SB Nation User Blog: Flynn Blake

Mets deal Church to Braves for Francoeur

Flynn Blake — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:06:37 -0000

(07-10) 15:24 PDT New York (AP) -- The Atlanta Braves traded Jeff Francoeur and cash to the New York Mets for Ryan Church on Friday in a swap of outfielders who had fallen out of favor with their teams. The deal came with both NL East teams below .500. The Mets have especially struggled to score lately with stars Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado on the disabled list.

Church is hitting .280 with two home runs and 22 RBIs. Solid at the plate and in the field, the oft-injured Church was slowed last year by two concussions.

Mets manager Jerry Manuel never seemed to warm up to him, and seemed particularly peeved after Church missed third base while running home earlier this season in a game New York eventually lost.

The 30-year-old Church is in his sixth major league season and is a career .273 hitter.

The 25-year-old Francoeur is hitting .250 with five homers and 35 RBIs. He was a favorite with Braves fans and management during his first full season in 2006, when hit 29 home runs with 103 RBIs while playing all 162 games.

Francoeur hit .293 with 19 homers and 105 RBIs in 2007, but slumped badly last year and was sent to the minors, a move that he found embarrassing.

Francoeur recently was benched for three games by Atlanta manager Bobby Cox.

----------

Considering how much people have bagged on Frenchy around here (and deservedly so), I find it interesting that the Mets were willing to take a chance. I daresay Francoeur better get his act together fast, or he won't last into 2010 in New York.

Vin Mazzaro 6/28 predictions

Flynn Blake — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:52:42 -0000

Okay, I think this will be interesting because the young A's starter faces a serious offense for the first time in his young MLB career. The Rockies sit first in the NL and fourth in MLB with a .788 OPS, and since they're playing in an AL park that figure is about on target, since they can now add a DH. (Their home/road split is .835 for fifth among home teams and .753 for ninth among road teams). Plus you get another chance to fire a bullet into this dead horse if you want to.

Mazzaro L, 2-3 6 8 5 5 3 4, 2 HRs

Anyone know what's up with Josh Fields (RP)?

Flynn Blake — Sun, 17 May 2009 15:36:13 -0000

I'm sure the same question could be asked of Josh Fields (3B), but the former Georgia relief pitcher hasn't pitched for West Tenn in nearly two weeks, after a not very good outing on 5/5. He's posted some crazy stat lines all season. I can't find anything on Google News about it. Here's his minorleaguebaseball.com profile:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Joshua%20Fields&pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=451661

Thanks for any information. With Morrow's blowup I was hoping that Fields might get some MLB time soon, but it won't happen at this rate.

Fantasy/sim dump thread, week of 1/6

Flynn Blake — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 07:39:12 -0000

Here's the inaugural edition of a weekly thread devoted to fantasy questions and manager wanted/league wanted ads for sim and fantasy leagues. Please post all such requests on this thread only.

It's hoped that this can become a clearinghouse for threads that would otherwise swamp the diaries. Those not interested in sim or fantasy, or questions about trades, roster moves and prospect comparisons need not visit.

Thanks for reading. I'll be happy to set this up weekly on Sundays if the idea takes off.

Royals Top 10 from BA

Flynn Blake — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 03:44:47 -0000

1. Alex Gordon, 3b
2. Luke Hochevar, rhp
3. Billy Butler, of
4. Chris Lubanski, of
5. Tyler Lumsden, lhp
6. Erik Cordier, rhp
7. Mitch Maier, of
8. Justin Huber, of/1b
9. Billy Buckner, rhp
10. Brent Fisher, lhp

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/features/262906.html

Not too surprising.

Melky or Kubel?

Flynn Blake — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 18:28:05 -0000

Two left fielders with very different 2006 seasons. Cabrera broke out with a nice season filling in for Matsui and showed nice plate discipline and underwhelming power. Kubel fought back from a devastating knee injury after missing all of 2005. I know Cabrera's slated to be the Yanks' fourth outfielder but I haven't heard much about Kubel. Any news on him, his knee or his prospects? Who would you prefer between these two guys and why?

Many thanks in advance, and happy holiday to you and yours.

Poll

Melky Cabrera or Jason Kubel?

Melky Cabrera

18 votes

Jason Kubel

39 votes

57 votes | Poll has closed

BA Pacific Coast League Top 20 prospects

Flynn Blake — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 18:21:34 -0000

Stephen Drew, ss, Tucson (Diamondbacks)
Jered Weaver, rhp, Salt Lake (Angels)
Howie Kendrick, 2b, Salt Lake (Angels)
Chad Billingsley, rhp, Las Vegas (Dodgers)
Andy LaRoche, 3b, Las Vegas (Dodgers)
Matt Kemp, of, Las Vegas (Dodgers)
Chris Young, of, Tucson (Diamondbacks)
Adam Jones, of, Tacoma (Mariners)
Jason Hirsh, rhp, Round Rock (Astros)
Carlos Quentin, of, Tucson (Diamondbacks)
Felix Pie, of, Iowa (Cubs)
James Loney, 1b, Las Vegas (Dodgers)
Anthony Reyes, rhp, Memphis (Cardinals)
John Danks, lhp, Oklahoma (Rangers)
Erick Aybar, ss, Salt Lake (Angels)
Rich Hill, lhp, Iowa (Cubs)
Miguel Montero, c, Tucson (Diamondbacks)
Chris Iannetta, c, Colorado Springs (Rockies)
Edinson Volquez, rhp, Oklahoma (Rangers)
Joel Guzman, 3b/of, Las Vegas (Dodgers)

Pretty sweet list.

Jerome Williams, back in the Bay Area!

Flynn Blake — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 22:52:04 -0000

Claimed by the A's on waivers from the Cubs. Boy, has his star fallen:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2006/09/05/sports/s154541D76.DTL

Wonder if he can carve out a place for himself on this staff. Surely as a long reliever at least, if he can regain his control (and a semblance of conditioning).

Hirsh ... how did he look?

Flynn Blake — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 05:21:57 -0000

Was extremely disappointed that the SD-Hou game was not carried on the cable package. I saw he had the one bad inning, but it seemed like he was dancing on the edge a bit as well. Any opinions? I guess he was marginally better than Garza, considering they went on back to back nights and they had been compared here earlier. Thanks in advance.

No longer waiting for Boof

Flynn Blake — Wed, 17 May 2006 21:13:48 -0000

He's here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/05/17/sports/s134451D08.DTL

Let's see how much worse that Pierzynski trade can become.