One of the things general manager Frank Wren was asked the day right fielder Jeff Francoeur's option to Class AA Mississippi was announced was whether he was concerned about doing long-term damage to the team's relationship with Francoeur.
"I hope not," Wren said then. "This wasn't punitive in nature. We don't even really look at it as a demotion. We look at it as stepping back for a few days and decompressing and getting his game going. "We were very clear with him (the night he was told) that it will be for less than 20 days."
Thanks to having to disable right-handers Manny Acosta and Jeff Bennett and utility player Omar Infante, the Braves were able to recall Francoeur after only four days.
Despite the rapid return, there is no masking Francoeur's sense of betrayal. And he remains adamant that the move was unnecessary. That he could have and would have worked his way out of this swinging slump at the major league level.
Francoeur's face is blank now. His eyes show no life when he speaks. He has been shocked past bitterness, and he may never get over the Braves' move.
That he was recalled in record time is beside the point. Francoeur wasn't hitting major league pitching, which he has had trouble reading and adjusting to. On the other hand, it would have been worse by far had he struggled with the M-Braves.
Wren was hoping only to wake up Francoeur's bat when he reluctantly concluded that a step back to the minors was in order. But he may also have made a point about the long-term contract Francoeur has turned down the last two springs. If the Braves weren't willing to offer more money and more years before, they surely won't be inclined to do so now.
BRAVES 12, PADRES 3: RHP Jorge Campillo had been cruising through Sunday's game until he had to leave in the top of the seventh after fouling a ball off his foot. His teammates gave him plenty of support with a three-run first inning and a five-run sixth.
