Jeff Francoeur has noticed the kind of lineup the Phillies sport. One of their best hitters can’t crack the batting order’s top five.
“You look at championship teams what they do,” Francoeur told The Post yesterday, talking about the Phils and the Yankees, “they’ve got guys like Raul Ibanez hitting sixth.”
Well, the Mets now have a chance to have Jason Bay hitting fourth or fifth, as they’ve extended an offer to the free-agent slugger. If they end up signing him, their offense adds a lethal bat and their lineup becomes that much more formidable, with Bay slotting in somewhere alongside Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, David Wright and Francoeur.
“It would be nice,” Francoeur said of having Bay join him at Citi Field. “I think you’d be looking at a pretty good lineup one-through-nine.”
Francoeur doesn’t have any concerns about whether Bay — who’s spent the last year and a half with the Red Sox — could handle New York.
“Boston’s a tough town to play in,” he said. “I think he’s going to be fine if we could end up landing him.”
Francoeur is also high on free-agent catcher Bengie Molina, whome the Mets also offered a contract. Francoeur said Molina, who’s averaged 18 homers and 76 RBIs the last five seasons, ranks as “one of the better hitting catchers in the game.”
And defensively, Francoeur likes Molina’s track record, considering who he was behind the plate for with the Giants and their dominating staff this year.
“He caught a lot of good guys,” Francoeur said, “so I think that’d be a good transition as far as having him catch our guys.”
Francoeur insisted he hasn’t been worried about the Mets’ lack of action this offseason, saying, “Not really, ’cause I know we’re going to have the money to get some guys, and you don’t have to be the first out there to sign somebody.”
He also pointed out that considering how high Bay and Molina rank among the other free agents for left field and catcher, respectively, they’re bound to see what the market holds.
Meanwhile, Francoeur is still recovering from surgery on a thumb ligament, which he said is coming along “slower than I thought.” But he’s in line to swing off a tee by Jan. 1 and be able to swing fully by Jan. 15.
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Because of concerns about his surgically repaired right shoulder, the Mets renegotiated Henry Blanco’s contract yesterday. The vet originally received a one-year, $1.5 million deal from the Mets but will now play one year for $750,000, plus $700,000 in incentives based on the number of games he starts.
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The Mets beat out at least a dozen other teams bidding for the services of 25-year-old right hander Clint Everts, a former first-round pick (fifth overall) of the Expos in 2002, when Omar Minaya was Montreal’s GM.
Everts, who went to the same high school and was taken in the same draft as Scott Kazmir, was 8-1 with a 1.65 ERA in 44 combined relief appearances in the Nationals’ system last season ranging from High-A to AAA.