The Rays officially started working out Wander Franco at third base yesterday, though manager Kevin Cash insists it’s no more a reaction to the Ji-Man Choi injury than it is a sign that Franco needs to (or will) make the move, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Yandy Diaz and Yoshi Tsutsugo could move from third to first most days while Choi is out, and Joey Wendle will be the third baseman in that case with Mike Brosseau reprising his role from the postseason to take on southpaws.
Lest there be any doubt, the Rays reassigned their top prospect to minor league camp today, per Sam Dykstra of MiLB.com (via Twitter). It appears as if Franco will start the season at Triple-A. Franco was never really expected to be on the opening day roster, despite his enormous potential. He just turned 20 years old on March 1st, and he has yet to appear in a pro game above High-A. Though the minor league seasons won’t start on time, Franco will still be able to work out and train with those in the organization.
In regards to a potential move to third base, that decision will be kicked down the line for now. Whether or not Franco’s best-case future is at short or elsewhere on the infield is one question, but there’s also the Willy Adames issue which will continue to inform the Rays in their decision-making process. Whereas Franco’s bat should have no trouble playing at third, Adames brings the most value with his glove at short, especially if the 25-year-old continues to improve his glovework. Adames, however, will go through arbitration for the first time before next season, and the Rays aren’t shy about flipping talent well before their sell-by date.
If he doesn’t work out, he’ll be a Wanderbust.
I think I’m ready to be a headline writer for the New York Post.
I guess this is as close to an actual baseball pun as we are going to get.
Be careful what you wish for.
@baseballpun. Man, you should change your name. I’ve never seen a poster that has more pressure to perform than you. =D
Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
To be Franco, I Wander why?
All this Franco talk lately has made me hanker for some Franco-American Spaghetti-Os.
Time for your interview: if you were the New York post headline dude how would you have handled Robinson Cano’s initial departure from the Yankees for greener pastures out west?
They need to get Brosseau in the lineup more
I thought Franco was going to play 3rd base for the Orioles?
If you’re the #1 prospect in all of baseball- earn it and get on the field. In the age of tatis, acuna, soto and more- 19 is plenty old to be starring in the Show. I get playing a little of the service time game if I’m Tampa, but if you are the #1 prospect in baseball- they shouldn’t be able to keep you down long.
Orrrrrrrrr they wanna give the #1 prospect who just turned 20 years old some more time in the minor leagues, especially without a 2020 minor league season and with the fact that he hasn’t played above A ball. Just a thought…
Nah that would be too reasonable for a team to do.
dont bring logic here.
Franco could’ve hit 1.000 in spring and he still would’ve started in the minors
“Because of his high swing rate.”
More like he hasn’t played above A-Ball and is only 20. Not every player is going to be a Juan Soto and imediatley skip AA and AAA and hit in the bigs.
I don’t even think it’s a matter of ability to play in the bigs or not. It’s more beneficial for the Rays to start him in the minors for half of this season, then have him through his age 26 season than it is to start him in MLB now and lose him after his age 25 season.
So if you’ve seen Juan, you HAVEN’T seen them all?
and if they do, they will bust like Vlad! (I am kidding…sort of)
Barring injuries, Franco will be up and the Rays starting 3B by July 4th, maybe a week or two sooner. The Rays just have to get him past the super 2 cutoff.
Oooooooor end up being Royce Lewis. Or Brenden Rogers. Or any other 100 top 10 prospect in baseball that can’t make in recent years.
The rich get richer
Predictable move this has everything to do with free agent service time
But it doesn’t. He turned 20 2 weeks ago with no playing experience above High-A and has taken 49 comeptitve plate appearances since the end of the 2019 season, those 49 coming at the Domincan Winter League and having a .697 OPS in that small sample size. He needs to get at least a few reps in the upper minors before giving him a starting job. It’s not like the Rays need him right now either. Willy Adames is more than a capable shortstop. Brandon Lowe is a good second baseman. Yandy Diaz can definitley keep his job at the hot corner.
I agree that the lost development time (even his Winter League stint was cut short by shoulder issues) is a big factor here. Not saying service time manipulation isn’t part of it, too, but this is way more defensible than what the Cubs did with Kris Bryant, e.g.
The other important point you hint at: “starting role.” Even the most lineup-rotating team like the Rays isn’t going to bring a player like Wander up to play part time. They don’t have immediate need in their infield; if they had absolute garbage at SS or 3B, it might be different.
The flip side is that players like Tsutsugo and Yandy aren’t going to block Wander for any amount of time once the Rays feel he’s ready, even if they’re hot at that point. Those guy can become part of the general lineup rotation (Yoshi at 3B/OF/DH; Yandy at 1B/3B/DH) with Adames getting the lion’s share at 3B.
Wander “Yankee’s Are Terrified Of Me” Franco is the real deal! It won’t be long until he is called up.
It’s nice to see a team that doesn’t let winning get in the way of wage suppression.
It’s nice to see puppets dancing for the Rays front office
I’d bet if their division was tougher they might have kept him. Let’s face it all they got to worry about is Jays. Tankers will implode sometime during season like usual
I can’t see how this is remotley related to service time, especially right now. If Wander had like 200 plate appearances at Triple-A in 2020 and was 22 years old and got sent to the minors ala Kris Bryant, yeah that’s blatant service time manipulation. But he turned 20 literally 2 weeks ago, didn’t play cometitive games all last season and hasn’t even taken a single plate appearance at Double-A. Juan Soto played 8 games at Dobule-A before being called to the majors. Every highly regarded prospect isn’t going to be a Juan Soto, skipping essentially 2 entire levels of the minor leagues and imediatley becoming one of baseball’s best hitters. Franco needs to start the season out at Double-A. I’d say give him a month at Double-A and if he’s performing well, then promote him to Triple-A or even the majors if you need to. Afterall, he just turned 20.
I can’t get the voice of Lee Marvin out of my head now – 1967 Dirty Dozen for any of you movie buffs.
I’m positive Franco needs work on his SS,2b-3b fielding. If you rush him you’ll end up with Toronto’s problems with Bichette and V Guerraro…They came up early and are horrible defensivly.
I’m almost positive you guys misspelled Bobby Witt Jr.
Easy mistake considering both names are extremely similar! 😉
The Rays: only team to successfully draft and trade for amazing prospects, build them to near potential, then trade them for more lower level talent in case one becomes the next star to, yet again, trade for prospects…Yet they still win and are consistently good if not great. Defies baseball physics!
They should trade him across state to the Florida team. Then he’d be a fish called Wander.