At the beginning of the 2011 season, the Philadelphia Phillies and their fans had high hopes that RF Ben Francisco could fill the void after Jayson Werth signed a mega-contract with the division rival Washington Nationals.
Unfortunately, Francisco has done everything but impress so far this season. He currently is batting .218 with six home runs and 25 RBI. He has only 12 extra-base-hits in 170 AB and has 30 strikeouts. The only good part about his game is that he sees a lot of pitches and has a decent OBP at .343.
I almost can’t say enough bad things about Francisco. He plays terrible defense, has a poor arm, and has been caught stealing more times that he has been safe. Sometimes he just looks lost out there—he is like the Forrest Gump of baseball, just without all that natural talent.
So why is even on the Phillies roster?
Honestly I have no idea, especially when John Mayberry Jr. does everything better than Francisco—Mayberry hits better, plays better defense, has an arm that’s 10-times better, and has more speed.
It just doesn’t make sense.
Since he has lost his starting job to rookie Domonic Brown, what use do the Phillies even have for Francisco?
Let’s see… We could use him as a pinch hitter, but he can’t hit… We could use him as a pinch runner, but he can’t run… Maybe we can have him come in to play defense…
Wait—he stinks at that too.
The answer is: release him.
He is making only $1.175 million, so he is not a huge financial obligation. Besides, there has to be someone out there who can fill his void. If not John Mayberry Jr., then the Phillies could bring up another Triple-A outfielder, like Delwynn Young.
At this point, almost anyone could produce more than Francisco. He is a waste of a roster spot and simply isn’t playing at a major league level.
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