Braves Quote For The Day ... One From The Vault
by gondeee on Mar 4, 2011 9:34 AM EST
in Braves Quote For The Day
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PrintOver at ESPN, Jerry Crasnick has a good article well worth a full read on some first round pick busts, including our old pal Jeff Francoeur. Cringe-inducing money quote:
"He's going to be a superstar, no doubt about it. He'll be the next Dale Murphy. If he continues to hit and play the outfield like he has for the first 20 or so games of his career, we're going to be talking about more than that." -- Braves third baseman Chipper Jones in August 2005 after Francoeur hit .432 in his first three weeks with the Braves.
Looking back, that was the zenith, and it was a long way down from there.
Also from ESPN, here is a good piece on the injury status of several Braves players working their way back from season-ending injuries last year.
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Oh
2005… What a fun year that was… I remember McCann’s HR off Clemens like it was yesterday…
"I wasn’t thinking about it. That’s the worst celebration of all time. I didn’t know what to do. I got lost in the moment." - Brian McCann
by HansonManCrush on Mar 4, 2011 9:36 AM EST via mobile reply actions
Wait...
Jeff Franceour was on the Braves?
by TBuzz on Mar 4, 2011 9:38 AM EST via mobile reply actions
Reading that...
was kind of like watching someone embarrass themselves on live TV. Hard to read, and not really fun. Hopefully this doesn’t turn into a bash Francouer forum b/c it seems like he has conceded to the fact that he enourmously screwed up when he let his ego override what the organization did to try and help him become a better player.
""I tell people all the time, ‘When I failed in Atlanta, you don’t think that hurt me worse than anything?‘" Francoeur said. "I had it unbelievable in Atlanta. You don’t think I wanted to play there 17 or 18 years and never have to leave my home? We had our dog, my whole family and my wife’s whole family. I had it great. Now we’re shipping stuff all over the country."
Almost painful to read that considering how he started out. Of course, then you read “It got to the point in Atlanta where it was difficult to come to the park and have reporters ask you the same thing every day. Feeling like you’re the reason the team is losing. You’re letting everybody down. It took a toll on me,” Francoeur said. “I was ready to get out of there. I really was.”, and you wonder if the kid ever learned anything at all.
And now he’s in camp at 207 – I don’t keep up with ball player height/ weight ratios but that seems way low and it’s nearly 15 pounds lower than his reported weight last year.
I guess I feel sorry for the guy.
He needed to let go of some of his ego IMO… I really think he could have accepted coaching better.
by UpstateNyBravesFan on Mar 4, 2011 9:57 AM EST up reply actions
I feel
"I wasn’t thinking about it. That’s the worst celebration of all time. I didn’t know what to do. I got lost in the moment." - Brian McCann
by HansonManCrush on Mar 4, 2011 10:00 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
I feel
"I wasn’t thinking about it. That’s the worst celebration of all time. I didn’t know what to do. I got lost in the moment." - Brian McCann
by HansonManCrush on Mar 4, 2011 10:00 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Stupid phone...
I was going to say I feel sorry for him in a sense, but he’s still making a few million each year and he refuses to change his approach when everyone has told/shown him it’s not working
"I wasn’t thinking about it. That’s the worst celebration of all time. I didn’t know what to do. I got lost in the moment." - Brian McCann
by HansonManCrush on Mar 4, 2011 10:01 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Dude could sling it from RF though…I remember a throw to home he made from the middle of RF that hit the netting behind the plate.
Kind of a metaphor for his whole career. Had loads of tools, just could never harness and control it in a consistent way.
by TBuzz on Mar 4, 2011 10:13 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
If you took the time to read the article
It sounds like he has been trying to change his approach, and this is where I have issue with everything that’s been written or said about him. He was TOO willing to change.
Read it, he stated, he hit 29 HR’s his first year, and all the “blogs and websites” complained that he wasn’t getting on base, so he changed his approach to walk more, and his HR’s suffered, and so everyone said “where’s the power” so he bulked up, and killed his fast twitch ability.
If anything, his career went off the rails BECAUSE he wanted to change, not BECAUSE he didn’t.
Frenchy is very unfairly judged all the time. It is the ultimate in what the mental part of the game can do to a young player, and in a way, shows how McCann has succeeded, because he’s never had to deal with what Frenchy had, because Frenchy took all the complaints of everyone. McCann didn’t.
With all due respect...
McCann has never given anyone a reason to complain. To say that pressure from media and fans is what caused his demise is not accurate in my opinion. He didn’t produce, he didn’t get on base, he didn’t drive in runs.
If he did those things people would have shut up…
by TBuzz on Mar 4, 2011 10:30 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Again, READ THE ARTICLE
He specifically stated, he read all the blogs, and wanted to please everyone. Changed his approach because of this.
If you don’t think Media Pressure had influence on his performance, you’re greatly kidding yourself.
And as far as McCann goes, there weren’t the expectations that Franceour had. McCann’s produced, but did it at a position where production isn’t as scrutinized, and Franceour always took the brunt of the complaints. If McCann was an outfielder, he would have had a completely different set up expectations on him. If he hadn’t come up the same year as Franceour, he also would have had A TON of more media pressure. No one pressed him like they did Frenchy when they hit the bigs.
It was a totally different experience for him than Franceour.
Now, to add to that, McCann has a different mental make up than Frenchy, so I’m not saying he wouldn’t have succeeded anyway, I’m just sighting an example, and comparing the two, to point out how expectations COULD be a major cause of players performance.
What that means exactly, I leave up to personal interpretation, but I see it as a major contributor to whether a player is going to succeed or not.
Did he
Really change his approach though? Really? He says he did, but did he really? Really?
"I wasn’t thinking about it. That’s the worst celebration of all time. I didn’t know what to do. I got lost in the moment." - Brian McCann
by HansonManCrush on Mar 4, 2011 10:42 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
yes
Can you say he didn’t increase his walks in 2007?? I can.
Can you say he bulked up to increase his HR’s in 2008?? Of course.
Then he became so frustrated at what he could and couldn’t do. This was all very well evident.
Really though?
Did he really? Really?
"I wasn’t thinking about it. That’s the worst celebration of all time. I didn’t know what to do. I got lost in the moment." - Brian McCann
by HansonManCrush on Mar 4, 2011 10:46 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Not at all
I just don’t agree with you
"I wasn’t thinking about it. That’s the worst celebration of all time. I didn’t know what to do. I got lost in the moment." - Brian McCann
by HansonManCrush on Mar 4, 2011 11:15 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
So you don't think increasing his walk rate was changing his approach??
You also don’t think bulking up was changing his approach??
Please tell me how those are NOT changing his approach.
I would like to know.
Relax yo...
I’m allowed to disagree with you… First-pitch hacks, rolling over on the ball into numerous DP’s, constantly falling behind in the count, being a little bitch, when he was demoted to the minors, crying to the media about how unhappy he was, refusing Chipper’s advice, only working with Jaramillo, who wasn’t even with the organization, etc. I disagree with you, and I think all the yelling in CAPS you’ve been doing is uncalled for just because some people don’t see it the way you do
"I wasn’t thinking about it. That’s the worst celebration of all time. I didn’t know what to do. I got lost in the moment." - Brian McCann
by HansonManCrush on Mar 4, 2011 11:54 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Not yelling, just emphasis.
There’s a difference.
As for the points you make, first he didn’t completely change his approach, but no one really does. Name a player who COMPLETELY (not yelling) changed their approach and had success in the bigs.
Most players make small adjustments to their game, which Franceour did, it just didn’t work, and actually made him worse for it.
Maddux once talked about how when he came up, strike out pitchers were the hot commodities, but he knew he could never “be that player” so instead he became great at exactly what he could do. Focusing on what he was successful at.
Getting better in the game of baseball is about changing small things, little adjustments, which by this article is what he was trying to do.
He never was, and never will become a different player than when he came up, but by listening to the blogs like this, and opinions like yours, and trying to make adjustments that people like us asked of him, he screwed up his swing.
If he had been hitting 29 HR’s a year, and striking out a bunch, we probably still would have been happy with him. But unfortunately the perception of him is bad because he was frustrated with the media and perception of him by the time he left, and I feel that was totally unfair.
We only know a small percentage of what was going on with him in those situations, and imagine, just as he stated in the quotes in the article, you’re failing, and everyday you have to get out of your car with hordes of reporters around asking the same exact questions all the time of you.
So maybe he handled it wrong, but how many 25 year olds would have handled it right??
So I was pointing out that I felt this was a great example of the mental part of the game, and how it can make the best prospects crumble. And that’s really unfortunate.
If he had been hitting 29 HR’s a year, and striking out a bunch, we probably still would have been happy with him. But unfortunately the perception of him is bad because he was frustrated with the media and perception of him by the time he left, and I feel that was totally unfair.
No, we have Alex Gonzalez who hits a lot of HRs, strikes out a metric butt-load and has an OBP south of .299, and I don’t like him on our team either.
Any perception that we had about Francoeur is a perception that he gave himself. To say that it isn’t fair that we dislike him because he was dislikeable is not fair.
This guy wants to suck all the cubs dick can he not have an unbias some what partition reguards
by RWH2 on Apr 5, 2010 10:20 AM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Mar 4, 2011 5:25 PM EST up reply actions
He never saw a pitch he didn’t think he could hit – that never changed. His approach was to flail away at anything. That never changed.
This guy wants to suck all the cubs dick can he not have an unbias some what partition reguards
by RWH2 on Apr 5, 2010 10:20 AM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Mar 4, 2011 12:20 PM EST up reply actions
McCann succeeded because he put up good numbers. Francoeur did not succeed because he didn’t put up good numbers. He didn’t take the contract offered to him because he thought he could earn himself more money.
He had to change his approach. He was what Alex Gonzalez was. Look at how everyone thinks of Gonzalez coming into this year as a guy with a lot of home runs and no on base skills — he’s looked at as a bad hitter. Now take those talents and put them in a prime hitting position and it is a really bad hitter. The blogs and websites were right. He was on the right path the following year but he just is not a good enough baseball player.
Twitter: @Ben_Duronio Stop calling Tommy Hanson "Big Red" -- This is the cause I support the most.
I shudder to think of where we would be if he had said “Yes, I’ll sign. Thanks, guys!”
This guy wants to suck all the cubs dick can he not have an unbias some what partition reguards
by RWH2 on Apr 5, 2010 10:20 AM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Mar 4, 2011 11:25 AM EST up reply actions
The following season when he increased his walk rate 3% he moved up from being extremely well below league average with a 81 RC+ and a .308 wOBA to a league average player with 100 RC+ and a .337 wOBA. Even though he was league average, he is a right fielder and the average right fielder puts up better numbers than that. It says a lot that he dropped 10 home runs and ended up being a better player. His career did not go off because he wanted to change, it was because he isn’t good enough.
Twitter: @Ben_Duronio Stop calling Tommy Hanson "Big Red" -- This is the cause I support the most.
Well, if he enjoyed it so much, he should have taken hitting advice and his demotion to AAA in stride, he shouldn’t have been a prick during interviews, and he should have realized that he was the worst position player in the majors for a while.
This guy wants to suck all the cubs dick can he not have an unbias some what partition reguards
by RWH2 on Apr 5, 2010 10:20 AM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Mar 4, 2011 11:09 AM EST up reply actions
Sample size
If he continues to hit and play the outfield like he has for the first 20 or so games
Morgan: Do you think I could come into the clubhouse after the game and display my ass for both those veterans and the younger guys?
Baker: Well, Joe, you are on the payroll of the team, and you're a legend, so I suppose — holy shit!
[Joe has appeared next to Dusty, in the dugout, completely naked]
Morgan: Hey.
he was too big of a diva for me so i was glad we traded him
by suicide bunting is a sin on Mar 4, 2011 11:28 AM EST reply actions
I feel like this is the point where I should make a statistical argument debating Francoeur’s high and low points. Or I could ask the question: Why, more than a year-and-a-half after his departure from Atlanta, he still manages to ignite such passionate debate among the fanbase of a team for which he no longer plays.
Instead, I’ll say simply that he looks yummy in his uniform, and that’s why I like him.
But seriously, why does he still generate such discussions? The folks at Amazin’ Avenue tend to do the same thing, a year after he last donned a Mets uni. What’s so fascinating about this man that he still remains at this level of prominence in Braves’ fans minds?
LIVE EST
Tape-delayed for the West Coast
Because he is that annoying.
This guy wants to suck all the cubs dick can he not have an unbias some what partition reguards
by RWH2 on Apr 5, 2010 10:20 AM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Mar 4, 2011 12:21 PM EST up reply actions
Because half the stands were wearing number 7 jerseys. Because the media guide and commercials all had him front and center. Because I HATE his happy-go-lucky attitude and all of the hype.
And because he was OBP’ing like Alex Gonzalez. In conclusion, most people dislike those that are laughably overrated (much like Kobe Bryant), umad Lakers fans?
I'm not a Lakers fan...
But you’re a moron if you think Kobe is underrated. Maybe as he gets older moving forward, but he’s certainly lived up to all his billing in the past.
-C
It’s rough to sit through these games and not have someone that can’t hit a Ball?
Make the shot.
This guy wants to suck all the cubs dick can he not have an unbias some what partition reguards
by RWH2 on Apr 5, 2010 10:20 AM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Mar 4, 2011 3:40 PM EST up reply actions
Kobe IS overrated if he's considered one of the greatest players ever
He’s most likely the best player of his generation but not on the level of the all-time greats. He’s one of the better scorers the NBA has ever seen but not an elite player of all-time. There’s more to basketball than ball-hogging and scoring 30 points on 25 shots.
Oh, come on.
He also played excellent defense for most of his years, and still can when he wants to. Also chips in 5 rebs and 5 assists per game.
I wouldn’t put him in the top five or anything like that, but he’s pushing the top 10 of all-time.
-C
It’s rough to sit through these games and not have someone that can’t hit a Ball?
Kobe doesn’t crack the top 20 of all time, let alone top 10
(In no particular order – just the order that they flashed into my brain)
1. Michael Jordan
2. Magic Johnson
3. Larry Bird
4. Dr. J
5. Pete Marovitch
6. Jerry West
7. Hakeem Alajuwon
8. Bill Russell
9. Shaq
10. Kareem Abdul Jabbar
11. Tim Duncan
12. Wilt Chamberlain
All were better than Kobe
This guy wants to suck all the cubs dick can he not have an unbias some what partition reguards
by RWH2 on Apr 5, 2010 10:20 AM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Mar 4, 2011 9:08 PM EST up reply actions
dr j #4?
Tho, Kobe still has no place in the top 10
"If I have asthma, they won't let me scuba. And if I can’t scuba, then what’s this all been about?? What am I working toward??"
"You look like you should be married to one of the San Diego Padres."
I said it was in no particular order, other than just how they popped into my head.
This guy wants to suck all the cubs dick can he not have an unbias some what partition reguards
by RWH2 on Apr 5, 2010 10:20 AM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Mar 5, 2011 9:11 AM EST up reply actions
You shouldnt expect me to be able to read.
"If I have asthma, they won't let me scuba. And if I can’t scuba, then what’s this all been about?? What am I working toward??"
"You look like you should be married to one of the San Diego Padres."
I said pushing top 10...
not in top 10. And you came up with 12 names.
Also, Shaq’s prime > Kobe’s prime, but Kobe’s career > Shaq’s career. Outside of one healthy year in Phoenix, he hasn’t been relevant as a star player since his championship in Miami, more than five seasons ago. Hasn’t put up 30 minutes or 20 points per game since then. Kobe will catch him in points scored next season, though Shaq’s played four more seasons.
-C
It’s rough to sit through these games and not have someone that can’t hit a Ball?
Being a great basketball player involves more than scoring points. Shaq was better in every facet of the game, except for shooting.
This guy wants to suck all the cubs dick can he not have an unbias some what partition reguards
by RWH2 on Apr 5, 2010 10:20 AM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Mar 5, 2011 5:45 PM EST up reply actions
The NBA is currently loaded with young talent but in the recent past Kobe played good, not excellent, defense in an era of unpolished raw athletes with poor basketball fundamentals. The Lakers were a crappy lottery team after Kobe got Shaq traded and before Gasol was hijacked from Memphis. This is proof that he couldn’t carry a team on his own like some of the all-time greats.
Not too many all-time greats...
carried their teams. Jordan didn’t, he always had Pippen, who probably falls above Kobe. Bird’s Celtics were stacked, as were Magic’s Lakers. And so forth. Tim Duncan didn’t (and that someone put him ahead of Kobe is laughable…he’s had exactly one season where his pts/game even made it to Kobe’s career average).
-C
It’s rough to sit through these games and not have someone that can’t hit a Ball?
Tim Duncan was the most dominant player in the NBA for a few years – Kobe has never been able to say that.
Kobe is not that great of a player – he shoots 20-30 shots per game, and makes about 1/3 of them, giving him a total of 20-30 ppg.
Kobe is a terrible team player. He doesn’t rebound. He doesn’t play great D. He doesn’t pass. He takes terrible shots. He is a “me-first” player in a game where selfishness cannot exist.
Jordan once led the League in points AND assists. THAT is greatness.
Kobe going 9-30 for 22 points is nothing close to greatness.
This guy wants to suck all the cubs dick can he not have an unbias some what partition reguards
by RWH2 on Apr 5, 2010 10:20 AM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Mar 5, 2011 5:47 PM EST up reply actions
Yes, Duncan is better
Tim Duncan career averages;
.507 FG%, 20.7 PPG, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 0.7 steals, 2.3 blocks
Kobe Bryant career averages:
.455 FG%, 25.3 PPG, 5.3 rebounds, 4.7assists, 1.5 steals, 0.5 blocks
I’ll take Duncan who is an automatic double-double and defensive presence while being more efficient percentage-wise. He scores 5 points less per game than Kobe, but Duncan’s defense prevents much more than 5 points to make up for it. Duncan provides much more value than simple numbers can quantify but even the stats prove Duncan is the better player.
Jordan never carried a team?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!???
First off, Jordan molded Pippen from a lanky wing player into one the the top-50 players of all-time. Without Jordan’s guidance, Pippen would’ve been somewhere between a Rashard Lewis or Stacey Augmon. An athletic role player, not a perennial All-Star or Hall-of-Famer. Go back and look at some of those crappy, below .500 teams Jordan carried to the playoffs in the 80’s against some of the greatest teams the NBA has ever seen. He had nothing around him and was scoring 30-40 a night, getting double and triple-teamed, while doing all the intangibles to keep his team from getting blown out against superior teams. Before expansion the NBA was stacked with historically great teams and Jordan was going into battle with mostly players that would’ve been 10th-12th men on the best opposing teams. Once Pippen and Horace Grant were drafted, Jordan carried them to 50 wins and they were contenders with the slightest amount of talent to help take the entire offensive and defensive load off Jordan. Those great Celtics and Lakers team had lots of great players, but all the top teams were loaded with All-Stars and Hall-of-Famers. Jordan only had a young Pippen until he was able to work with Pippen day in and day out in practice to groom him into a worthy sidekick. The fact that you think Duncan is laughably worse than Kobe because he scores far less proves that you should stick to baseball. You can have more of an impact on the game without scoring a single point than if you jack up 30 shots and miss 20 of them. Defense, rebounding, passing—far more important than ball-hogging in basketball.
the first ever 6-24 MVP….
jk
he is the best in the NBA (its close between him and Lebron, Lebron maybe wins) and one of the top 5 greatest players ever and I hate him
"No. Lonely people mixing with one another? Breeding? Creating an even lonelier generation? You're not even allowing natural selection do its work. Pssh. You're like the guy who invented the seat belt."
Dwight Schrute
Top 5? You are better than that. Kobe would be a top 5 player right now (maybe) but certainly not top 5 of all time, not even of his time – Jordan, Shaq, Lebron, Duncan, Robinson are all easily better, Paul, D Wade and others might be better – and those are just the people who have played at the same time as Kobe.
This guy wants to suck all the cubs dick can he not have an unbias some what partition reguards
by RWH2 on Apr 5, 2010 10:20 AM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Mar 6, 2011 12:20 AM EST up reply actions
well i fundamentally disagree with you on what Kobe is…
first off he is a scorer and that is important in the NBA, he might be the best pure scorer ever (there are two or three would put ahead of him, Jordan, Bird and maybe Lebron).
But your characteristization of him as a bad defender is blatantly false. He locks down the best player often in the playoffs. he is at worst an average defender, and I consider him to be a very good perimeter defender.
Also, you keep saying he shoots too much and doesnt make enough which is why he scores so much, but that is false, he does shoot alot, but no more than most other dominant offensive players and his shooting percentage is pretty decent (a career of 450% is darn good, not great but good)
Also he is currently 22nd in Win Shares (it’s essentially WAR for basketball)…but everyone ahead of him had played more years than him, except two guys (OScar Robertson and Jerry West, and they may be better than Kobe, but its hard to compare eras and I am siding with Kobe in that battle.) most of hte dude are like 2 years ahead of him.
assuming he can continue his pace he would be right at the top 10. And refuse to admit that Karl Malone or Artis Gilmore.
to finish, KObe is in the top 100 all time of defensive rebounds (pretty good for a shooting guard) and int he top 20 for all time steals, and 50th all time in assists (pretty good for a guy who only puts up bad shots)….he also has 7 first all defensive teams to his credit…. so maybe you should rethink your stance on Kobe…I will admit I might be ranking him high, but under no circumstance can he be out of the top 20…and really he should be in the top 15 at worst.
"No. Lonely people mixing with one another? Breeding? Creating an even lonelier generation? You're not even allowing natural selection do its work. Pssh. You're like the guy who invented the seat belt."
Dwight Schrute
Pistol Pete would have put Kobe to shame as a scorer...
same with Jerry West, among others. He is not as good as you make him out to be, or as bad as justin is.
http://sportsandgrits.blogspot.com/
I have a hard time comparing players of different eras….would Pete and West score in today’s NBA (they’d be helped, bc I don’t think either had a three-point line) but today’s NBA is significantly more physical.
"No. Lonely people mixing with one another? Breeding? Creating an even lonelier generation? You're not even allowing natural selection do its work. Pssh. You're like the guy who invented the seat belt."
Dwight Schrute
And today's NBA isnt nearly as physical at MJ's NBA
"If I have asthma, they won't let me scuba. And if I can’t scuba, then what’s this all been about?? What am I working toward??"
"You look like you should be married to one of the San Diego Padres."
as doughnut says...
contact rules are also much stricter, so quick with a high level handle as both those guys had would make things much easier for them to get to spots on the floor.
http://sportsandgrits.blogspot.com/
Kobe is Dominique Wilkins or Vince Carter, but with slightly better defense and a little less freakish athleticism. Kobe is better than both of them but basically of the same mold. He’s played 15 seasons now. Not hard to rack up lots of points, rebounds, assists, steals, etc in 15 years playing all those minutes at his level. Kobe is a great scorer, it’s what he does best, but to even suggest he may the best pure scorer ever is a slap in the face to Michael Jordan. Kobe emulates Jordan’s moves. Kobe himself said he idolized Jordan and built his game around everything he saw Jordan do.
Kobe is a great player, but he’s no Jordan, Bird, Magic, Russell, Wilt, Kareem, Dr. J, Oscar Robertson, etc…I’d put Kobe in the second tier about 15-25 with players like Barkley, Pippen, David Robinson, Kevin McHale, Elgin Baylor etc. Scoring is important, but doesn’t mean a whole lot when you compare greatness. I’d rather have a line of 20-10-5 or 15-7-10 over a 30-3-2.
I literally said that Jordan was better than Kobe as a scorer.
and everyone keeps asserting that Kobe doesn’t pass or rebound….his career line is 25 5 5…with 1.5 steals.
"No. Lonely people mixing with one another? Breeding? Creating an even lonelier generation? You're not even allowing natural selection do its work. Pssh. You're like the guy who invented the seat belt."
Dwight Schrute
stupid formatting…and stupid poster who doesnt realize previewing is important
25 – 5 – 5
"No. Lonely people mixing with one another? Breeding? Creating an even lonelier generation? You're not even allowing natural selection do its work. Pssh. You're like the guy who invented the seat belt."
Dwight Schrute
Yes, you did have Jordan ahead of Kobe but...
he (Kobe) might be the best pure scorer ever
You definitely suggested Kobe could be the better pure scorer by your usage of the word might. And yes, Kobe averages nearly 5 assists per game but when it counts most he’s a ballhog. Remember a few years ago in the Finals when he went 1 on 5 in the closing seconds of a pivotal game instead of passing it to one of his 4 open teammates? Lakers ended uo losing the game and the series.
It’s not hard to pass it to an open teammate standing wide open for a corner 3 a few times a game when you’re drawing double teams constantly, but in crunch time he’s either gonna take the last shot or turn it over trying. Jordan usually took the last shot too, but if there was someone wide open he made the right decision.
read Joe P.
regarding Jeff F, read the fanpost i put up yesterday with the link to Joe P’s new piece on him…
guarantee you will not read anything better on Jeff, more affectionate, more poignant.
Francoeur = A baseball player in the wrong era
I have always have a softspot still for Francoeur as he did have that fantastic start of his career in 2005 and help the Braves tremendously in stretching THE STREAK to 14 titles. I still think Francoeur has the skill sets to be a solid platoon player in the Major League. As the article pointed out, Francoeur perhaps listened too much to other people’s opinion and his attempt to reinvent his swing sure did not help his stats or mental state.
I would like to think that if Francoeur was playing baseball in the days before the bloom of Sabremetrics (which I’m all for, by the way) then maybe he could carve out a decent career as one of those guys who puts up great counting numbers (HRs, RBIs) that masks his inefficiency.
Like a Mickey Tettleton or a Rob Deer?
by TBuzz on Mar 4, 2011 3:06 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
If we didn’t use sabermetrics, we could still see that he strikes out a ton, is terrible at getting on base, and flails like a blind man at outside pitching.
The only difference would be that we would, during those days, wonder “Why does he do that?”
This guy wants to suck all the cubs dick can he not have an unbias some what partition reguards
by RWH2 on Apr 5, 2010 10:20 AM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Mar 4, 2011 3:41 PM EST up reply actions
Kinda feel the same way LEast
Frenchy may have shown his backside on several occassions but overall I think he’s a likeable fellow. I still think he has a shot in turning things around. Maybe the low pressure surroundings that is the KC Royals will be beneficial to his career.
A baseball diamond is, most simply, the intersecting of four 90-foot baselines, and, most powerfully, the intersecting of seemingly random lives.
I always liked Frenchy. I was frustrated by his lack of patience at the plate but thought that was something that could be taught. Unfortunately, from what I’ve read and others here have confirmed, he refused such advice. He’s still young, so it’s not too late for him to get back on track. Maybe he’ll properly mature and take to some teaching then gain a better eye at the plate. Hopefully he has a decent career.
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