Wander Franco: he can't miss, will be MVP by 2025 easy

just wanted to throw these predictions out there. inner circle hall of fame, consensus, already voted in by me

Pretty comparable age-20 season to Correa:

Wander (61 games): .282/.344/.461, 128 OPS+, 2.9 WAR
Carlos (99 games): .279/.345/.512, 135 OPS+, 4.8 WAR

Edge to Correa...you haven't done him any favours.

Jumping the Gun: the Carlos Correa Thread

carlos correa has actually been pretty good, despite the whole cheating thing! his biggest problem has been staying on the field. barring a few times that already have superstars, i think pretty much every team would love to have correa as their starting SS

and he's supposed to be way better than correa, i think? maybe i only caught onto the franco hype but wasn't really following prospects too much in the early 2010s, so maybe correa was just as hyped. franco hit tools are graded as someone who is already at an all-star level, and someone who is projected to reach superstar status. not as a possibility, like a 90th percentile or something, but superstar as the most likely outcome. i'm not sure what other player has ever reached that level of prospect "no doubter" - harper?

vlad and soto's hitting skills, right up there, prospect, tools, scouts, all that. but neither one of them are playing SS

my final, most powerful defense. officer of the court, judge, and AV technician: if you don't mind lowering the blinds?

*turns on slide projector with only 3 numbers and 3 little slashly lines above*

5'10"

he's 5'10"! come on, that's awesome!

Franco's prospect rankings are more impressive (Correa's were very good, though):

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=franco002wan
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=correa000car

Their final minor league seasons were, again, pretty comparable:

Franco (AAA): .315/.367/.586
Corea (AA/AAA): .335/.407/.600

To me, they basically seem like the same player coming into the league. Correa appears to have overcome my jinx and be back on a HOF track...depending upon how the scandal is viewed down the road.

This is pretty entertaining, posted a day or two after Franco was brought up:

https://www.mlb.com/news/wander-franco-projections-10-years

Correa's 2015 season was, indeed, the "standard projection" for Franco's 2021.

But what was correa’s projection for that season? That’s what I mean. It’s very rare to be expected to have this kind of season as a 20 year old. For a 20 year old to do that, sure, surprises happen all the time.

tbh i'd kind of considered correa a letdown -- i was not at all expecting lindor to out-slug him (prior to this year) -- but he's at 33 bWAR through age 26 and that is kickass

also he's totally gonna be a yankee in six months (unless all baseball blows up in the meantime)

xps oh sorry clemenza, re-read your post when i got home and i think i misunderstood you

Franco’s knock off Detroit starter Tyler Alexander rocketed up the middle at 107.5 mph and extended the 20-year-old’s on-base streak to 39 games. He’s just four games shy of Hall of Famer Frank Robinson -- who holds the record for the longest streak by a player age 20 or younger in American League or National League history -- and ranks third on the franchise list overall.

then he came out of the game with a leg injury :(

rip wander franco. your career is over and now you're brien taylor

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b2/f8/fd/b2f8fd605d353f487b849d86124d06f4.jpg

*puts the dog in the mailbag and walks off toward Boston*

I think this is it for the streak, unless it goes to extras and the Rays get like 7 more ABs

https://www.mlb.com/news/wander-franco-first-mlb-season-recap

everything people say about him is true. he comes to the plate and the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. just total fight or flight response. him and arozarena are such an incredible 1-2 punch.

https://www.mlb.com/news/wander-franco-deal-takeaways-for-rays

Pretty smart for most any franchise, I'd say, but will Tampa Bay ever support a team?

it’s so crazy that when this massive 10 year contract is finally finished he’ll be….. 30 years old

sorry 31

Misread the headline, like the jewelry was found on his person!

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/34280374/tampa-bay-rays-wander-franco-loses-650k-jewelry-stolen-vehicle

Off to a phenomenal start, will be MVP by 2023, possibly.

.379/.438/.793, 3 2B, 3 HR, 3 BB, 3 K

he's no bryan reynolds, but that's a good week

benched two games for “not being the best teammate”

hmm

Hadn't heard anything about this, but a little more detail:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/37900384/rays-bench-wander-franco-way-handled-frustration

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/wander-franco-benched-rays-kevin-cash/giz94cpshg2o8fjx7sjhqjmb

Royals just tied it up. You always hope the benching team takes the W to save any awkwardness. Let’s go Rays <3

Obviously, the public gets just a bit of the story. One thing a guy said on Sportsnet up here tonight--an ex-player I don't remember at all--is that to get this far, the players themselves would have asked for something to be done. I hope it's all forgotten quickly; Franco seems like a very affable Lindor kind of player from the little I've seen of him.

from clemenza's post on the rolling mlb thread:

A person very close to the investigations into the case of Wander Franco: "It will be very unlikely that Wander Franco will play in MLB again, judging by the results of the investigations that are currently being carried out, which directly commit him to the accusations against… https://t.co/Yn5CGckJgE

— Héctor Gómez (@hgomez27) August 17, 2023

just thought i'd put it here, too. god, fucking horrible. i don't think i ever saw franco play a game (i only knew him from stats, prospect hype and highlight reels), don't think i ever will and that's a good thing.

I'd bet a large sum of money at this point that everything's true. These things never end with "Never mind, everyone, false alarm."

i very much believe it's true. franco, the team, and mlb's relative silence on the issue speaks volumes. the social media photos i saw, alone, tell the story, and the one thing that throws that into doubt (photoshops, ai, deepfakes, etc) doesn't apply when there are real investigations, complaints, lawsuits being filed.

good riddance, franco. you missed you stupid fucker

Jesus Christ.

Enrique and @JuanRecioM with the facts: Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco has been officially summoned by police to appear for questioning at 11 a.m. Thursday, per sources. Franco is under investigation by police and MLB for alleged inappropriate relationships with minors. https://t.co/6g4w5ScTkv

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 27, 2023

plural is it

He no-showed his summons, his lawyers claim to have been dismissed and he is apparently on the run?

Fucking hell

Franco seems like a very affable Lindor kind of player from the little I've seen of him.
― clemenza, Thursday, June 22, 2023 9:24 PM (six months ago)

Back when his biggest problem was getting benched for "not being a good teammate."

Something tells me this is not Josh Giddey bad but far far worse - with enough incidents and concerns to warrant this type of action in the DR

Wander Franco Update:

After being interrogated by prosecutors, Wander Franco is now under arrest at Puerto Plata. https://t.co/5xSfIC4OsI

— Héctor Gómez (@hgomez27) January 1, 2024

Career over

Passan clarifies:

Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco was arrested earlier today for no-showing his Thursday meeting with the prosecutor investigating him for alleged relationships with underaged girls, sources told @JuanRecioM. More news and context, free at ESPN: https://t.co/BEYOtnlOFN pic.twitter.com/zYg8sL2o3r

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 1, 2024

Cursed thread title

truly

With that said…the Yankees, dodgers, Red Sox, giants, cubs, astros, Mets: all of them can’t miss , will win WS by 2036 easy

What’d the Mets ever do to you?

i felt guilty about including that as soon as i submitted lol

basically i'm just including teams that occasionally get to spend as much as they want on players. but dang the mets have had some real heartbreakers over the years. so to reverse curse fix this i'm gonna also say the mets will surely miss, will definitely break some hearts in 2024

Still flabbergasted the 2023 Mets team ended up having a losing season. That plus the Orioles taking the highest wins in mlb have to be the two strangest win-loss balances of the season

Sorry, in the AL, forgot about those pesky Braves (selective memory)

What is there to say? Unbelievably bleak

In this story are allegations that Tampa Bay shortstop Wander Franco paid off the mother of an underaged girl with whom Franco had a relationship. Additionally, @Martinrodriv reported, citing law enforcement documents, that the girl was 14 at the time. https://t.co/5yU8zywHDZ

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 4, 2024

details are getting worse and worse

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39340208/wander-franco-investigation-mlb-details

Big news out of the Dominican Republic from ESPN's @JuanRecioM: Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco has been formally charged with sexual abuse and sexual exploitation against a minor. https://t.co/GCDsSqrnsG

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 10, 2024

I don't know what the rays have been waiting for, the dodgers cut Bauer so fast while they've been sitting with this story for a year.

I understand he's on administrative leave and not on the roster or anything but you'd think they'd want to cut that cord a lot more quickly

I think the Rays want to get out of paying him.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/40535379/sources-rays-wander-franco-put-restricted-list-charges

this does get into the details a bit more, there was an agreement in place that he would be on administrative leave but now he's on the restricted list and they won't pay him. What a piece of shit, what a stupid, vile guy.

'trafficking'

News from @JuanRecioM: Wander Franco was arrested today in the Dominican Republic after an altercation during which guns were drawn. He is out on bail as he awaits trial for charges related to sexually abusing a 14-year-old. Details on today’s incident: https://t.co/icowQNu3D9

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 11, 2024

Guilty, but no prison time:

https://www.mlb.com/news/wander-franco-found-guilty-of-sexual-abuse-in-dominican-republic

Franco seems like a very affable Lindor kind of player from the little I've seen of him.

Haunts me more than my Bellinger-over-Judge post.