The Rockies have declined their $7MM option on Jeff Francis for 2011, tweets Troy Renck of the Denver Post. The move comes as no surprise given Francis' injury-plagued recent history, but as we heard last month, Francis wishes to remain a Rockie and the team has an interest in re-signing him at a reduced price.
yt
Home country discount?
Go jays!
Sniderlover
We don’t really need him.
Encarnacion's Parrot
I was thinking the same thing. As Sniderlover mentioned, the Jays don’t exactly need him, but having one more arm that was once decent and is trying to get back to where he was could never turn ugly if you give him a one-year deal with little base money and a boat-load of incentives.
But at the same time, the Jays have enough injured projects to work on a la McGowan/Litsch. Hard to tell what AA could be thinking on this, if he is at all.
Dave_Gershman
I really think Jeff Francis will have a huge ’11. I could see as many as 20 teams having interest…In divisional order, Jays, Yankees, Orioles, Twins, Tigers, Royals, Indians, Mariners, Angels, Rangers, Mets, Phillies, Nationals, Marlins, Brewers, Pirates, Reds, Cardinals, Padres, Rockies, and Diamondbacks having interest. Keep an eye on him big time!
GriffeyandSizemore
He’d be a nice number 4 or 5 for the Yankees but i think he would fit best on the Indians.
42214221
Padres will sign him for 4.5 million
Craig Cutler
Re build in St. Louis Jeff. Then go out next year and make some money.
dizzle4
Cardinals do make sense – they’ve had good luck with guys like that, and could use back-end arms.
jwsox
hew would be a decent fit for the cards but it would ruin my hopes that the whitesox trade edwin jackson+carlos quentin+jordan danks+cash for coly rasmus
Encarnacion's Parrot
Dayan Viciedo + Eduardo Escobar + B- prospect should do it.
No one wants Jackson, and Cards have no use for Quentin.
jwsox
this is actually a good option but how would it make sense for the cards? they have a 1st basemen in albert, i could see dyan being a back up if they cant afford. keep albert….escobar is a very good SS prospect that really has no place in the sox line up with beckham, alexi and now morell…I mentioned jackson because he is a good young pitcher and the cards need pitching. and the pitching coach for the cards is amazing could keep him consistant..he was lights out for the sox…and i mentioned quentin because he would provide some serious power protection for albert and matt…plus a move to the NL would help him alot…and probably working with albert would help him a ton since they both have the same low down swing.
Encarnacion's Parrot
I’m under the impression that Viciedo is a 3B, who was getting spot starts at 1B. Freese doesn’t look too bad, but Viciedo is 6 years younger.
Add Dan Hudson with Escobar and Viciedo?
EDIT: Hudson already traded haha.
jwsox
ha you got to edit it before i even mentioned…vicedio actually didnt look too bad at 3rd when he was in the bigs…he has a average if not below average glove but a very strong line drive bat to make up for his glove..ala aramis ramirez…I would assume the cards would want a pitching prospect, and an out field prospect…so consider this deal escobar+jordan danks+any pitcher in the minors not named chris sale and possibly either quentin or vicedio….it s a very strong deal that would be hard to turn down…but at the same time that very same deal would net the sox prince or adrian gonzo…
Gumby65
Seems to be a safer bet than Webb for somebody… Good to see the rules change, get the ball rolling instead of a bunch of waiting around for stuff to happen this Winter
Tacho Bill
Sounds like a future Pirate to me.
Ian_Smell
I’d like that, as long as it wasn’t for too much money.
EpiphanyinBaltimore
He’d be perfect for the Tigers, who need a LH starter badly. Francis could be a real bargain.
The_Porcupine
I think he’ll resign with the Rox. He wasn’t ever that great of a pitcher, good- but not spectacular. I wouldn’t expect him to do overly well in the AL. If not the Rox, I think St. Louis and San Deigo are good matches, given his middle of rotation potential. The Phils could use a lefty in the rotation (and to get rid of Kendrick). It might not be a bad idea for the Nationals to pick him up, though they’ve been burned by signing pitchers coming off of injuries recently. Overall, he’s a good low cost, good upside type pitcher.
BobbyJohn
The Rockies traded Miguel Olivo to the Jays. That will save them about $2.5 million, which is about what I would expect them to offer Francis.