Ben Francisco........tell me about him

[Wrigley]

Losing both Manny and Aramis in the same week has me scrambling to fill the void........thank god I picked up JP.

I'm just trying to stay afloat until they both(fingers crossed on AR) come back.

Is Francisco worth a look?

Thanks, I'll hang up and listen for your answer.

[da_big_kid_94]

He's no stud by any means but, to frame my point of reference, I kept him in my AL only for 10 units. He's actually starting to run this year (which I did not know was prominent in his skill set). He has a little pop, but those numbers get offset by his ownership of Andy Sonnanstine (I think they've become cousins). Wedge seems to like him and he'll probably get a healthy amount of ABs, especially if Grady is down for a prolonged period of time and with Delucci being released.

What sort of risk do you run by picking him up, H.G.? if it's minor, I'd say he's a worthwhile addition.

[Todd Zola]

At Triple-A, Francisco stole 25 of 30 in 2006 and 22 of 30 in 2007 so it is in his profile, though he had yet to run much in the Majors.

In short, what you see right now is exactly what to expect, he is performing at a level just about perfectly consistent with his history (save for the SB mentioned already.)

This is not to say he won't finish better or worse, just that if you are looking for a baseline level of performance, this is it.

At some point, assuming Laporta is not the full-time DH, the Indians need to find a position for him and with Sizemore and Choo, most thought it would be at the expense of Francisco (though I am admittedly not aware of how Choo's military service plays into this). But that's long term. As DBK says, short term, he's going to play nearly every day.

[Tampa Bob]

The Indians are 10 games back in the loss column. That's not out of it at the 1/3 marker but they aren't trending well. They play Division foes for the next 10 games or so then it's off to Inter-league play for a couple of weeks. Reds, Cards, Pirates. If they play poorly now they'll be done.

Now that Peralta is the 3B they're moving DeRosa to the OF more often. Crowe and Francisco seem to be splitting CF while Sizemore is out. If either gets hot I would imagine they'll stuck with the hot hand. Hopefully it'll be Francisco.

[Wrigley]

I've been offered J Cantu for my AJ Burnett

Cantu is an upgrade, right?