Monday, August 22, 2011

The Frank Francisco Flu


Shoulder soreness my eye. I know "flu-like symptoms" when I see them. I felt pretty much the exact same way at that exact moment on Sunday (and on to today. Old age FTL.)

As per Gregor:
Janssen was expected to give way to Frank Francisco in the ninth inning. Toronto's closer started warming up late in the game but was forced to shut it down after experiencing soreness in his right shoulder.
The sneaky thing about Frank Francisco is how good he's actually been of late. FIP over the last 30 days? 2.23. FIPs by month? 4.32, 6.79, 2.29, 2.70, 2.41. He's missing bats and generally being the guy expected to hold the fort and then net a pick.

If he is actually injured, well, this whole pick-compiling mess takes an ugly turn. Subjected to inferior and, worse yet, boring players makes the calculated gamble that much harder to take.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the deftness behind the moves. Sometimes it is hard to see the forest for the trees when somebody scrawled "AA WAS HERE" on every trunk in sight.



14 comments:

  1. Given the bullpen overhall that will be required this offseason, I would be quite happy for the Jays to bring back Frankie McFrank back on a one year deal. He surely knows his value is at a low, and would be well served to pitch well for another year before testing the Free Agent market.

    As the Jays timetable for contending has moved up, they will need strong bullpen arms (the recent deals have set the bullpen back) and frank would be one key arm for next year.

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  2. As an aside: I think we may want to keep these two pictures on hand for the scenario where Jose Bautista gets snubbed for the MVP award.

    In fact, I suggest that people start stockpiling on Blue Jays Facepalm pictures for just that reason.

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  3. Poor Mr. McFrankFrank.

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  4. GROF stylebook note: that nickname blows. It is hereby banned.

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  5. Am I the only one whose heart needs mending after looking at those pictures?

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  6. If not mending, at least a hearty dose of electrolytes.

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  7. My head must be broken worse than normal. What are we saying here about why he wasn't brought into the 9th?

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  8. Yeah I agree with Shane. It was a bit too cryptically written. I think by 'pick' you mean saves and not compensatory picks. Not sure what this all has to do with Anthopolous either. Are we saying Frankie didn't feel like pitching or is this some GM conspiracy?

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  9. I think we could have gotten more for Naps. Frank has a poor attitude. I wouldn't call him an AA kind of guy (you know, the young miscreant dying for a fresh start and a second chance)...

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  10. I apologize, allow me to expand:

    1) Francisco looks more like a guy who`s hungover (`flu-like symptoms`) than suffering from shoulder woes.

    2) If he is experiencing shoulder woes, that`s bad. FF was brought in to do a job for the year but net a draft pick when he leaves as a free agent. If he`s hurt badly enough, nobody will sign him.

    If nobody signs him, we sat through this ugliness for nothing.

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  11. re j. paquin. i'm sure there are more than a few angels fans out there thinking the exact same thing.

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  12. Okay, thanks Drew. Oilers fan here. From Raffi Torres to this past year Gilbert Brule, "flu like symptoms" has been a reference under toning cocaine use possibilities, so i'm just never sure.

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  13. @ Anonymous

    Very true...however, I rate AA much higher than Tony Reagins, who constantly has owner Arte in his ear. Angels have had great coaching and poor general management for years. They keep swining and missing on the big FA's and then they take that earmarked cash and unload it on the tier 2 FA's...T. Hunter, B. Abreu...I'm sure there are others.

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  14. Thanks for clarifying Drew.

    I wonder if the Jays will try to protect (and improve) their first round pick next year by giving "long auditions" to players in Sept. Have Drabek walk 12 batters, Hechavarria wildly swing outside the strikezone, Cooper weakly groundout tho Lind does a good job at that already.

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