KANSAS CITY – In the two full seasons that Jeff Francoeur spent with the Royals in 2011-2012, they were at the end of a miserable stretch in which they lost 90 or more games 10 times in 12 seasons, including seven seasons with at least 95 losses and four with 100 or more.
But even as they compiled a 71-91 record in his first season in Kansas City and 72-90 in his second, Francoeur, one of three 28-year-olds who were the Royals’ oldest lineup regulars in 2012, could sense the franchise had a good chance to turn the corner sooner than later.
“You saw the talent they had at the lower levels coming up, and the pitching,” said Francoeur, who returned to Royals Stadium on Friday with another rebuilding team, the Braves. “It was kind of, honestly, similar to where the Braves are at right now, where they’re trying to go — where you bring up some of those young guys slowly, you add them a little bit at a time, and then before you know it. …
“Moose (Mike Moustakas) was the one that I think they were just waiting to figure it out. I knew he would, it was just a matter of time. Alex (Gordon), it took him two or three years to really get going. Salvy (Salvador Perez), the way he came on. (Alcides) Escobar at shortstop. They had just a lot of good, solid players.
“When you have that, and the bullpen that’s so filthy. …”
The Royals turned the corner in Francoeur’s final season in Kansas City in 2013, when he was released at midseason after his OPS had slipped from .805 in 2011 — when he hit .285 with a career-bests of 47 doubles, 22 stolen bases and 71 extra-base hits, and was third on the team in WAR — to .665 in 2012, and to .536 in 2013 before his July release.
Francoeur played briefly for the Giants in the second half of 2013, then spent almost the entire 2014 season with the Padres’ Triple-A El Paso affiliate before a solid bounce-back season as a backup and pinch-hitter with the Phillies in 2014.
And the Royals? They won 86 games in 2013, then won 89 games and a wild-card berth in 2014, which they parlayed into a memorable run to the American League pennant and seven-game World Series loss to the Giants. That was followed by their 95-win 2015 season and a return trip to the World Series, which they won in spectacular fashion to send Kansas City and the surrounding region into baseball ecstasy.
“You knew if they started winning, fans would come out. And they have,” said Francoeur, who was in the lineup in right field Friday for the second time this season, with Nick Markakis serving as designated hitter. “It feels good to get back here. Coming out to the park today, I went to lunch with Gords (Alex Gordan) and (reliever Luke) Hochever, hung out with them. My wife and kids came up, so that’s good.
“I had a fun three years here, 2 1/2 years, whatever. It’s one of the best ballparks in the league, as far as just being pretty and the waterfalls and just the people here. You ask around and a lot of guys say the same thing. Like I said, it’s fun to be back and fun to be out there tonight.”
And Francoeur would like nothing more this weekend than to help extend the injury-plagued Royals’ early-season woes — the World Series champs were 16-18 before Friday including 8-16 in their past 24 games — and see the Braves improve upon their majors-worst 8-25 record by turning some recent commendable effort-type performances into actual wins rather than moral victories.
“Tough loss last night,” said Francoeur, who had a game-tying, opposite-field single in the four-run seventh inning, when they erased a 4-0 deficit only to lose in 10 innings. “But just the fact that this is the second time here recently that we’ve come back to tie the ballgame on people. It’s a matter of time before we win.
“I’d be really concerned if we were just getting our brains beat in. But going extra innings — we’re playing well, we’re just not getting it done. But in time, I think we will.”
