. Julio would likely be taking at bats away from Ford and Tyner (DH and PH), and he's not outperforming either of them so far this year.

In my opinion, the pluses outweigh the negatives just enough - an upgrade is an upgrade, no matter how small, and it'd probably be close to free.

TwinkieTown, tell me why this is a bad idea.

Poll

Should the Twins acquire Julio Franco?

0 recs | Comment 14 comments

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Comments

Eh

Eh, Why not? Might be fun...

Baseball is great because you cant take a knee or kill the clock. You gotta put the ball over the plate and give the other guy his damn shot E Weaver abridged

by AdamOnFirst on Aug 2, 2007 4:32 PM EDT 0 recs

I say sure

...why not? It doesn't do anything for me, but it wouldn't cost much that counts...

Oh, ok, I have one reason why it's not a good idea: He's played so long and for so many teams he might forget he plays for the Twins...he could think he's playing for the opposition.

by Jesse on Aug 2, 2007 4:44 PM EDT 0 recs

Heh heh

That's pretty funny.

by Neil on Aug 2, 2007 10:49 PM EDT up 0 recs

No

Even though I'd like to see L-Rod gone, this would serve as a "See? We did something!" moment, a la Phil Nevin, to be mentioned for years to come...even if it failed miserably.

Replace Nick Punto.

by rayken on Aug 2, 2007 5:15 PM EDT 0 recs

I'm ok with it

I do have one barely related concern though. When Cuddyer comes back, who do they send down? The logical choice would be Ford or Tyner, but I have a feeling that their choice will more than likely be Buscher. They are still so infatuated with Ford, Tyner, Punto, and L-rod I'm not sure they'd send any of them down. If that happens Punto's back at third.

by Waldo on Aug 2, 2007 5:16 PM EDT 0 recs

I'm guessing that...

...Luis Rodriguez gets sent down or released. Buscher and Cirillo seem to be the new third baseman.

I've never been able to read Gardy very well, but I'm kind of suspicious that he'll do something like this:

Casilla/Bartlett/Punto split time at 2B/SS, with Bartlett and Casilla getting most of the playing time.

Buscher/Cirillo/Punto split time at 3B, with Buscher and Cirillo in a straight L/R platoon (at least as long as Cirillo's knees will let him play), and with Punto coming in on defense in close games. Buscher gets the call ahead of Rodriguez because we know that Rodriguez has been bad and we know less well that Buscher will eventually suck.

Kubel/Rondell split time at DH in a L/R platoon. This is a guess, but I think that Gardy has seen too much of injured Rondell over the last year plus to think that Rondell is healthy enough to play everyday. Since he can't play everyday, he'll play against lefties.

Tyner/Ford split time in LF in a L/R platoon. Gardy also likes his OF defense, and thinks that Tyner/Ford are much better out there than Kubel, so with Tyner being "hot" and all, this is his way of keeping Tyner in the lineup.

The reason I don't think it will go down quite like this is that Gardy doesn't seem to like platoons all that much, but this would get everyone some playing time (something that Gardy likes) and it would be a somewhat reasonable way of dealing with the scrubs on hand.

by ubelmann on Aug 2, 2007 5:55 PM EDT up 0 recs

I would...

do basically that, but play Kubel every day at either LF or DH. Whenever White doesn't play, Tyner plays. And Ford just gives guys days off, nothing else.

by djskilbr on Aug 2, 2007 7:21 PM EDT up 0 recs

Platoons

>>The reason I don't think it will go down quite like this is that Gardy doesn't seem to like platoons all that much

To support this, you would need to:

Identify the positions where a logical platoon would occur during Gardy's tenure. Name the position and the two players who would have been preferable to one.
Show the instances in which he failed to do this.

My guess: There haven't been too many Mohr/Kielty opportunities.

"Man, the past is a long and twisty road." -- Satchel Paige.

by Firpo Marberry on Aug 2, 2007 11:49 PM EDT up 0 recs

Jones

Example: Jacque Jones versus righties, and anyone else on the team versus lefties. We may not have always had a Kielty-type masher, but Jones was so bad against lefties that any other option on the team would have been preferable.

by Diggity Dino on Aug 3, 2007 9:03 AM EDT up 0 recs

Yup

Yeah, that's pretty much example one of if you EVER need a platoon, that's it.

I wouldn't say he doesn't like platooning people. He platoons Jason Kubel plenty. He just doesn't do it based on platoon splits. He more does it on how much he likes you. If you aren't one of his guys yet, you get platooned.

Baseball is great because you cant take a knee or kill the clock. You gotta put the ball over the plate and give the other guy his damn shot E Weaver abridged

by AdamOnFirst on Aug 3, 2007 12:45 PM EDT up 0 recs

Try again

The Jones example is nearly a cliche. But more importantly, it's one example.

Again:
>>>>The reason I don't think it will go down quite like this is that Gardy doesn't seem to like platoons all that much.

One example. Even two. Even three, do not support this contention.

Gardenhire has been manager long enough that in today's game there must be a half-dozen examples of this, if in fact it's true.

I suspect it is not true, or at least there are not enough examples to support this.

"Man, the past is a long and twisty road." -- Satchel Paige.

by Firpo Marberry on Aug 4, 2007 3:14 AM EDT up 0 recs

Roster move

I'd agree that they will probably send down Rodriguez when Cuddyer comes back, but I completely forgot about Cuddyer being out when I wrote my Franco proposal - if they signed Julio, they'd have to send down someone else (probably Ford or Tyner) to make room when Cuddyer comes back. Do either of those guys have options?

Franco is not as clear-cut an upgrade from those two as he is from Rodriguez (although I would probably have him pinch hit for either).

by BeefMaster on Aug 3, 2007 11:45 AM EDT up 0 recs

It is interesting though...

on who you send down if we pick someone up. LRod I agree will be sent down when Cuddyer comes back. So who's next to go? There's a place for all of Buscher/Cirillo/White/Punto/Casilla/current pitchers. I'm hoping Ford, but not sure.

by djskilbr on Aug 2, 2007 7:22 PM EDT 0 recs

LaVelle

... is reporting that Jeff Cirillo was just traded to Arizona for a Minor Leaguer. I guess that answers the question of who Cuddyer replaces on the roster.

by Waldo on Aug 3, 2007 5:44 PM EDT up 0 recs