Phillies trade Francisco
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Phillies trade Francisco
Daily News staff
On the day teams had to tender contracts to arbitration eligible players, the Phillies traded outfielder Ben Francisco to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for minor league lefthanded reliever Frank Gailey.
Gailey, 26, is a product of Archbishop Carroll and West Chester University. He was a 23rd-round pick of the Blue Jays in 2007.
He split last season between Single-A Dunedin and Double-A New Hampshire in the Blue Jays’ minor league system where he combined to go 5-6 with a 3.41 ERA in 45 relief appearances.
For his minor league career he has gone 23-15 with a 2.45 ERA in 175 games (one start).
"Even as a collegiate pitcher, one of the things that Frank did better than just about everybody at that level is he had a great feel for how to get certain hitters, guys he was going to throw it by them or force contact early in the count," said former West Chester coach Greg Mamula, now an assistant coach at Cincinnati. "He has good movement on his pitches, he can change speeds. There are a lot of different things he can do as far as location, movement and changing speeds and that's been reflected in minor league baseball."
"How he’s made his way through the minors and had success and the way he is going to potentially get big-league hitters out is to expose their weakness because he can do different things with a baseball."
Mamula said Gailey will benefit from coming home.
"He’s a kid from Philadelphia so he’s got family and friends there," he said. "At the time, he was well known as one of the top high school pitchers and going to West Chester, he has that following and has got the support ... There’s going to be a lot of people following him, obviously, and a lot of people requesting tickets from him whether he's in Reading, Allentown or Philadelphia."
Francisco, 30, spent parts of three seasons with the Phillies (2009-11), where he hit .259 with 17 home runs and 75 RBI in 225 games. He was initially acquired in the trade that brought Cliff Lee to the Phillies the first time. He hit .244 with 6 home runs and 34 RBI last season.
He made $1.8 million last year and was likely to get a raise via arbitration.
The Phillies have made significant moves to remake their bench and ran out of room for Francisco. The team has added Jim Thome, Laynce Nix and Ty Willingham, along with re-signing Brian Schneider. It is likely the Phillies tender Wilson Valdez before the midnight deadline tonight.
He appeared in 17 career postseason games for the Phillies and belted the sixth postseason pinch-hit home run in club history in Game 3 of the 2011 NLDS against St. Louis.
Tweeted Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino, "Gonna miss my boy BennyFresh #goodluck in Toronto bro!"
The Phillies now have 39 players on the 40-man roster.
- Kevin Youuuuk? Word is he is available. Or how about Marco Scutaro , Jed Lowrie @ short or Josh Reddick OF. Any one, all or any combination of these guys. Question is at what cost.
— DUDESKINS - ...And the reason then that you are supposedly still a fan 'biscuit...come on smile, we know you can do it...and while you're at it, think of something nice to say about someone...sometime...Merry Xmas...
— stan the man too - If somethings up it will probably be for a big name at third base, this season or next, that's the biggest hole. David Wright anyone?— TexasYankee
- Good Luck Ben. Class Act.
Maybe if your teammates were less interested in being sluggers and putting up numbers that look good come contract time.Maybe if you had a Manager that aran a baseball team instead of a Country club. Maybe if the core 8 were more interested in doing whatever it takes to support that awesome pitching staff and winning World Series you Madson,Raul and everyone else could have stuck together for a few more years.— joe smith - glad we know what Victorino tweeted.— wolfburn
- Ramirez signed with Brewers! AHHHHHH! Vent time: Yeah, our bench is getting better! Our light hitting line up is getting older -- lacks power, speed, and batting average NOT A GOOD SIGN For play offs. Waaaaaa!— MooseBreathMints
- only someone who has no undersatnding of baseball or values whatsoever would offer more to a relief pitcher (Papelbon for $12 mil/ yr for 4 yrs) than what he would be willing to pay for a .300 power hitting 3rd baseman --same bozo might pay a dh who should be platooned and can hit .250 with 30hr /yr $125 million over 5 yrs and might pay a no. 5 starter wiht an annual era over 5.0 $24 mil for 3 yrs, but heck who needs 3rd base when you have 3 good starters and there are 2 wild cards --see you for another dud in October (and note Madson will get a LOT LESS than Papelbon and will be a lot better over next 4 yrs) and Aramis will out-produce anybody on the Phils— warbiscuit
- Don't expect to see Dominic Brown until he gets over the "advice" Jimmy Rollins gave him about his hitting stroke. Rollins ruined Brown.— Joe Nickels
- I'd keep Valdez and get rid of Howard.— Justaschmuck
- thome...wiggington...laynce (laynce!?? c'mawwwn!!!)...hey, rube, maybe bring back barajas; eric the beard and wes helms, scare the bejeezuss out of those pitchers. whew, what a bench.— bubba church & granny hamner
- I'm glad the Francisco era is over. Now we have to get through the (Domonic) Brown era.— AvoidSundanceVacations
- Phils have enough pitching to win 85-90 games in 2012. Don't know if they have enough hitting, however.— baseballman
- The hillybilly's head must be shaking side to side like a koo koo clock now that he realizes he won't have Bennnie to mentor any more.— Wilhelm Von Humboldt
- LAYNCE NIX? Good Grief! Not nearly the productivity of Ben Francisco.
NIX ON NIX!— BEMiller - LAYNCE NIX? Good Grief! Not nearly the productivity of Ben Francisco.NIX ON NIX! (HTML deleted)— BEMiller
