Where Did the Frenchy Quotes Go?
In my previous post, I was searching for Jeff Francoeur’s original quotes to the AJC about his demotion . The problem is that the quotes are no longer on the website. The web address to the original story, which I believe was written by Carroll Rogers, now hosts a milder story by Thomas Stinson.
AOL Fanhouse documents the original quotes that can no longer be found on the AJC’s website.
“This has really put a damper on my relationship with the Atlanta Braves,” Francoeur told the AJC.
“I love playing for the city, I love playing for the fans and always have,” said Francoeur, a graduate of Parkview High School in Lilburn. “But I’m disappointed with the decision and how the whole process went down.”
[...]“I do not agree with this, but I have to do what I have to do,” Francoeur said.
What gives AJC? Did he or didn’t he say these things?
UPDATE: Following the encouragement of several readers, I have sent an e-mail to Carroll Rogers (at what I think is her e-mail address) at the AJC asking for an explanation. I will let you know what I learn.
ANOTHER UPDATE: I have now captured a screen shot of the original article, which I found in the Google cache. Click on here to see a larger version of the image.
I have still not received a response from Carroll Rogers, but is possible that she is not on duty after covering the weekend beat. I sent her a follow-up e-mail this morning.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Rogers responds:
some quotes were removed from the story through the course of the day, first after i got jeff on the phone, and later when tom stinson got francoeur after the game in mississippi. so the final print version was different than some of the stories we ran on-line during the day.
Thanks to Carroll for the response.
J.C. Bradbury is an economist and associate professor at Kennesaw State University in metropolitan Atlanta. He is the author of The Baseball Economist and has operated Sabernomics.com since March 2004.
July 8th, 2008 at 8:58 am
JC,
The Braves’ front office got those quotes taken down off the AJC site (who knows how much money it cost?) after I threatened to start eating nothing but doughnuts and hamburgers every meal for the next year. Cause they know that if I starting getting fat, 75% of the female fan base will stop showing up to the ballpark to see me.
Listen, I may not be able to actually hit my weight, but I sure pull my weight when it comes to bringing in fans and generating revenue. So don’t tell me I’m a whiny baby for thinking Wren’s an idiot for sending me down.
July 8th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Hi JC, I know you’ve written about Frenchy a lot, but can you update us what you would do from here on out, starting today, if you were in the ATL GM’s shoes? The past is past and you can’t change it. But moving forward, specifically what would you do w/ Frenchy? Remember, he’s young (24), cheap ($460k and under team control), popular, and he is an employee w/ feelings and a platform (via interviews) to potentially hurt the team’s PR. Not that you asked, but I don’t think his .313 career OBP is a fluke…he “earned” it and even though he’s young, he is what he is. I’d look to trade him if I were ATL’s GM (perhaps after a hot streak and when his value is a bit higher than where it is today). What say you?
July 8th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I think Wren should see if Clemson will still offer Francoeur a football scholarship.
Kidding aside, Wren needs to park him in the minors to work on plate discipline, pitch recognition, etc. One month minimum, not a long weekend.
July 8th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
ESPN, the WWL, began with the whole “betrayed”, out of context, controversy.
Here is the original quote, which is what you are looking for:
“My question is, what if I had hit a home run or had two hits [Thursday night]? Does it delay it one day, until I was 0-for-4? I was left standing outside in the dark on that. You almost felt like they had made [their minds] up before the game. That’s where I felt frustrated, where I felt a little betrayed,” he told the newspaper.
No surprise the actual quote is much tamer than the headline. But hey don’t let the facts get in the way of a good headline.
July 8th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Here’s the UNCUT story by Thomas Stinson: http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2008/07/05/francoeur_0706.html
It’s much different. I’ve got it saved as a PDF in case it vanishes.
July 9th, 2008 at 1:16 am
Johnny,
What would I do with Frenchy? He’d be in the minors. A .313 OBP is not something to be proud of. For his career the league average has been .339. No team values Francoeur as much as Atlanta, because of his popularity, so I don’t see a trade as a good idea. He’d be in the minors in any other organization.
nhh,
That is not the quote. I mentioned that one in the previous post. I didn’t read the story at ESPN, so it wasn’t driven by their reporting. There was nothing in his quotes that was taken out of context. The mystery is why those quotes are now gone.
Marc,
That Stinson article is a follow-up story from the next day. They sent him to Pearl to cover the story there while Rogers stayed in Atlanta to cover the game.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:02 am
Pulling a story such as the one they apparently pulled is a big deal. Is the AJC a search for truth or a pr machine?
July 9th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Thanks for pointing this out, JC. This just further serves to confirm that more than 2 years when I canceled my subscription to the AJC and decided to take USA Today that I did the right thing.
The AJC is clearly in the Braves’ pocket. I would be very surprised Carroll Rogers replies to your email.
Anyway, we now all know what “me first” player Francoeur really is. At least we got that much out of it.
July 11th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Any reply yet?