As a Braves blogger for the past few seasons, I have seen my fair share of Jeff Francoeur ups and downs.
I have also seen him make claim after claim that he will do certain things in a given season. Jeff Francoeur's batting average makes his prediction record look like Ted Williams' production against Mendoza's: Terrible.
Here is what the Met's right fielder had to say about the 2010 season to Kevin Kernan of the New York Post.
"Francoeur said he believes he can hit around 27 home runs this season and that Wright will bounce back in a monster way.
"David's going to hit 35," Francoeur predicted with a smile.
"Add a typical Jason Bay season to the mix and those three players basically match last year's 95 home run total for the Mets. Perhaps, they will be punch-less no more."
Francoeur has hit more than 19 home runs one time, in his first full season in 2006 when he hit 29. To go along with his 29 home runs that season, Francoeur had a .293 OBP, so despite the homers he was still well below average offensively.
Francoeur spoke to Ken Rosenthal (the only article I can find with the quotes is on Sabernomics.com) before the season started in 2008 and here is a solid Francoeur quote from that article.
"I’m making pitchers think more, forcing them to throw strikes. I don’t think there’s any reason I shouldn’t hit 30 to 35 home runs."
The season after this interview, Francoeur ended up with 11 homers, a .294 OBP, a .359 SLG and a few days in double-A. Needless to say the added weight Francoeur put on did not help him hit any homers as he claimed it would before the season.
This year, Francoeur's focus is pitch recognition. In the article with Kernan Francoeur, he stated that, "If I can mix in 50-60 walks, I become a totally different guy."
But wait, in 2008 did Jeff not say this?
"My goal has been to go 10 or 15 walks up in the next two or three years, every year. Last year, I had 42 (up from 23 in ‘06). This year, I want to get to about 60 or so and keep moving up."
Jeff ended up 39 walks in 2008, followed by 23 in 2009.
Francoeur is making the same empty promises that he made as a Brave, only this time the Mets and their fans are the ones being mislead.
Francoeur walked 23 times last year; there is not one possible chance that he approaches 60 walks. All of a sudden after nearly 3,000 plate appearances, Francouer is going to walk 60 times and hit 27 homers?
Granted he did not say that he will walk that much or that he will hit that many homers; this time he simply said if. But why say a number if it is this totally unreachable?
Jeff Francoeur has and always will be a hype machine. He has all the tools in the world with no game plan at the plate. He said he developed a game plan this offseason to Kernan but, as evident by his past statements, it is hard to believe anything that comes out of Francoeur's mouth before a season starts.
If you say you are going to hit a certain amount of home runs or walk a certain amount each year, then either do it or stop making predictions.
If your focus is playing baseball and becoming a better player for yourself and for your team, then these empty promises to fans do nothing but put added pressure on yourself, and when you come up short it makes you look like an idiot.
Francoeur knows that he is as talented as they come, but just because you have the athletic skill does not mean you will succeed, and he should know this by now.
I am sure Jeff has worked on his game plan but when it comes down to it, you will see the same Francoeur in the box swinging away at first pitches out of the strike zone and rolling over to the shortstop, the same Francoeur that the Braves fanbase has come to know...and hate.
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