KANSAS CITY, Mo --We bid farewell to the weekend that was, and farewell to one of the nicer guys in the business ...
:03 ... The saga of Jeff Francoeur and the Royals wasn't shaping up to have a happy ending -- and, sure enough, it wasn't. The local nine formally cut ties with the popular-in-the-clubhouse-but-not-as-popular-with-fans right fielder on Saturday night, designating the 29-year-old for assignment.
From his interactions with fans -- buying pizza for the bleacher bums in Oakland, posting for pictures with children in Houston -- to his candor with the media, Frenchy was (and is) one of the best ambassadors in the game.
Up close, win or lose, he's a straight-up good dude. He's also refreshingly honest, in good times and bad.
Trouble is, the bad times -- statistically, at least -- had been piling up as of late. Baseball is a results business, and Francoeur was hitting .209 with three home runs and toting a .554 OPS, and this was coming off a .235/.665 season over 148 contests in 2012. For all his good work, public-relations or otherwise, those aren't exactly ideal numbers out of a starting corner outfield spot, let alone one for a franchise with an eye toward contention.
And more's the pity. Frenchy had seemed to regain his stroke here with a strong 2011 campaign (.285, 20 home runs, .805 OPS), but the numbers plummeted over the past 14 months, with the Georgia native accounting for a -2.3 Wins Above Replacement value last year and a -0.8 WAR this season. Over two-plus seasons with the Royals, Francoeur hit .254 and recorded a .715 OPS.
In recent weeks, Frenchy had been phased out of an everyday role, and became a favorite whipping boy of bloggers and talk-radio callers who saw him as impeding the path of a regular outfield spot for Wil Myers (who was traded to Tampa Bay over the winter), David Lough (.807 OPS this season) or Jarrod Dyson (.859).
Well, those callers won't have Frenchy to kick around anymore: By designating Francoeur, who still has a plus arm and 13 postseason games on the resume, the Royals have 10 days to work out a resolution either via a trade or by outright release. The Giants are reportedly looking for right-handed outfield help; ditto the Diamondbacks and Pirates.
On the field, the Royals took two of three at Minnesota to move to within 4.5 games of the division-leading Tigers and Indians, now tied atop the Central. And a 3-game visit from Cleveland Tuesday through Thursday portends a chance to make another statement before the All-Star break; the Indians are coming off a four-game sweep of the White Sox in Chicago and have won 11 of their last 15 tilts.
:02.5 ... Say so long to Xavier, too: The Royals also moved on from another veteran outfielder over the weekend, cutting ties with Xavier Nady on Sunday. Nady, who had been hitting .310 with 11 home runs at Triple-A Omaha, agreed to minor-league contract with Colorado shortly thereafter. Nady reportedly had a clause in his Royals contract that allowed him to terminate the deal if he wasn't added to the big-league roster by May 1.
:02 ... Anybody for a Rock Chalk Reunion? Let's see: Sacramento, then Houston, now Portland. Nobody said life in the NBA would be easy, and former Jayhawk Thomas Robinson is apparently headed to his third different team in 13 months. On Sunday, Yahoo! Sports reported that the ex-KU power forward was traded to the Trailblazers for the draft rights to Kostas Papanikolau and Marko Todorovic and two future second-round picks. Robinson last season played 51 games with the Kings before getting dealt in February to the Rockets; he averaged 4.8 points and 4.5 rebounds over 70 games as a rookie. On the plus side, the Blazers grabbed T-Rob's former teammate, center Jeff Withey, with the 39th pick in last Thursday's draft. So one of the better frontcourts in KU history is reunited -- for now, at least.
:02.5 ... And speaking of pro deals, a slew of locals from KU and Kansas State are heading to the NBA's Summer League next month. Former Jayhawk Elijah Johnson will represent the Los Angeles Clippers, while ex-backcourt mate Travis Releford will be playing with the Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers. Releford also reportedly agreed to a 1-year contract with a Belgin club, Okapi Aalstar, if a full-time NBA deal doesn't materialize. Meanwhile, ex-Wildcat shooting guard Rodney McGruder has reportedly inked a free-agent deal with the Orlando Magic.
:03 ... Thanks to a reported change of heart, K-State has its first quarterback commitment for the Class of 2014. Houston's Aaron Sharp, a 6-foot-3, 188-pounder out of Summer Creek High School, told ESPN.com over the weekend that he was reneging on his Friday commitment to Utah to join the Wildcats. Sharp is slated to become the seventh member of K-State's 2014 class -- assuming, of course, that another change of heart isn't coming down the pike.
You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter @seankeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com
