Why Juan Francisco at 3rd won't be the end of the world.

There's been a lot of speculation (a bit early too,IMO) that Wren may be done with the free agent and trade markets and will instead fill our 3B/LF vacancy with Francisco at 3B ,Prado in LF and maybe a little Reed Johnson platoon action.

Now, this isn't "ideal" by any stretch of the imagination. But I'm going to show you why this might not be the worst thing that can happen (like say spending $7-$8m a year on Ross, or trading for a mediocre speed guy like Dee Gordon).

Last year, in 205 PA's Francisco OPS' .710 with a plus glove (3.0 UZR) and was worth 0.8 WAR. That's not great, but it isn't horrible either (if you extend that to 600 PA's you get a 2.4 WAR value which is avg, and about what Ross brings to the table btw.)

Now, we know he was a bit out of shape, and he swings too much and doesn't take enough walks (5.4 BB% and 34.1 K%).

Now, IF he can improve his walk rate to a still terrible 6-7% and drop his K rate to only 29-31% he could jump to being a 3 win player. Just pow! Like that! Especially if his recent girth loss increases his range at 3B.

His power is great (ISO of .198 last year) his contact just needs a bit of work (yet in 2011 he hit a bit better, and as a starter in 2012 he hit 30 points higher on OPS) . IF Walker can just get him to take a tiny bit more walks, and free swing just a bit less (and I mean take it from awful to just really bad in those departments). His power would make him quite a force at 3B.

and right now, 3 WAR from 3B for league minimum sounds a lot better than the same or worse for $7m a year for Cody effin Ross.

I'm not saying this should be the plan. But I AM saying, that IF that's the way it shakes out. It probably won't be as bad as you think it will.

It could, in fact, turn out really well.