sportsjabber.net

Give the Texas Rangers credit. They are leaving no stone unturned as they head towards their first postseason since 1999.

They were very active leading up to and at the July 31st trade deadline and they were active again when it came to the August 31st waiver deadline. The Rangers acquired OF Jeff Francoeur yesterday from the New York Mets for 2B Joaquin Arias. The Mets will pay a majority of the $875 thousand remaining on Francoeur’s contract.

Francoeur was hitting .236/.293/.369 with 11 HR’s in 124 games with the Mets in 2010, but lost playing time when Carlos Beltran came back from the disabled list and because quite frankly, he was really struggling at the plate.

So the question is — why would the Rangers want him?

First, as bad as Francoeur is offensively, defensively he is a very solid right fielder. He has decent range and I would venture to say he has the second or third best right field arm in the game. With the possibility of Josh Hamilton or Nelson Cruz going down with an injury at any time, “Frenchy” can be a solid defensive replacement late in the game for the Rangers.

READ THE REST  HERE