K-Ros has an interesting tidbit in his latest column about the Braves interest in Delmon Young:
The Twins' Delmon Young surfaced on the Braves' radar, but only briefly. One rival GM says Young would be a poor acquisition for several reasons. One, he offers little offensively. Two, he is out of minor-league options. Three, he might earn $2.5 million to $3 million in arbitration, and the GM says a team could find "20 hitters on the free-agent market who would be twice as productive." ...
I agree with all of that, but that statement also got me thinking... Jeff Francoeur and Delmon Young are eerily similar in terms of their hype verses their actual play on the field, and Francoeur also "offers little offensively." If Francoeur continues on his current trajectory this year and does not improve (and so does Young), then the Twins and the Braves might be open to a one-for-one swap of Francoeur for Young. This would allow each team to get the other teams problem, which they would likely view as getting a player who "just needs a change of scenery."
Say then, that Young doesn't work out as a Brave, he would be much easier to release in the off-season than Jeff Francoeur. So the Braves would get a guy who has just as much potential as Frenchy, give him a chance to get things going for half a season (and in a different league, which might help), and if he doesn't work out then the team can release him without feeling bad or having their fans get too upset. This would be a face-saving trade for the Braves, and one they could excuse as good for both players.
For his career, Young has hit .353 with an .888 OPS against the National League, as opposed to a .288 BA and .726 OPS career mark, so on the surface he seems to enjoy the NL more than the AL. Don't think for a minute that this would be a definite fix for our outfield woes, it's not. But at the very least we wouldn't have to keep hoping Francoeur would turn it around. We could hope, if only for half a season, that Young could turn it around.
This potential scenario makes more sense when you consider the rumors that a lot of teams are looking for outfield power bats and hitters, with very few available. If we were to make this move soon, we would still have time to acquire someone else were Young not to work out before the trade deadline.