The Mets, Nationals, Pirates, Rangers, and Yankees have varying degrees of interest in free agent lefty Jeff Francis, tweets ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. Crasnick named five interested clubs a month ago: the Pirates, Mariners, Brewers, Astros, and Rockies. It appears that a few teams dropped out and others jumped in; this is the first we've seen of the Yankees' interest. MLB.com's Thomas Harding learned from Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd today that the team will continue to monitor Francis.
Francis, 30 in January, posted a 5.00 ERA, 5.8 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9, and 47% groundball rate in 104 1/3 innings this year for the Rockies. His peripheral stats suggest Francis' work was more deserving of an ERA around 4.00. The southpaw missed all of last season after having shoulder surgery in February of '09, and had some lingering issues this year. The Rockies declined his $7MM club option in November. He figures to sign a one-year, incentive-laden deal.
