From the Reds twitter:

#Reds acquire from Braves RHP J.J. Hoover in exchange for IF Juan Francisco. Hoover assigned to Louisville.

https://twitter.com/#!/Reds

Other info off of Redszone:

Quote:Hoover is a 6'3" 215 pound RHP, 24 years old. Has a career 3.14 minor league ERA in 401 IP, with a 2.7 BB/9 and 9.5 K/9. Has started 61 of his 99 career games.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/mi...d=hoover001jj-

and....

Quote:The tall right-hander features a fastball in the 93-97 mph range and a curve and slider.

http://braves.scout.com/a.z?s=248&p=8&c=1&nid=3933062

.....and...

Quote:John Sickels profiled Hoover in September and sounds pretty high on him. Sounds like the Reds did well.


Quote:
Hoover has the four classic pitches: fastball, curveball, slider, changeup. His heater is a tick above average in the low 90s, but works well due to the contrast with his secondary pitches. All three of his non-fastball offerings are rated as solid major league average. Although he doesn't have a genuine plus pitch, none of them are weak, arsenal is diverse, he mixes them well, throws strikes, and has been extremely durable in his career. He's maintained his strikeout rate and K/BB ratios at each level, and he's never had a serious injury. He is a strong fly ball pitcher, but doesn't give up an excessive number of home runs.

For most teams, Hoover would profile as a solid number three or four starter, chewing up innings at a good clip with consistent performance. But the Braves see Hoover's path to the majors as clearing more quickly in the bullpen, and it is hard to argue with the results so far: he's been outstanding in that role in Triple-A. He's been named as one of Atlanta's representatives in the Arizona Fall League, one of the last stepping stones to the majors, and should compete for a relief job on the big league staff in 2012.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2011/...atlanta-braves

.....and....

Quote:BA has Hoover with the best slider among Braves prospects. Sorry to see JF go, but Reds seem to have acquired a quality pitching prospect.

....and.....

Quote:Hoover was a reliever last year. High strikeout rate, walks his share.

Did well in the AA bullpen, went to AAA late in the season.

Reds might have been down on JF, they got a quality arm for him, but a guy apparently slated for the bullpen.

Hoover could be in Cincy before you know it with the holes in the Reds bullpen due to injury.

I agree that we could see other moves today, possibly other trades.

Also, Reds are so thin in lefty bats, wonder if this means that Willie Harris makes the team. Frazier had a good spring, but is another righty.

There goes our 3B insurance. They must be high on Frazier (gulp). Also gets rid of our lone LH power bat off the bench.

As the poster speculated, maybe more moves to come.

I think it was a good decision to move on from Francisco. He's blocked, he came into Spring Training overweight, and his bat control is still a big issue. Sounds like Hoover can be a valuable guy in the bullpen over the long-term and that's clearly where the Reds need help right now.

(04-01-2012 11:54 AM)Coopdaddy67 Wrote:  I think it was a good decision to move on from Francisco. He's blocked, he came into Spring Training overweight, and his bat control is still a big issue. Sounds like Hoover can be a valuable guy in the bullpen over the long-term and that's clearly where the Reds need help right now.

I have mixed emotions about this trade.

I've never felt Francisco was given time to succeed or crash and burn.
I'm concerned about Rolen's health holding up, and concerned about who replaces Rolen next season when his contract is up after this season.
I know Frazier is the obvious replacement this year if Rolen goes down. But I don't view Todd as a long term replacement or even for next season.

Who do we have in the minors that is ready to step in at 3B next season?

On the other hand, getting a solid young arm is never a bad thing. Although I've since read he has a high flyball rate in his career which doesn't mesh well with GABP.

Well, I guess we now have a new candidiate for setup man to Marshall.

If Rolen doesn't hold up, it's not like Francisco is the answer. He's another left-handed free swinger that's going to strikeout a bunch. Could he develop into a solid player down the line? Sure, but it's going to be awhile. If Rolen goes down, see what Frazier can do. If you'd rather have the defense, use Janish there some.

Oops, I forgot about Cairo, but he's going to be playing all over the place.

Rolen will not hold up. The fact that thy were even willing to move Francisco tells me that they had no confidence in him. As Coop says, Frazier is now the guy.

I like this trade for the simple fact that Frazier is more equipped to be a PH, as well as handle extended playing time at 3B if needed. Francisco has no clue how to play situational baseball and that's one of the main priorities of a PH. Hoover is a solid prospect and I'm surprised the Reds got that good of a return for Francisco.

The only issue is that a team that had a serious lack of LH hitters to begin with just lost another one. With only 2 LH hitters on the roster it is fairly easy to see why this team struggles vs RHP. There is zero lineup versatility with this team and they lack the ability to play match ups against tough RH starters. When healthy the Cardinals will have the ability to put 6-7 LH bats in their lineup. That'a a big advantage in my opinion.

Interesting trade. Not sure if anyone knows if Fransisco is more Willy Moe than future star.

I like the trade, and like Rath suggested, all I see in Francisco is Wily Mo Pena.

Perhaps the Braves were willing to let someone supposedly this good go as Chipper is already hurt, and he has publicly stated that he will retire after this year. They got a power, LH bat to possibly replace him.

(04-01-2012 02:30 PM)ctipton Wrote:  Perhaps the Braves were willing to let someone supposedly this good go as Chipper is already hurt, and he has publicly stated that he will retire after this year. They got a power, LH bat to possibly replace him.

Yeah, it's hard to pry good pitchers away from the Braves.

Hoover is only 24 and has spent most of his time starting in the minors. He gives them flexibility if injuries start to mount in the rotation or if they need a good strikeout guy in the 'pen.

Surprises me that he has a high flyball rate considering he supposedly has a nice slider.

Atlanta Braves
Braves trade for power-hitting Reds 3B prospect Francisco

1:16 pm April 1, 2012, by David O'Brien

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – The Braves added power and third-base insurance by trading for Reds prospect Juan Francisco on Sunday, sending pitching prospect J.J. Hoover to Cincinnati in the two-player deal.

Francisco, 24, was rated the best power-hitting prospect in the Reds organization a year ago. He had at least 23 homers and 90 RBIs in three consecutive minor league seasons thru 2009, and has a .284 average and five homers in 181 plate appearances in parts of three major league seasons with the Reds.

The left-handed hitter is out of minor league options and will be on the Braves’ opening-day roster, said general manager Frank Wren, who mentioned Francisco as a possible candidate to succeed third baseman Chipper Jones, who plans to retire after the 2012 season.

For now, Francisco will give the Braves a second option along with Martin Prado when Jones is out of the lineup.

“He could be a guy who figures for us for a while at third,” Wren said of Francisco. “We just don’t know at this point. We’re going to get a chance to watch him and see how it develops.”

Francisco hit .307 with 15 homers and a .334 on-base percentage in 314 plate appearances in Triple-A last season. He has a .284 career average with five homers and a .331 OBP in 181 plate appearances over parts of three major league seasons with the Reds.

Hoover, 24, was caught in a logjam of Braves pitching prospects. A 10th-round draft pick by the Braves in 2008, he had a 25-19 record and 3.14 ERA in 99 games (61 starts) during four minor league seasons, including a 2.64 ERA in 43 games (14 starts) last season Double-A and Triple-A, with 117 strikeouts in 105-2/3 innings.

The right-hander excelled after a midseason move to the bullpen and had 31 strikeouts in 18-2/3 innings for Triple-Gwinnett.

“We like [Hoover],” Wren said. “We thought at some point he would be able to help us in middle relief here this year. He was one of our corps of young arms we thought would be here at some point this year, but when you get a chance to get a guy with this type of offensive potential — they’re hard to come by.”

Francisco has played almost exclusively at third base in six professional seasons, but has some experience at first base and the outfield corners. Wren said he could play left field or first base in the majors, but would primarily play third and also pinch-hit.

“Because he’s a left-handed hitter it gives Fredi the ability to mix and match,” Wren said. “I’m sure there will be times when he’ll play third and Prado will stay in left, but there may be other times where he still uses [Matt] Diaz in left to face a tough lefty and uses Prado at third. It gives us a lot of flexibility on our club. But [Francisco] is an offensive threat. He hit a couple of home runs this week while we’ve been watching him, and he has big power.”

Listed at 6 feet 2 and 245 pounds, Francisco hit a 502-foot homer at Cincinnati in 2011, second-longest homer at Great America Ball Park. (Click here http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19127709 for video of that blast.) Triple-A International League managers voted his arm as the best among the league’s infielders last season.

Wren said the Braves had talked since the Winter Meetings with the Reds about Francisco, who was blocked in Cincinnati by veteran third baseman Scott Rolen and first baseman Joey Votto.

“This was one of the things that was on the front burner for us really since the beginning of spring training,” Wren said. “We inquired and thought we were making progress towards a deal back at the winter meetings for him, and they decided to hold on through spring training and just see how their club came together.

“As their guys all got healthy and played well I think they felt like they needed guys with more flexibility, more super-utility types.”

Francisco has a .286 minor-league career average with 116 homers, 439 RBI and a .317 OBP in 652 games over six seasons.

http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-braves-blog...francisco/

Reds vs White Sox on MLB.com right now. Latos pitching. 2-2 top of third.

(04-01-2012 12:58 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Interesting trade. Not sure if anyone knows if Fransisco is more Willy Moe than future star.

Definitely more Wily Mo in my opinion. Great trade (& I know nothing about Hoover).

I really think Francisco is better than Wily Mo. But that doesn't mean he is the answer to be successor at 3b, he might just have had more trade value than Frazier.

Play Rolen as much as you can and then go with Frazier.

I just hope Rolen is good to go in the post-season.

Francisco can hit the ball. My main problem with him is he can't field. He would absolutely kill us in the field as an everyday 3rd Baseman. Add in the fact that he strikes out a lot & doesn't seem to want to work very hard & you have a guy I don't want...

He had no options. Couldn't go to Triple A.

Kinda torn on this one too. I hate to give up on Francisco without ever really seeing what he can do in the majors if healthy. But obviously our options were limited due to him being out of options and Francisco hasn't helped his case with injuries and apparently being out of shape this spring.

To the good, it sounds like we got a decent prospect from the Braves - although they seem to have a gift for knowing which pitchers to hold onto and which are fool's gold.

Kind of interesting that the last wave of top Reds prospects are either playing for the Reds or have been traded. JFran was kind of the last.

The next wave is on it's way. Gonna be fun watching these guys develop.