Jeff Francoeur Stars In Major League 4-Back To The Minors…Again!
Wow. I can’t remember the last time that a major league star was sent back to the minors to work out a slump, but that’s what happened in Atlanta, as the Braves gave free-swinging slugger Jeff Francoeur some time in AA ball to work on his swing. This happens so rarely that you have to believe that when the Atlanta brass sat him down and asked him about the minors, Frenchy probably hit them with a “what do you mean minor, she looked 18″ excuse before they told him the news. From the AJC:
that is to help explain why he is back in Mississippi again. Thursday’s demotion to Class AA was, in one way, the Atlanta franchise’s capitulation that it could do no more with him. During the three-minute meeting when Francoeur was notified it was going down, he was given the option to which minor league team he would rather report. It was his easiest answer in weeks…
Francoeur’s slump wasn’t just bad, also according to the AJC:
Baseball slumps may be assorted by shape and size. The one-week Black Cloud Slump. The 10-day Aren’t You Rafael Belliard Slump. The insidious three-week I Can’t Feel My Face Slump.
Francoeur’s Slump — four hits (all singles) in his last 42 at-bats in the majors; .198 in RBI situations — is the rarest of them all, one that catapults a star all the way back into the bushes. He still objects to how the Braves handled the matter, but then freely admits things had grown so bad, he couldn’t even watch himself in the tape room.
They forgot the I can’t find first base slump-Chuck Knoblauch, and the I can’t find first place slump-New York Yankees, not to mention the I’m not hitting; let’s shove the team travel guy slump-Manny Ramirez. Francoeur was all over the place a couple of years ago as the next big thing, but one has to wonder if he’s feeling a bit rejected and down. I hear a visit to Madonna can help you out with those; but I’m not saying who told me that.
