Brewers claim 3B Casey McGehee from Cubs, DFA Crazy Joe Dillon / Latest: Dillon claimed by Oakland (reply 45ish)

[And That]

Link.

McGehee, 26, was a 10th round draft pick in 2003 by the Cubs out of Fresno State. He played this year at Class AAA Iowa, where he batted .296 with 30 doubles, 12 home runs and 92 RBI in 133 games.

McGehee was a September call-up and saw action in nine games, batting .160 (9 for 24) with five RBI.

McGehee has never been a highly regarded prospect, and nothing about his minor league career pops out at you. Unless he plays good defense, this isn't much of an upgrade over almost anybody.

 

(edit: title --1992)

[trwi7]

Career .332 minor league OBP and .409 SLG%. Maybe a bench bat, but it's not like Dillon is expensive. Seems kind of pointless to me.

[sbrylski]

And he's right handed.

[TooLiveBrew]

Why is Dillon gone? This move doesn't seem to make much sense.

[And That]

It might be that they claimed him just to outright him once they need a 40-man spot for the Rule 5 stuff. I have no idea why they'd keep him on the 40-man all winter.

[TooLiveBrew]

So this was done because McGehee has option years left & Dillon doesn't? I don't know why Crazy Joe didn't get more of a chance with the Brewers. All he did was beat up Triple-A pitching & turn in some solid at-bats at the MLB level. We gave Hall and Hart a ton of PA's v. RHP in 2008 (yes, I know that was Yost's doing), meanwhile Dillon -- the best approach at the plate of the three -- rots away. I understand you want to let Corey try to hit his way out of a slump since we know he's talented, but I felt all season that Dillon would have been a useful part of the 25-man roster... still thought he would have been in '09 as well.

 

Do we have any useful info on McGehee's defensive abilities?

[JohnBriggs12]

No offense to Joe Dillon, but 33 year old marginal major leaguers aren't usually left on major league winter rosters after hitting .213.

 

McGehee's numbers are unremarkable but at the same time, there's nothing glaringly bad either. He makes decent contact, takes a few walks, has some pop (30 doubles, 12 HR), and boasts a pretty nifty .960 lifetime fielding percentage at 3B.

 

At 26, he's not a bad pickup.

[Brawndo the Thirst Mutilat]

Even if there was some sort of 40 man crunch involved, this was dumb dumb dumb.

 

The Brewers just dumped a guy whose ZiPS projection, even after a really rough year, is still a totally decent and quite-useful-as-a-bench-player 255 / 334 / 401 for a guy whose 2008 ZiPS projection (243 / 288 / 361) accurately forecast his 2008 numbers, which worked out to an MLE of 242 / 295 / 341.

 

If 40 man space was going to become an issue at some point this offseason, just wait and cut somebody when it does. It's never a good idea to dump useful spare parts for completely useless ones.

[secondsith]

Brent Brewer? Is that Bernie's oldest son?

 

Sorry, I know it's bad but I couldn't pass it up.

[hawing]

Oh, man, not Crazy Joe! Now who's going to entertain me by leaping from a crouched position before his at-bats?

 

As for McGehee, which looks like it has too many Es, I'm neither thrilled nor fully repelled...maybe just puzzled, like others here.

[TooLiveBrew]

No offense to Joe Dillon, but 33 year old marginal major leaguers aren't usually left on major league winter rosters after hitting .213.

 

Yeah! They're replaced with guys that are even worse. Take that useful, bench player with success in both MLB & the mythical, far away land of Triple A!

[crewcrazy]

I'll miss the Crazy Joe Dillon eyes. Whose bats is Prince going to steal when he needs to hit a home run now?

 

http://beat.bodoglife.com/wp-content/uploads/joe%20dillon.jpg

 

McGehee...meh. Most likely minors fodder, isn't he?

[OglivieHomePerm]

Someday I will look back at this transaction with the same general apathy that I look back at the trade of Keith Ginter with. At the time, I was deeply affected. Now, I have to use Google just to remember his name.

[monty57]

The Brewers just dumped a guy whose ZiPS projection, even after a really rough year, is still a totally decent and quite-useful-as-a-bench-player 255 / 334 / 401 for a guy whose 2008 ZiPS projection (243 / 288 / 361) accurately forecast his 2008 numbers, which worked out to an MLE of 242 / 295 / 341.

I know I've questioned ZiPs before when you brought them up, and I don't try to belabor points, but how do they project that someone at 33 is going to gain 99 points of OPS, both from his actual production and from their 2008 projection?

[joepepsi]

He's also played 93 minor league games at catcher and a handful at 1B, SS,and 2nd. Looks like Vinnie has some competition. Otherwise I agree; he's a young Joe Dillon without the power.

[3Putt]

At least he can play defense which is more than we're getting now. Sorry to see Joe go but he wasn't successful playing part time and it didn't look like any full time gigs would become available. Too bad they couldn't just cut Hall loose instead but perhaps they can still get a bag of balls for him.

[JJHardy7]

It'll be interesting to see where Joe goes and if he's in the bigs or AAA next year. Any chance he signs a minor league deal with the Brewers? I'm guessing not, but stranger things have happened.

[clancyphile]

Why is Dillon gone? This move doesn't seem to make much sense.

He's 32 for 2008, no options left. In essence, if he does well in spring training, but doesn't make the cut, he's likely to be snapped up by somebody.

 

McGeehee is 25, has options left, and is much younger. Using the MLE spreadsheet, his MLE are a .272/.309/.384. If you ask me, he seems like a marginal improvement over Bill Hall.

 

That said, he doesn't just play third base. He also had 17 games at catcher last year, posting a .982 fielding percentage, as well as 32 games at first.

[kramnoj]

Dillon slugged only .409 in AAA this year. The Brewers could feel that he is done as being a useful contributor at the majors. ZiPs is a wonderful tool, but even Tango says that good scouting is more important when it comes to one player than a projection. McGehee doesn't look like much, and Joe was a fun guy to root for, but I trust that Melvin is going to make the right decision most of the time.

[PKBadger]

My theory is that Doug Melvin, in a drunken haze at 3 a.m., thought he was acquiring Willis McGahee in the MLB GM fantasy football league.

 

Fun fact: Billy Beane has never won a championship in this league either, and furiously shattered a coffee mug against his office wall last year after Brian Westbrook stopped at the 1-yard line to run out the clock.

[PeaveyFury]

Unspectacular on the surface, but these are the Melvin moves that seem to end up flying under the radar and working out really well (Kapler, Davis, Podsednick, Kolb, Turnbow, etc).

[Hate those Rodents]

I actually knew nothing about the guy but am quite impressed by his numbers, relatively speaking. I'd have to say without looking that his numbers in AAA project better than any of our regulars there from last year, save Nelson, and this guy has more versatility.

[dadofandrew]

The fact he can catch makes him appealing as a 25th man. Could be a late bloomer, but his lack of athleticness (7 steals, 15 CS's) tells me he is a low ceiling guy. I would assume they are making an agreement with him to sign a minor league deal when he is sent down, hoping he clears waivers next time.

[colbyjack]

McGehee is definitely a low ceiling guy, but he has some solid tools. As noted already, his defense is a big plus at third base, and he can catch. Is arm strength is an asset, and he puts the ball in play and is a good situational hitter. He's not a big strikeout guy, but he also doesn't walk much. He's younger, has options and interesting versatility.

 

He was a top prospect coming out of Fresno State in 2003, and one of the more prevalent comments at that time focused around his contact bat and how he had some power potential but it was a matter of it developing over time. Obviously that hasn't happened (yet).

[dadofandrew]

He also had a spectacular 2nd half of '08...some scout(s) may feel he "turned the corner", and who knows, it is possible, though unlikely.

 

My goodness, if you think Kendall is going to catch 140 games again, this guy would be a nice backup (as would Vinny). Cheap and able to play elsewhere.