Trade: Cincinnati - Atlanta...

[zodious]

2012 spring training -- Cincinnati Reds trade Juan Francisco to Braves for J.J. Hoover - ESPN

This is a little sad. Francisco has the ability to demolish the baseball. But free swinging and no options left the reds with no choice. I was hoping he would replace Rolen at third 40 games this year. Todd Fraiser officially becomes the successor.

Zito, I need a little background on JJ Hover...

[Prez WilCo]

Francisco came in overweight and had an attitude. Never hustled..

[Prez WilCo]

Hoover from mlb.com. He's their #13 prospect.

(While Hoover has had some success as both a starter and a reliever, he really took off in 2011 with a move to the bullpen. Between Double-A and Triple-A, he compiled a 0.79 ERA with 47 strikeouts and just 17 hits allowed in 24 innings of relief. His experience as a starter makes him a better pitcher, and he showed more than enough fastball and slider to compete in a big league bullpen soon.)

[Slyder]

2012 spring training -- Cincinnati Reds trade Juan Francisco to Braves for J.J. Hoover - ESPN

This is a little sad. Francisco has the ability to demolish the baseball. But free swinging and no options left the reds with no choice. I was hoping he would replace Rolen at third 40 games this year. Todd Fraiser officially becomes the successor.

Zito, I need a little background on JJ Hover...

I was always low on Francisco. I thought he was a poor man's Mark Reynolds because he would hit 30 homers but he'd also be lucky to hit .230 minus the walks. Frazier has a much better all around game than Francisco and is versatile.

Hoover I've heard has a mid to upper 90 fastball and rated as having the best slider in the Braves farm system. 24 years old, don't know much more other than he's been in the pen last year for the Braves.

[Kingdom]

Braves probably have a few dozen Hoovers. We typically drop them on Houston though, ahha.

So by poor man's Reynolds, this guy sucks at fielding too?

[zodious]

He's the size of Pablo Sandoval....

[Kingdom]

The current Panda or the 60lbs more two years ago Panda?

[zodious]

Umm... Split the diff.

[Prez WilCo]

Haha he ain't that big. He's big... but the Panda is an absolute monster

[zodious]

Francisco 6-2 243

Sandoval 5-11 263

So according to ESPN Jaun is 20 lbs less than Pablo

[Kingdom]

Is that accurate for Panda, I was thinking he had dropped to the 240's ?

[zodious]

No idea. I got the numbers from ESPN.com. No idea how often they update their weight. I also know Francisco came to camp overweight.

[love_that_reefer]

Sandoval dropped down to 240 last season but packed on a little more weight this season but he's not in the 260's.