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| PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Jeff Francoeur has joined the unusually long list of Major League players who have had their contracts unilaterally renewed for the upcoming season. After meeting with his representatives from Career Sports & Entertainment in the Orlando area on Sunday night, Francoeur decided that he wasn't going to accept the Braves' contractual offer for the 2008 season. When informed Monday morning, the Braves reacted by renewing him for a second straight season. By doing so they've assigned him a $460,000 salary for the upcoming year. Unlike the Brewers' Prince Fielder and the Phillies' Cole Hamels, Francoeur didn't say anything negative about the Braves. As he was preparing to play a round of golf with Tiger Woods and Braves teammates John Smoltz and Tom Glavine on Monday afternoon, the 24-year-old outfielder seemed to be in his normal good mood. "I understand it's a process, and that for the first three years of my career, they set the process," Francoeur said. "I have too much respect for [Braves general manager] Frank [Wren] and the Braves to let this affect the way that I play." With all of their non-arbitration eligible players (those with 0-3 years of service time), the Braves provide a salary offer determined on previous performance. Wren said Francoeur's offer was maximized based on last year's performance, which included a first career Rawlings Gold Glove and a second straight 100-RBI season. "He was at the maximum scale, and we're very generous with our scale, more so than most clubs," Wren said. "When you look at our scale against most clubs, I think we're one of the top clubs as far as what we pay our guys." Francoeur, who was assigned a salary of $427,500 last season, is still hopeful that he might land a multiyear deal that would erase his three arbitration-eligible seasons and provide him guaranteed salaries. But he said he won't negotiate this contract during the season. "Jeff wants to focus on playing baseball once the season begins," said Molly Fletcher, who serves as one of Francoeur's representatives. "The organization knows we are open to discussions as long as [Francoeur] feels it's the right time." Wren indicated Saturday that there hadn't been any recent discussions with Francoeur about a long-term deal, and he said the club wouldn't be affected if Francoeur and his representatives set a deadline at the end of this month. Francoeur will be eligible for arbitration for the first time at the end of this season, and he won't be eligible for free agency until the end of the 2011 season. While the Braves plan to keep the right fielder for at least most of the next decade, they aren't feeling pressured to negotiate with him immediately. "We have four years to negotiate," Wren said. "There's no imaginary deadline for us." With two-plus years of service time, Francoeur knows he doesn't need to immediately gain a guaranteed contract. But Major League sources have said they believe he is seeking something similar to the six-year, $55 million deal the Mets gave David Wright before the start of last season. In the 382 career games he'd played entering the 2007 season, Wright had hit .305 with 67 homers, 258 RBIs, a .375 on-base percentage and a .526 slugging percentage. "You look at his peers and you get confident with what Jeff should get paid," Fletcher said. Last year, the Braves signed Brian McCann to a six-year, $26.5 million contract. Next year, the two-time All-Star catcher's salary will be $3.5 million, which is a salary Francoeur could project to make via salary arbitration next season. "I'm going to continue playing hard this year and there won't be any hard feelings," Francoeur said. |