Texas Rangers Get Jeff Francoeur From The New York Mets

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 31 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 $875,000 remaining on Francoeur’s contract.

Francoeur was hitting .236/.293/.369 with 11 HR 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.

Second, I think the Rangers are hoping Francoeur can be what Jorge Cantu was supposed to be when he came over from the Florida Marlins, a right-handed batter, who can hit left-handed pitching.

Cantu has been useless since coming to the Rangers, hitting just .211 with a .262 OBP in 62 plate appearances. To make matters worse, he is only hitting .233 versus left-handed pitching in 2010.

Francoeur might not be able to hit overall, but he can hit left-handed pitching.

Francoeur was hitting .280 with a .761 OPS against left-handed pitching in 2010. Not great, but better than what Cantu could give the Rangers off the bench.

For the Mets, they get something back for a guy they were most likely going to non-tender in the offseason.

Arias, who was recently designated for assignment by the Rangers, was hitting .276/.290/.347 with no home runs in 101 plate appearnaces this season.

Arias will provide the Mets with some middle infield depth for the remainder of the season. Other than that, he doesn’t offer much.

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