How Could Francoeur Ask For Raise?
There will be some PR backlash on this one. Francoeur wants a big raise, coming off an embarrassing season. Crazy thing is; the Braves have offered a pay increase of 7 times what he made last year. And Jeff wants more than that. The boys down at the coffee shop can't understand it. They say Frenchy should be happy with what they offered...which is $2.8M for 2009.
I've got a theory on this. Let me run it by you.
Jeff just switched agents. He left Hammond and went with the same guys Smoltz uses. Career Sports Management. They told Jeff to work out the kinks in the cage this off-season, and let them handle the business end. I can hear them from here: "You hired us, now let us handle it." It's business. That's what we do.
Reportedly, the Braves offered $2.8M. Career Sports Management asked for $3.95M. An arbitrator will choose between the 2 numbers. Not a number in-between. The guess here says the arbitrator is going to look at thoe numbers from last season----11 homers, 71 RBI, and a .239 average----and pick the $2.8M number. But hey, it's worth a try, right?
Career Sports Management might even pull out that line about how Jeff was making peanuts a couple years ago when he put up big numbers. Or maybe try to confuse the arbitrator by asking him to focus on Jeff's 3-year seasonal average: .268 BA, 22 HR, 96 RBI. But last year's bottom line is just too ugly to ignore.
Francoeur looks greedy asking for more than that 2.35M raise. It just looks bad.
That said, I like the way he's handled the adversity. Keep a low profile and get to work. Sounds like he's changed his philosophy and got back to a focusing on fundamentals. That's really encouraging. He plans on making the adjustment of taking that outside pitch to the right-center gap. He's focused on good balance and keeping his head quiet. All that sounds good.
Bounce back with a big season in 2009 and the multi-year contract he's been looking for gets done. And that's another reason to just take that $2.8M the Braves offered and move on to Spring Training.
I've got a theory on this. Let me run it by you.
Jeff just switched agents. He left Hammond and went with the same guys Smoltz uses. Career Sports Management. They told Jeff to work out the kinks in the cage this off-season, and let them handle the business end. I can hear them from here: "You hired us, now let us handle it." It's business. That's what we do.
Reportedly, the Braves offered $2.8M. Career Sports Management asked for $3.95M. An arbitrator will choose between the 2 numbers. Not a number in-between. The guess here says the arbitrator is going to look at thoe numbers from last season----11 homers, 71 RBI, and a .239 average----and pick the $2.8M number. But hey, it's worth a try, right?
Career Sports Management might even pull out that line about how Jeff was making peanuts a couple years ago when he put up big numbers. Or maybe try to confuse the arbitrator by asking him to focus on Jeff's 3-year seasonal average: .268 BA, 22 HR, 96 RBI. But last year's bottom line is just too ugly to ignore.
Francoeur looks greedy asking for more than that 2.35M raise. It just looks bad.
That said, I like the way he's handled the adversity. Keep a low profile and get to work. Sounds like he's changed his philosophy and got back to a focusing on fundamentals. That's really encouraging. He plans on making the adjustment of taking that outside pitch to the right-center gap. He's focused on good balance and keeping his head quiet. All that sounds good.
Bounce back with a big season in 2009 and the multi-year contract he's been looking for gets done. And that's another reason to just take that $2.8M the Braves offered and move on to Spring Training.
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