Toronto Blue Jays' Juan Francisco tosses his bat after striking out against Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Johnny Cueto in the eighth inning of a baseball game on Sunday, June 22, 2014, in Cincinnati. Cincinnati won 4-3.Al Behrman/The Associated Press
Juan Francisco, who filled in admirably early on this past season for the Toronto Blue Jays only to see his production tail off badly as the year wore on, was claimed off waivers by the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday.
It was a topsy-turvy 2014 season for Francisco, who was released by the Milwaukee Brewers and signed as a minor-league free agent by the Blue Jays on April 2 but soon got promoted to the big-league club after first baseman Adam Lind's bad back landed him on the disabled list.
For a while it appeared a brilliant pick-up by Jays' general manger Alex Anthopoulos.
Playing primarily at third base while Brett Lawrie moved over to second, Francisco was practically unstoppable in May, hitting .284 with seven home runs and 20 runs batted in.
After that, pitchers finally figured out to stop throwing fastballs to the lefty hitter and Francisco's productivity dried up, hitting .185 the rest of the way, with 72 strikeouts in 178 plate appearances.
Francisco was practically a forgotten man over the final month of the season, making only five plate appearances in seven games.