Former Phillies clean up hitter and current Jeff Francoeur Jeff Francoeur is apparently someone the Pittsburgh Pirates can look at it and think "...maybe?"
The only team to appear to have a chance at catching the Cardinals in the NL Central, the Pirates are looking to add a few pieces as if that will help them contend with a high-functioning coven of baseball sociopaths all wearing blood-red and probably already hacking into the Pirates' databases to figure out how any potential moves would play out.
#pirates have spoken to #phillies about Jeff Francouer and Ben Revere. The latter would be good leadoff option while Harrison is on DL.
— Rob Biertempfel (@BiertempfelTrib) July 12, 2015
The Pirates lost a .279/.313/.384 bat when Josh Harrison went down, and his thumb surgery will keep him out for a decent chunk of time. For that reason, Ben Revere seems to be an option to replace him. Revere, while one of the more charming Phillies on a squad of faceless or talentless warm bodies, is expendable roster-wise given the similar attributes of Odubel Herrera. With numbers like .294/.335/.377 with 21 SB this season, he could slide into Harrison's role, despite murmurs of disapproval for his skills as a lead-off hitter.
Meanwhile, as even Jon Morosi of FOX Sports confirmed, the Pirates are also peeking into the barrel of utility bench guys as the All-Star break approaches and have for some reason focused on Jeff Francoeur. Francoeur is hitting .246 with 37 SO and 8 BB.
Also,
Laugh it off, Frenchy. Just laugh it off. http://t.co/VIBLnXVkQA pic.twitter.com/KsfRwcmShO
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) June 28, 2015
But yeah, I mean, there's only so many professional baseball players in the world. The Pirates beat writer who initially mentioned this news also said Francoeur could probably be had for a double A pitcher, as long as nobody shows the Pirates that .gif I just posted.