This doesn’t exactly rate as a surprise, but third baseman Maikel Franco’s time with the Phillies is nearing an end, Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer observes. Although Franco has had a stranglehold on the third base position in Philly since his career began in earnest in 2015, the former high-end prospect has clearly fallen out of favor this year. The club demoted him to Triple-A earlier in the season, and though he has since returned, Franco hasn’t gotten his job back. With the Phillies in a heated battle for a playoff spot, they’ve mostly turned to Scott Kingery, Brad Miller and Sean Rodriguez at the hot corner over the past several weeks. It’s understandable the team has all but given up on Franco, who simply hasn’t provided much value since he burst on the scene as a rookie. The 27-year-old has posted minus-0.3 fWAR in 392 plate appearances this season, thanks in no small part to a weak .239/.301/.419 batting line. Franco figures to earn more than his current $5.2MM salary in arbitration over the winter, so it seems quite possible the Phillies will non-tender him.
More from Philadelphia and a couple other East Coast cities…
- After firing president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski on Sunday, the Red Sox are in the market for a new leader of that department. However, it’s not a lock Dombrowski’s successor will have the same title, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports. Dombrowski was the first executive in franchise history to earn president of baseball ops honors, and the club might not be as eager to go that route again this time. The Red Sox could instead name a general manager and have that person report to team president Sam Kennedy, Bradford notes.
- Injured Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki hasn’t been in the club’s lineup since Sept. 5, and that’s not going to change “for at least a few more days,” Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post tweets. Manager Dave Martinez said Thursday that Suzuki, who has been dealing with right elbow inflammation, still hasn’t returned to throwing. Yan Gomes has caught every game in Suzuki’s absence, but the untested Raudy Read will draw into the lineup sometime over the weekend, per Dougherty. Between Gomes and Suzuki, the former has been the better defender this year. On the other hand, Suzuki (.260/.319/.473 in 301 PA) has outhit Gomes (.210/.310/.352 over 306 PA) by a significant margin.
- An MRI revealed that Phillies outfielder Corey Dickerson suffered a bruised navicular bone in his left foot Wednesday, Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays. That may sound worse than it is, as the Phillies don’t believe Dickerson would be at risk of doing further damage to his foot by playing. It’ll be a “pain management issue” for the rest of the season, though, according to manager Gabe Kapler. Dickerson’s both a key member of the playoff-contending Phillies’ offense and a pending free agent, meaning it would behoove both parties to make sure he’s healthy enough to take the field. The 30-year-old has enjoyed a strong platform season between Pittsburgh and Philly, having batted .304/.341/.565 with a dozen homers in 279 PA.
The Redsox are hiding something, or it’s just they don’t wanna pay DD what they should. That happened with Tito n Theo! Also Farrell also!
Pasha, in my view it’s a combination of things but yes money talks. He was entering his so called lame duck year and was pressing earlier in the year for an extension. If the team didn’t want to re-up for multiple years and wasn’t sure he could rebuild going forward, the time was now for a change. Not my view, just a possible explanation for what they did. To me, the team signed off on everything (who believes he had the authority to extends Sales for example without ownership’s blessing?) and if his hiring was short term, the time to have moved on was after 2017. Once the team won in 2018 and chose to sign Eovaldi and extend Price, he should have been allowed to sink or swim and at least continue. Three full years until now and three playoff seasons including a dominant WS title. I also think NESN is down which was unexpected after winning it all. Things might have been different had the team at least locked up a playoff team.
*Extend Sale, not Price.
From what I hear DD twisted ownership’s arm to extend Sale in Spring Training when the pitcher’s health was still unproven and it was hardly a blessing. Plus the way he spent money the budget this year, the decision to not replace Kimbrel & Kelly in the bullpen, the poor handling of the Price vs Eck PR battle, how he repeatedly ignored organization input to go on his own instinct, didn’t act as a mentor to others in the FO and I think ownership just felt more comfortable with someone else to making the crucial decisions moving forward.
Hope Dombrowski finds another high level job. It’s refreshing to see him go against the grain of other GMs. It just makes for a much more fun sport even if its kinda counter productive towards a long game plan. It’s makes the “now” feel so much more spontaneous and exciting. Dudes won 2 World Series he’s not stupid.
Also had shots with Detroit. Specifically 2013.
he might not be stupid but it’s pretty obvious the game has passed him by and frankly I don’t think he’s good GM
Red Sox didnt want Detroit 2.0 however fans have to prepare on a short rebuild
..gbye mookie
Wish the Phillies would hire Dombrowski. But that ain’t gonna happen, especially since ownership gave Matt Klentak a three-year extension back in March. A three-year extension! For what? Doing a great job?
Klentak is just one more in a long list of Ivy League nerds running baseball teams who know how to talk better than they can walk.
Phillies won’t make the playoffs this year, and we won’t next year either so long as they have Klentak evaluating talent.
Joe Six Pack sitting in the last row of the third deck could tell you the Phillies starting pitching (Nola aside.) stinks. But Klentak chose to go to war again this year with Eflin, Velasquez and Pivetta in the rotation. They all failed in 2018, so why would anyone expect a different result in 2019?
So long as Klentak is calling the shots, we’re gonna be a team hovering around .500 for years to come. Good enough to tease you, but in the end, no cigar.
Yes. I’d gladly welcome Dom, as president or GM. I think Dusty needs his shot to manage too. He’s had success in AA and AAA within the organization and many of us thought he’d be the hire until Gabe got the job. Middleton needs to clean house.
Well said.
Why would you expect the same the next year? Players performances vary from year to year. This is nothing new. To bad Klentak doesn’t have your crystal ball.
To say he did nothing is downright ridiculous. I guess Harper, Realmuto, Segura, McCutchen, and Robertson was doing nothing. Corbin was offered a contract but chose to sign elsewhere. Hopefully, Klentak will do the same “nothing” this off season
What is going on with the arbitration system? Franco has a -0.3 WAR, so below replacement level, and will get paid MORE? Seems like his salary should drop. Since it won’t, he’ll probably be non-tendered and hoping someone offers him a minor league contract.
I agree. It’s a strange system…..
Can someone please explain how Brad Miller and Sean Rodriguez who, between their 20 year combined careers, have managed to post ONE season’s worth of stats similar to Franco’s average stat line?
This guy gets such a bad rap in Philly that it’s sickening. He hits 8th, bats .240, knocks in 75, hits 25 homers and plays solid defense, and is never in any trouble. Geez, do him a favor and let him go to a team that wants him. They should be looking at their manager and pitchers for the reason they are barely a .500 team with the best catcher in baseball, the highest paid free agent, a hit machine at shortstop, a consistent 2b, a 1b who walks 100 times with 30+ homers and one of the top five or so dominant starters. They have five or 6 of the top players in the game on the field every day!