Wikipedia
Former Mets lefty reliever John Franco was a very fine pitcher for the Mets during his career.
Games appeared in by a Mets pitcher?
John Franco is # 1 at 695, 211 more than fellow lefty Pedro Feliciano.
Games saved as a Mets closer?
John Franco is # 1 at 276, 116 more than # Met, Armando Benitez.
In fact, Jeurys Familia being # 3 at 123 saves, Benitez and Familia combined had 283 Mets saves, just 7 more than Franco alone.
He had 8 seasons of 30 or more saves, and two other just-miss seasons of 28 and 29 saves.
In fact, Jeurys Familia being # 3 at 123 saves, Benitez and Familia combined had 283 Mets saves, just 7 more than Franco alone.
He had 8 seasons of 30 or more saves, and two other just-miss seasons of 28 and 29 saves.
Screw ball specialist John Franco of course had 2 large factors that kept his Mets saves numbers lower than they might have been otherwise.
First, Franco opened his career with 6 largely outstanding seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, going 42-30, 2.49 ERA with 148 saves before ever donning a Mets uniform.
(He did not come to the Mets cheap, as the Mets had to surrender a fine career reliever in Randy Myers in exchange. Also, against those great Mets teams of 1984-89, while he was a Red, he had an 0.69 ERA in 39 innings with 11 saves and an 0.83 WHIP - but he was just 2-4 against them, as 5 of the 8 runs he surrendered to them was unearned).
(He did not come to the Mets cheap, as the Mets had to surrender a fine career reliever in Randy Myers in exchange. Also, against those great Mets teams of 1984-89, while he was a Red, he had an 0.69 ERA in 39 innings with 11 saves and an 0.83 WHIP - but he was just 2-4 against them, as 5 of the 8 runs he surrendered to them was unearned).
Second, Franco had 38 saves but went 0-8 in 1998 at the age of 37, so the Mets may have been pondering an age-related transition from Johnny to another younger closer.
While still functioning as a relatively successful closer at age 38 in 1999, the Mets acquired excellent flame throwing Armando Benitez in the 1998 off season for 1999.
While the two split over 40 saves relatively equally for the Mets in 1999, Benitez was the Mets closer for the following 3 1/2 seasons, from 2000 to mid-2003 for the Mets.
In fact, from 2000 to 2005, Franco recorded just 8 more saves as a Met.
Had the Mets been a losing team, maybe they don’t go after Benitez to ramp up the pen, Franco stays the closer, maybe racks up 500 career saves, and uses that stat to sneak into the Hall of Fame.
Instead, he got into the HOF voting just once, got 4.6% and not the needed minimum 5%, and was done.
While the two split over 40 saves relatively equally for the Mets in 1999, Benitez was the Mets closer for the following 3 1/2 seasons, from 2000 to mid-2003 for the Mets.
In fact, from 2000 to 2005, Franco recorded just 8 more saves as a Met.
Had the Mets been a losing team, maybe they don’t go after Benitez to ramp up the pen, Franco stays the closer, maybe racks up 500 career saves, and uses that stat to sneak into the Hall of Fame.
Instead, he got into the HOF voting just once, got 4.6% and not the needed minimum 5%, and was done.
Despite missing 2002 and the first two months of 2003 with an injury, Franco still compiled a 21 year MLB career.
In his 14 (yes, 14) seasons as Met, he was 48-56 with a 3.10 ERA. Indeed, his 1.365 WHIP as a Met reliever gave Mets fans many an anxious moment, but most times, he was up to the task.
Still, the Mets fans never had, in Franco, the "sit-back-and-relax-it's-over" feeling that, say, the Braves had in the 5 seasons when Craig Kimbrel posted a 0.90 WHIP, 2/3 Franco's Mets' hit and walk rate.
Still, the Mets fans never had, in Franco, the "sit-back-and-relax-it's-over" feeling that, say, the Braves had in the 5 seasons when Craig Kimbrel posted a 0.90 WHIP, 2/3 Franco's Mets' hit and walk rate.
Overall, Franco was 5th all time in saves with 424, two more than elite reliever Billy Wagner, and 13 behind Francisco Rodriguez, who also handled closing duties for a while for the Mets.
And over his career, Franco saved 424 of 525 opportunities, or a very commendable 80.7% rate. Not as good as Mariano Rivera's stellar 89% career saves rate, mind you, but no one else was ever that good, either.
Franco had one heck of a Mets career, and probably belongs in the top 10 Mets of all times.
The most memorable game for me involving Franco was a game against the Phillies in July 1990 that the Mets led in the 9th by a 10-3 score. Seven straight singles by the Phils and terrible relief work by Wally Whitehurst and Julio Machado, and Franco came into a pressure cooker. He got 3 outs in the inning, walking in a run - but the final out came on a roped line drive.
The Great Houdini had pulled it off, with a 10-9 win and a save!
The normally G-rated great Mets broadcaster Bob Murphy made the 2nd most memorable call of his career, after "GETS BY BUCKNER!"
As the line drive off the Franco pitch got snagged, Mr. Murphy excitedly spouted out, "A line drive - caught! The game is over! The Mets win it! A line drive to Mariano Diaz!
"And the Mets win the ballgame! And the Mets win the ballgame! They win the damn thing by a score of 10 to 9!"
The use of an expletive by Murph was so out of character that it was frequently cited as one of his more memorable moments following Murphy's retirement from the booth in 2003 and later when the Mets honored him after his death in 2004.
An incredible moment, part of an incredible Mets career for John Franco.
9 comments:
Wasn't it nice rooting for a team that had someone that was a lock if you had the lead after eight?
Great? LOL!
Check the stats. Yes, they gave up a lot in Myers but Franco's career log dwarfs what Myers did.
I think I'd classify Mr. Franco as very good to good but not sure I'd use the word great. When Mike Piazza came to the team, John gave up his #31 and took the # of his boy hood hero, Tug McGraw. It was a different game when Tug pitched for the Mets: 9 seasons, 361 games, 792.2 innings (2.19 innings an appearance - yes that included 36 starts but I don't think that was enough to drive up his inning average). In comparison, Franco pitched 695 games - 702.2 innings (1.01 innings an appearance).
Quite a difference
I say the Mets should retire #45 - in honor of both John Franco AND Tug McGraw. Maybe Tim McGraw can even sing the National Anthem that day.
Reese I checked the stats:
Randy Myers: 15.3 WAR; 44 W; 63 L; 3.19 ERA; 728 G; 12 Starts; 347 Saves; 884.2 IP; 884 Ks; 9 K/9; 396 BB; 4 BB/9; 758 Hits; 7.7 H/9; 69 HR; 0.7 HR/9; 1.304 WHIP;
John Franco: 23.4 WAR; 90 W; 87 L; 2.89 ERA; 1,119 G; 0 Starts; 424 Saves; 1,245.2 IP; 975 Ks; 7.9 K/9; 495 BB; 3.5 BB/9; 1/166 Hits; 8.4 H/9; 81 HR; 0.6 HR/9; 1.333 WHIP;
Franco was better than Myers - the numbers say so. AND remember that if Benitez wasn't brought in to try to win a title, bumping Franco to set up, he probably would have finished with over 500 career saves.
Did he give us agita? Yes. But he got...the...job...done.
And "Great"? Best reliever the Mets ever had over a long period of time. In a Met fan's book, that's pretty great.
Great? Same way Gooden and Hernandez were great Mets. But the 3 were not Hall of Fame great? Very few are. But a player can be great and not make the Hall.
Maybe it is personal preference but I have McGraw in my bullpen over Franco.
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