CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury reports that Jeff Francoeur and the Phillies have been chatting and that there’s mutual interest in bringing back The Natural for next season.
Francoeur could test the free agent market, of course, but at this point in his career one hopes that he’s realistic about his place in the world. That place: playing part-to-full time for a team without aspirations of the playoffs and without outfield prospects who need the reps.
Which is not a slam on Frenchy: having an actual major leaguer who is well-liked and who can be in the lineup every dang day, play good defense and hit the occasional homer for a rebuilding club is useful. You don’t want to count on him to be a cog of a contender -- his bat is way too limited for that -- but as a time-bider, he’ll make some fans happy and give his manager one less thing to worry about. He’ll also not be a clubhouse problem, one presumes, when the Phillies do find a young guy who is going to be part of the next good Philly team to take his place.
On the year Francoeur is hitting .257/.287/.427 with 12 home runs over 324 plate appearances. Which, no, ain’t gonna play on most teams. But someone has to take the hacks as the Phillies rebuild. And who is a better hacker than Jeff Francoeur?