Here's the place to talk about the career of:
Braggo Franco
Active Career: 1978-1994 (16 seasons)
192-154, 3.50, 2,922 K, 3.06 FIP, 91.1 WAR
Nebraska Award: 1983
Hall of Fame Metrics: (average HoF)
JAWS: 58.5 (70)
Black Ink: 0 (33)
Gray Ink: 0 (160)
HOF Standards: 38 (50)
HOF Monitor: 48 (127)
# I admit I don't know what to make of Braggo Franco. He was before my time, and while I admit record keeping back in the old days was messy, but man...his numbers are all over the place.
The good? I mean, 2900 Ks is sharp. And how can you argue with 91 freaking WAR? Pull his FIP numbers from the time he was 22 to the time he was 35, and you see nothing but a wall of glory. All back when men were men, too. He threw 260 innings for Huntsville n 1985. And, yeah, he went to the plate, too, like real goddamned pitchers ought.
Bottom line: his peak was brilliant, and he probably overstayed his welcome a little.
Yet, then you pull the ERA and ERA+ and then you see...hmmm...okay, I rescind my comment about the numbers being all over the place. Because when you do this you again see a guy who was always better than average and had a brilliant peak. The bottom line here is that Franco pitched for a Chicago franchise (Huntsville now) that was never very good, then a Hackensack (Rockville) team that wasn't any better.
One has to wonder, however, what would have happened if Franco put these same numbers up for the New Orleans franchise that had brought him to the bigs as a 22 year old and then immediately traded him. I say this because during Franco's peak, the Crawdads made the playoffs six times and won the Landis twice. Take a gander at Franco's "true" DIPs numbers, his FIPs and whatnot, then ask how many wins he might have if he'd been a lifetime Crawdad?
