Francoeur signs $5 million contract

Jeff Francoeur and the Mets avoided arbitration today, as he has signed a one-year, $5 million contract according to Jon Heyman.

Francoeur made $3.375 million last season.

Mets, Maine agree to deal, avoid arbitration; Four file

According to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, John Maine and the New York Mets agreed to a one-year deal moments after he filed for arbitration.

The deal is worth $3.3 million with the chance to make an additional $225,000 from bonuses based on starts, according to the AP.

Also filing for arbitration today was Pedro Feliciano, Jeff Francoeur, Sean Green and Angel Pagan.

Live chat with Jeff Francoeur at 11 a.m.

Update – 12:09 p.m.: Here are some of my tweets, with updates from his chat…

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

Original post: Head over to MLB.com (or enter the chat room right here) for a live chat with Jeff Francoeur at 11 a.m.

The Mets are really putting Francoeur in the spotlight.  First he’s Santa, now he’s chatting with fans.  They love them some Frenchy.

Thanks to Kerel Cooper for the link.

Link: Francoeur as Santa [Video]

Go here to watch some video from today’s holiday party, hosted by the Mets.

Jeff Francoeur played Santa and Jon Niese (feeling much better), Jose Reyes (also feeling much better), Bobby Parnell and Angel Pagan played the elves.

I guess Reyes missed the striped shirt memo.

Francoeur is front a center.  The Mets really like this guy, don’t they?

Jeff Francoeur isn’t worried [Quotes]

“I’m sure they’ll put a good team on the field for us. There’s two months to go. I’m not panicked about that.”

-Jeff Francoeur on the Mets

Francoeur surgery more complicated than it need to be

From Adam Rubin…

Jeff Francoeur's surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb turned out to be more complex than originally expected, although the outfielder still expects to be ready for spring training. Because Francoeur played with the injury for the final month of the season, the thumb ligament wore down and shriveled, necessitating a transplant from his wrist.

Remember when everyone said, “Oh, it won’t be a problem.  He’s just gritty and plays the game right.  Let him play!”

Oy vey.

Wright, Murphy bunking at HoJo’s (Not the hotel chain)

Buried at the bottom of a Winter Meetings article, is a good tidbit that should brighten up some Mets fans mornings.

David Wright and Daniel Murphy each spent a week living at hitting coach Howard Johnson’s house and training at the Mets facility in Port St. Lucie.  Jeff Francoeur was supposed to join them, but he isn’t fully healed from his surgery yet, according to Adam Rubin.

Wright is focusing on increasing his power stroke for next year, according to the article.

I like these kind of stories.  Just reaffirms the fact that you know these guys want to be at their best.

Francoeur has successful surgery

Via the Mets…

Francoeur today underwent successful surgery to repair a tear of the collateral ligament in his left thumb. The surgery was performed in Atlanta by Dr. Gary Lourie. Following the surgery, Lourie and Mets Medical Director Dr.David Altchek of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York discussed that the surgery went according to their plan. Francoeur is expected to be ready for spring training.

Seems like they’re intent on keeping him for next season.

Francoeur under the knife

Jeff Francoeur, who tore a ligament in his left thumb this season, had surgery to repair the ligament this morning, according to Adam Rubin.

Francoeur, who I believe the Mets will re-sign, even if I don’t want them to, injured the thumb making a diving catch against Philadelphia.  Rubin notes that was mere moments before hitting into an unassisted triple play to end the game.

You may remember that Alex Cora had the same injury and subsequent surgeries on both his thumbs.

Graph: Mets Top 10 HR leaders in 2009

Albert Pujols led the league with 47 home runs.  The league average was 10. 

Five Mets at least met the league average, while only one surpassed it.

It should be noted that Carlos Beltran hit 10 home runs in 357 plate appearances, Gary Sheffield hit 10 home runs in 312 plate appearances and Jeff Francoeur hit his 10 home runs in 308 PAs.

No Misch-stake here

Pat Misch just threw a complete-game shut out for the New York Mets.

I repeat.

Pat Misch just threw a complete-game shut out for the New York Mets.

The Mets won 4-0, taking the series against the Florida Marlins.

Misch surrendered eight hits in the game, seven of them being singles.  He also owes Jeff Francoeur a steak dinner, as the right fielder went up and over the wall to bring back a would-be home run off the bat of Chris Coghlan.

Francoeur also hit a two-run home run in the game.  The Mets also got runs off a Josh Thole sac-fly and an Anderson Hernandez solo home run.

Misch tossed 101 pitches through eight innings and needed only nine more to get through the final innings.  Sixty-seven of those pitches went for strikes.

Oh, and this is six days after Jerry Manuel told reporters that Misch would be pulled from the rotation.  Figures.

Nice to see Thole behind the plate for this, too.

Well, that was fun

A late-September game against the Marlins.  Back in April, we probably all thought this would be one of those games the Mets might have to win to clinch their postseason bid.

Now that those games are being played, we couldn’t have been more wrong.

Games that, for the last two years, spelled disaster for the Mets are now flipped in roles.  The Marlins are trying to stay alive and the Mets, far from meaningful October baseball, are trying to play spoilers.

Last night, they pulled it off.

Down three runs heading into the top of the 8th inning, the Mets tacked on one in a bizarre play. David Wright at the plate with Brian Schneider on third.  Wright swings and believes he fouled off the ball as it squirts away from Ronny Paulino. 

Home plate umpire Bill Hohn calls strike three as Paulino scampers back to retrieve the ball.  Heads up play by Schneider who dashes home to score while Wright and Jerry Manuel begin to argue.

It was a tough call to make.  On replay, in slow motion, it was hard to tell if Wright tipped it.  If he didn’t, just a flat out terrible play by Paulino.

Top 9 rolls along and the Mets are down one run.  Daniel Murphy and Jeff Francoeur greeted Leo Nunez with singles to start the inning.  Pinch-hitter Jeremy Reed comes to the plate and is walked on four pitches, loading the bases for pinch-hitter Cory Sullivan.

Sullivan ends up slicing a ball down the third base line, scoring two and giving the Mets the lead.  The Mets went quietly through the rest of the 9th, with Wright striking out for the fourth time in the game to end the inning.

Francisco Rodriguez came in for the bottom of the ninth inning, allowed a single, but closed out the Marlins in a game of somewhat revenge for the previous two Septembers.

Jeff Francoeur is the talk of the Mets blog-o-sphere

There is a lot of hype surrounding Jeff Francoeur and his role on the 2009 team and what lies ahead for him.  Let’s take a look around some Mets blogs about what they have to say about the Atlanta import…

MLB - Francoeur stays hot in Mets win vs. Nats

The Mets believe Francoeur will look sharp in their 2010 uni, so much so that they are inclined to approach him about signing him to a three-year contract that would allow him to become a big league Beau Brummel, if he so chose. They like what they have seen of him in and out of uniform -- from his spirited demeanor to his nuclear arm to the two doubles he produced Saturday afternoon in their victory against the Nationals.

Mets Fever - Is Jeff Francoeur our Paul O'Neill

Since coming to the Mets, Francoeur has been impressive, he's a decent fielder with a great arm and loves to use it, all the while hitting .315 ( 60 gms) with 33 RBIs and 7 HRs.

But whats been more important is the intangibles that he's brought to the table, he seemed to immediately become a main clubhouse figure and team leader.

He brings a hard nosed, passion to the team that has been missing for years. Playing through a thumb injury in meaningless games because he wants to.

Mets Merized Online - Mets To Offer Jeff Francoeur 3-Year Deal

Francoeur has been the lone bright spot for the Mets in the second half as he continues to sizzle at the plate. He came through again in yesterday’s win over the Nationals with two more doubles, an RBI and two runs scored.

Noble correctly states that signing Francoeur for the next few seasons would stabilize two-thirds of the outfield and five-eighths of the starting lineup for next season. His presence on the team has reduced Ryan Church to just a blur.

Mets Lifers - Jeff Francoeur is Mr. Met

Jeff Francoeur may be the lone bright spot of this lost season, but it's not this season that has me excited about the man with a rocket arm.

Francoeur is a heaven sent gift. The Mets haven't had a reliable arm in right since...think about it...since Strawberry? Oh wait, I forgot about Richard Hidalgo...right. Francoeur won't be the power bat and potential MVP candidate that Straw was but he's the first legitimate right fielder the Mets have had in what seems like the better part of two decades.

The Real Dirty Mets Blog - Make it or Break it: Jeff Francoeur - Starting Right Fielder in 2010?

I can’t look at the positives without mentioning his faults though. Jeff does not have the best eye at the plate, as evidenced by his lifetime OBP of .311 (ouch!) as well as his average of 120 strike outs per season. Another detriment to keeping Frenchie is his prolonged slump from 2008 through the end of his tenure in Atlanta earlier this season. In that time, he held a batting average under .250 and an on-base percentage under .300. If the Mets pay Francoeur $5 million next season, and he regresses to similar statistics, he would probably lose the starter’s job and Omar might take some of the blame.

Mets MD - Why Jeff Francoeur for 3 years is a bad idea

You want a 3 year contract, Noble? For a guy who has been worth -9.1 runs? He has been worse offensively than an average hitter. The track record is against him. He has the worst plate discipline on the team, swinging at 35% of pitches outside the strikezone. He is not good at baseball. You know who's better, and cheaper? Bobby Abreu. So, for once, Omar/Wilpons/who ever is the GM, make the right decision. Because if we sign Francoeur for 3 years, I'm done.

NY Baseball Digest – Jeff Francoeur Does Not Suck

- Unlike the other 24 guys on the roster, he actually can hit the ball out of Citi Field

- He plays every day, even when his thumb is mangled like a pile up on the LIE.
---
The hate for Francoeur is beyond me. He embodies all that is good with professional baseball. Why would you hate someone that works hard to improve himself, wants to win, and has fun doing it? Can you win with eight Jeff Francoeur’s in the lineup? Of course not. But you could say the same for most players this side of Albert Pujols and no one is looking to throw them away.

Amazin’ Avenue – Jeff Francoeur’s Intangibles

Talk about Francoeur's statistics.  Talk about his on-field performance (and the sites listed above generally do, to varying degrees).  When doing so, don't completely ignore the 2500+ major league plate appearances he had before coming to Flushing.  But please stop pretending intangibles are a significant consideration when deciding what to do with Francoeur this offseason.  Character counts, but since we can't sufficiently evaluate it objectively let's stick to what we can evaluate.  Leave the largely irrelevant intangibles topic for talk radio, the lowest common denominator of baseball discourse.  (Next up on the talk radio docket, a discussion about how David Wright and Jose Reyes aren't "winning ballplayers"!)

Where do you stand on Jeff Francoeur?

Another game, another loss

The Mets are keeping hope alive as they march toward 100.  One hundred losses, that is.

The Mets fell to the Phillies by a score of 4-2, loss number 79 of the season.  With 21 games remaining, the Mets would have to lose every game to reach 100 losses.

Though the score was close through the entire game, it never felt as though the Mets would win.  Nelson Figueroa tiptoed through 5 1-3 innings, allowing nine hits and walking five, but only allowed two earned runs.

Elmer Dessens and Brian Stokes surrendered the other two runs in relief.

Jeff Francoeur stayed hot at the plate, pounding out three hits.  Francoeur is now 6-for-his-last-8 with two doubles.

Luis Castillo drove in one run with a sac-fly to center field.  Cory Sullivan grounded into a double play to kill a rally in the ninth inning, but it allowed a run to score.

But hey, no one got hurt.

Pelfrey struggles as Mets fall to Rockies

Mike Pelfrey is likely the most talented pitcher in the Mets rotation right now.  But a miserable start in Colorado was no indication.

Pelfrey lasted only four innings, surrendering seven runs (six earned), as the Mets fell to the Rockies by a score of 8-3.  While throwing 96 pitches, only 55 landed for strikes.  No surprise that Pelfrey walked five batters.  He did strike out four, but also let up two home runs, including a three-run home run to Todd Helton in the fourth inning.

This is a season Pelf would likely want to forget.  He’s given up five runs or more in seven of his 26 starts.  He’s let up nine runs in a game twice.  Yeesh.

The Mets looked to have Rockies’ starter Jorge De La Rosa on the ropes in the first inning, even with a base running gaffe by Angel Pagan.

Pagan led off with a single but misread a ball hit by Luis Castillo, thinking the ball was caught, he attempted to go back to first base, which was already occupied by Castillo.

Still, the Mets managed to score two runs, one on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jeff Francoeur and another on a double down the right field line by Fernando Tatis.

Since Tatis had gotten some steady playing time at third base with David Wright recuperating, he’s been swinging a hot bat.  Maybe that’s the trick.

The Mets were held in check by De La Rosa until he exited after the sixth inning.  Cory Sullivan returned to Colorado with a one-out pinch-hit triple to center field.  Pagan followed that up with a triple of his own, easily chasing in Sullivan.

And that was that.  It could be considered a victory because no one got hurt.  Except Pelfrey’s ERA.

Figgy fantastic as Mets stave off sweep

When Johan Santana went down for the season, the man filling his spot in the rotation had some pretty big shoes to fill.  Today, Nelson Figueroa was as good as you could ask for.

Seven innings of six-hit baseball saw Figueroa through his longest outing of the season.  While on the mound, Figueroa struck out 10 Cubs, nine in the first four inning, a career high strikeout count.

Figueroa allowed one run in the first inning, but bounced back from there, allowing only five hits over the next six inning.

I love Figueroa and always have since he came up last year.  Glad he’s putting together some starts and maybe showing the Mets he can be a fifth starter next year.  Maybe.

Brian Stokes turned in a 1-2-3 8th inning and Francisco Rodriguez saved the game after a bit of pressure.  Kosuke Fukudome led off the inning with a single and Jeff Francoeur dropped Jake Fox’s pop-up, but was able to throw out Fukudome at second.

Never easy.

The Mets got a pair of runs in the third and fourth innings, respectively.

In the third, the Mets stitched singles from Angel Pagan, Luis Castillo, Daniel Murphy and Jeff Francoeur together to drive in two runs.  Murphy and Francoeur each picked up an RBI with their singles.

In the fourth, Brian Schneider hit a one-out single.  Schneider was chased in by an Anderson Hernandez triple.  Figueroa helped his own cause with an RBI single of his own, driving in Hernandez from third.

Eleven hits off of Carlos Zambrano is no small task.  A good few innings from the Mets, but went fairly quiet from there on out, picking up only one hit the rest of the game. 

Luckily, it was enough. 

This time.

Parnell pounded in 11-4 loss

It’s almost exciting watching how many ways the Mets will find to lose a game.  Today it came via the grand slam.

Bobby Parnell surrendered a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning, ending his day.  Parnell allowed eight earned runs on nine hits and two walks.  He lasted only 4 2-3 innings, needing 110 pitches.

Is the Parnell experiment over yet?  Or will the Mets just let him take his licks in the rotation?

Ken Takahashi pitched 1-3 of an inning, allowing one run to score.

Lance Broadway made his Mets debut, pitching three innings and allowing two earned runs on four hits.  He walked one and struck out three.

Yay?

The Mets got a pair of two-run doubles from Jeff Francoeur and Brian Schneider respectively.

Just a game closer to ending 2009.

Mets should claim Matt Murton

The Colorado Rockies have put Matt Murton on irrevocable waivers in hopes that no one would claim him and he would head back to Triple-A. 

The Mets should claim him.  Now.

Murton, only 27, has some pretty awesome Triple-A numbers.  In 954 plate appearances with three different organizations, Murton has hit .312 / .388 / .469 with 19 home runs and 129 RBI.

At the major league level, Murton has performed well sans 2008.  In his longest season, 2006, Murton had 508 plate appearances with the Chicago Cubs.  He hit .297 / .365 / .444 with 13 home runs and 62 RBI.

Over the span of five seasons and 1051 plate appearances, Murton is hitting .287 / .353 / .438 with 29 home runs and 112 RBI.

He can play the corner outfield positions and would be a cheaper alternative to Jeff Francoeur next season.

Ken Davidoff summed it up the best:

I understand why the Mets and many fans like Jeff Francoeur. He has slugged very well since coming to Flushing, and he does have that positive body language that we all like. But to go to the $4-$5 million neighborhood with Francoeur for 2010 just isn't good payroll management, not when you look at his overall career.

Francoeur latest victim to 2009 season [Updated: Torn ligament]

Update – 3:35 p.m.: Francoeur has been diagnosed with a torn ligament in his left thumb.  He is listed as day-to-day.

You’ll remember Alex Cora played with torn ligaments in both thumbs for most of the season before having surgery.  Francoeur will try to play through it.

Original post: Jeff Francoeur made a wonderful diving grab in the ninth inning that was eventually overruled.  In the process, he hurt his left thumb.

He stayed in the game, eventually hitting into an unassisted triple play to end the game.

This morning, Francoeur is getting an MRI on his thumb, as it swelled overnight, reports Adam Rubin.

Guess you can scratch him off the lineup card today.

Redding surprises, Mets lose anyway

Tim Redding, making his first start since July 2, tossed five innings of one-hit baseball.  He walked three and struck out four.  And then the Mets let it slip away.

Removed due to a high pitch count, Redding gave way to Pat Misch, who was recalled from the minor leagues earlier yesterday.  A lead-off walk to Shane Victorino was followed by a two-run home run off the bat of Chase Utley.  The 1-0 Mets lead turned into a 2-1 Mets deficit.

After Misch recorded an out, Sean Green took over.  Green allowed back-to-back two-out doubles for another Phillies run, giving them a 3-1 lead.

Though the Mets knocked out eight hits and walked twice, they were only able to plate one run.  The run came in the bottom of the second when a groundball from Omir Santos was just out of the reach of third baseman Pedro Feliz.  As it glanced off his glove and into the outfield, Jeff Francoeur was able to trot home with the Mets first, and only, run.

The Mets ended up using seven pitchers in last night’s game, with Pedro Feliciano giving up the other run in the Phillies eventual 4-1 victory.

At one point it looked like a little of the 1969 magic may have worn off on the 2009 Mets.  But in the end, the ‘69 celebration was marred by the ‘09 talent.