Happy July 4th to all our American friends out there. This is one of my favorite days of the year. Family, friends, baseball, independence, and gratitude for all those who paved the way to freedom.

The big news today is obviously the demotion of Jeff Francoeur. I know I am biased, but I just don't agree with this. I realize Jeff was struggling. I'm not naive. But, you don't suddenly send a guy, who has played virtually every day for the past 3 years, to the minors and not expect the move to have ramifications. Atlanta's intentions are good. They want Francoeur to work on his swing and regain his confidence, but why does that have to be done in the minors? It's not as if the Braves have a bunch of superior alternatives for the right field position. And another thing...it would really be refreshing, every once in a while, for a team to realize that they aren't that good! The Braves don't have anywhere near the talent of the Phillies, Mets, or even Marlins right now with all the injuries they have suffered. Why not sit Francoeur a few more games and have him work on his hitting through extra instruction or batting practice? But you demote him and expect his confidence to come back? Think about your own jobs. Imagine the boss telling you, "Sorry John, we're going to demote you from management so you can work on your analytical skills, but don't worry, you'll be back in the board room in no time!" I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty pissed. That type of action either gets someone to work harder and return with a vengence, or it destroys a person completely. For Atlanta's sake, let's hope it's the former.

So apparently Jose Reyes got into a shouting match with Keith Hernandez on the Mets charter from New York to St. Louis over comments Hernandez made during the Mets telecast last Sunday.  I'm really not sure what to make of this. Hernandez is a bit of a goof ball, but he's a very entertaining announcer. He's also one of the best players to ever wear a New York Mets uniform. So I respect Keith, and he's entitled to his opinion. The thing that drives me a little crazy, though, is the constant criticism that Jose Reyes receives. I would LOVE to have a guy on my team with the athleticism, enthusiasm, and competitive drive of a Jose Reyes. So he's going to screw up every once in a while. But he's only 25. He has some maturing to do. Give him a break already. The positives that Reyes brings to an organization far outweigh the negatives...at least in my opinion.

I got a kick out of the Joe Girardi post-game press conference yesterday. These reporters are funny. How many times does a manager have to say that "the meeting was between my team and me" for reporters to realize they should stop asking what the meeting was about? And people wonder why players are gun shy about speaking to the media.

That was one hell of a comeback by the Diamondbacks yesterday. For a moment, I actually didn't believe it. Since I'm signed up for ESPN scoring alerts (thanks to Brian Joseph) I was receiving a text message every few minutes. I thought my Blackberry was malfunctioning, but nope, it was just the Diamondbacks pulling off an amazing 9th inning rally.

In case you missed it, The Hardball Times has posted its Pitch f/x catalog. I've become a Pitch f/x junkie as of late so this is right up my alley! I've even started to experiment with some plots and graphs myself!

Anyone else think that Texas is becoming a legitimate contender? Michael Young, Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton, Milton Bradley, and now Chris Davis. Here are two very good scouting reports on Davis...one by the guys at Saber-Scouting and another by our own Alex Eisenberg.

One of the great things about the Tampa Bay Rays is the incredible depth of their system. They lose their 3rd baseman, they bring up Evan Longoria. Jason Bartlett goes down, and they recall Reid Brignac. Troy Percival gets hurt, and Grant Balfour and Dan Wheeler pick up the slack. Tampa Bay is in an enviable position. Instead of giving up talent to acquire help from outside the organization, all they have to do is look to their own system.

Finally, I want to send out our condolences to John and Jeri Sickels. Jeri recently lost her brother, Jack Jackson,in a midwest flash flood last week. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Sickels and Jackson family.

...The Baltimore Sun is reporting that the Orioles are apparently interested in Toronto Blue Jays Shortstop David Eckstein. They don't expect the asking price to be to high, as the Jays have a back log of middle infielders that could come in a do the job.

...Set-Up Man turned Starter Joba Chamberlain was on "The Show" with Kevin Kennedy and Rob Dibble on XM Home Plate 175. Here's what he had to say about going from a starter to reliever to Starter in the Majors.

“It’s just something I’ve done my entire life until last year when I got called up. It’s just something you see as a challenge. To be good for one inning is great, but also to be good and to be dominant for six and seven innings is a whole lot different. I wanted that challenge and I wanted that feeling that you get from starting a game instead of coming in the middle and it’s a great opportunity to come in and it worked out great.”

...According to the gang at the Miami Herald the Marlins are interested in Cincinnati Reds Catcher David Ross. They also go on to say they (The Marlins) aren't really interested in Colorado's Yorvit Torrealba, Paul LoDuca of the Nationals and KC's Miguel Olivo.

...If you don't know the story of Texas Rangers Outfielder Josh Hamilton, they you really haven't been paying attention. He enjoyed one heck of a year in Cincinnati last year, and then was promptly traded to Texas. Hamilton was aware of jealousy in the Reds club house towards him.

"I even heard comments that I was signing too many autographs for the fans," he says. "It just got worse as the year went on."

The discord played no factor in the trade, but, Krivsky said: "There were issues in the clubhouse. Maybe that stuff would have gone by the boards had he stayed."

...With the signing of their second round pick Dennis Raben, the Seattle Mariners have now inked 31 of their 50 draft picks from this years first year player draft.

After making the final out of Thursday's loss to the Phillies, Jeff Francoeur was sent down to Double-A Mississippi.  According to Bill Shanks of TheBravesShow.com, the Atlanta Braves sent down Francoeur to the Minors following Thursday's game.  Shanks, host of The Braves Show on 680 the Fan in Atlanta and The Bill Shanks Show on 105.5 the Fan in Macon, reported the story on Scout.com's Atlanta Braves website about an hour ago.

No official announcement has come from the team at this point but the Shanks' report follows an MLB.com report on Wednesday which stated team officials had confirmed there was discussion of moving Francoeur to the Minors to work on finding his swing.

One of the major concerns cited by Braves' officials about making the move was fan reaction but Francoeur heard boos from the Turner Field crowd following at-bats on Wednesday and Thursday and finished the series with the Phillies 1-for-12.  In that series, the Braves were swept by the Phillies in Atlanta for the second time this season.

Francoeur's average fell to .234 following his 0-for-4 on Thursday and he had just eight home runs and 41 RBI in 85 games.  In 2006 and 2007, Francoeur hit 29 and 19 home runs and notched 103 and 105 RBI respectively following 70 games in his rookie season in 2005 where he hit .300 with 14 homers and 45 RBI.

A late move heading into a holiday weekend such as this would temper fan response so the timing of the move makes sense based on previous concerns surrounding fan reaction.  More to come as BDD seeks confirmation of this report.

UPDATE: The official announcement was made by the Braves this morning that Jeff Francoeur was sent down to Double-A Mississippi.

FRANCOEUR'S PLAYER PAGE ON BASEBALL DIGEST DAILY