What is McGehee worth?

[nate82]

Mark DeRosa wasn't a highly touted prospect either and yet he has had a rather nice career so far. I believe McGehee is very comparable to DeRosa who I believe the Cubs sold very low on last year the same with trading Ceda for Gregg. I like McGehee's swing over DeRosa's though but defensively I believe they are about equal.

[thebruce44]

Not to mention Theriot and Fontenot. Maybe there is just something about the Cubs minor league system that makes guys come out of nowhere later in their careers to be productive MLB players.

[pingman]

DeRosa is a product of the Braves farm system....not the Cubs

[thebruce44]

Good point, but he is also a guy who blossomed later in his career in a Cubs uniform (although he did have one good year with Texas before that).

[reillymcshane]

If I'm correct, DeRosa had one or two major (I think) knee surgeries that derailed him. I believe he actually was a pretty well thought of shortstop (i'm going by memory, so perhaps I'm wrong on that) coming up with the Braves. I don't know if he ever was fully healthy for several years, plus he struggled at times against righties - and that sort of put him into the utility mold. He certainly is a good story - not becoming a regular until he was 30 or 31.

[Schlitz001]

I don't think there is anyway you can trade Gamel without a really good offer. McGehee had a great year this past year and his trade value is probably as high as it's going to be right now. Other GMs might be weary of a fluke season and bad knees, but he is still young and the Brewers have a 3rd baseman in Mat Gamel. Gamel hits left handed and still boasts an .862 career minor league OPS compared to McGehee's .741. If Gamel is not a Brewer, then it makes sense to keep McGehee, but right now there are other utility options. Give Gamel a shot at a full time gig.

[joepepsi]

Not to mention Theriot and Fontenot. Maybe there is just something about the Cubs minor league system that makes guys come out of nowhere later in their careers to be productive MLB players.

Fontenot was a no. 1 pick by the Orioles, traded to the Cubs in the Sosa deal. He was always a pretty good hitting 2B prospect. In the Orioles organization he was behind Roberts, Hairston, and Willie Harris. Perhaps the only position in the last decade where the Orioles had some organizational depth.

[thebruce44]

Fontenot was a no. 1 pick by the Orioles, traded to the Cubs in the Sosa deal. He was always a pretty good hitting 2B prospect. In the Orioles organization he was behind Roberts, Hairston, and Willie Harris. Perhaps the only position in the last decade where the Orioles had some organizational depth.

 

I would still consider anyone who had 3 mediocre AAA seasons and broke into the bigs at 27 to be coming out of nowhere later in their careers to be productive MLB players.

[joepepsi]

Fair enough. But Fontenot was always a pretty good hitting middle infielder in the minors. He was stuck in Iowa for 3 years because the Cubs already had Walker for the first two years, and then Derosa.

 

Theriot is a good comparison to McGehee. He wasn't much of a hitter in the minors except for his last year and a half. Then his first 1/3 season in the majors he played like ARod at ss.

[twobrewers]

Remember, Gamel before he really broke out in Hawaii wasn't that highly touted.

Gamel's lowest OPS in the minors has been a .827 - his highest OPS has been .923. He was ignored (incorrectly) by some, but he has produced at every level.

 

If Gamel had a "break-out" it was probably his 33 game hitting streak in 2007 (Before Hawaii)

[The Truth]

I think Gamel packaged with Hardy or Hart could get us a very highly sought after young pitcher like Clay Buchholz... as much as I like Gamel, we need pitching more than we need a great hitting 3rd baseman. We need serious upgrades in pitching, and that will cost good young prospects like Gamel or Lawrie, otherwise we'll consistently be a team that scores alot of runs and wins 80 to 85 games

[mletto157]

Count me in the not wanting to get rid of Gamel camp. I believe we will regret it if we trade him. He's going to be a good-to-great player and the pitcher he would bring us will mostly be a somewhat unproven player. Hitters generally are less risky prospects than pitchers are. Top prospect pitchers can be make-or-break, top prospect hitters generally produce in the majors.

[colbyjack]

Philadelphia's situation could increase McGehee's value in trade. The Phillies recently declined Pedro Feliz' option for next year, right around $5M, and has Phillies fans and writers which free agent among Joe Crede, Mark DeRosa and Adrian Beltre could be brought in to replace Feliz. I think it's obvious the Phillies needed to pare some payroll, and it would seem unlikely they would get involved with a free agent to fill their need at the hot corner.

 

Trading for McGehee would make a lot of sense for them. J.A. Happ has been mentioned as a possible return, although the Brewers would need to include more to make that happen. Regardless of who comes in return, there are quite a few teams out there looking for a third baseman, and the Brewers seem to have some depth at the position if they're confident Gamel can stick there long-term.

[Hotdog]

McGhee, Salome, Cain for Ricky Nolasco. Probably depends upon what the Marlins do with Uggla. Throw in a minor league pitcher if you have to. Low cost IF for the Marlins along with prospects. They have Maybin in CF but giving up Hermida for two pitchers the Brewers closest minor league outfield prospect could be in the deal.

 

Another deal I could see happening is Hart/Coffey or Mcghee/Coffey to the Braves for Kakawami or Vazquez. Again if takes a minor league pitcher to close the deal put them in the trade.

[TooLiveBrew]

Philadelphia's situation could increase McGehee's value in trade

I like the idea of Philly as a trade partner for McGehee. While Happ would be a solid target, perhaps now would be the (only) right time to ask about Cole Hamels. While he'd be more expensive, he also seems to have more upside, and his value right now is probably as low as it will get.

 

The only thing from '09 that doesn't look basically 100% normal for Hamels is his BABIP (.325 to a career .295). I'm probably not very good at positing a trade, but I guess I'd start with an offer of McGehee + Salome/Lucroy + a pitching prospect or two (Butler? Peralta? Scarpetta? Odorizzi?).

[TooLiveBrew]

Hah -- I just read battlekow's post #7 in the Gamel for Happ? thread...

 

From Andy at the BBRef blog:

I also wouldn't be shocked if [Cole] Hamels isn't back with the team next year.

It does seem like Hamels is on the outs in Philly due to a combination of bad luck, unrealistic expectations, personality "issues", and the need for a scapegoat. If Philly's so disillusioned with him that they'd put him on the market, he'd be an excellent buy-low candidate for the Brewers to pursue via trade.

Obviously, I agree, bk. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[TheCrew07]

I'm going to take the counterpoint on Hamels, partly to play devil's advocate and partly because I'm not sure quite what to think about him.

 

What if Hamels has been worn down? He pitched around 190 IP as a 22 year old, 183 in his first full season as a 23 year old, and 227 as a 24 year old. Maybe it was too much stress too early for him and he's on a Woods/Prior like career path? You might be thinking to yourself what's so bad about those IP? Consider this, as a 19 year old he pitched 101 innings, as a 20 year old he had all of 16 IP for the season, and as a 21 year old he pitched in grand total of 36 innings for the season. He pitched more innings in 2006 between the minors and majors than he had in the rest of his career combined, he never had a chance to get stretched out properly.

 

On the surface acquiring him looks great, his contract is very reasonable at 7ish mil in 2010 and 10ish in 2011, and of course he's been very successful in the past. Maybe he just had a down year, I'm sure there's plenty of people out there that will believe he just had a tough season. I'm thinking that maybe his arm couldn't quite handle the workload and he's going to have issues going forward, or maybe he didn't work very hard in the off season after his stellar 2008 on the field earned him guaranteed money. I'd feel better about Melvin acquiring Morrow from Seattle than I would acquiring Hamels.

 

It's hard to argue with the results Hamels posted in his first 3 seasons, but when I realized he was struggling a bit this season I instantly thought of his huge jump in IP. Had he been in my system I would have went out to 100 IP in 2006, then probably 150 in 2007 getting him some time in the pen to limit his IP, and then let him loose in 2008. That tremendous jump in IP is just always a red flag for me personally.

[Flood Pants]

Yes, Hamels was a pitcher drafted straight out of high school who made it to the bigs while still pretty young. Throw in the high pitch count, and we have a whole set of red flags. I'd be wary of that if I were the Brewers.

 

The Phillies seem too smart to get rid of a key contributor after one down season. Makes me think "character issues" is code word for "dead arm."