Casey McGehee's struggles: how much leash does he get?

[And That]

They were also produced by starters on Brewer playoff teams.

Neither of which won the World Series. So there you go.

[danzig6767]

Yuni has a 3 yr average UZR/150 of about -12. McGehee's 3 year average is about -2. He's actually in the positive this season. SS is more important than 3B defensively.... I'd just rather have McGehee.

Hairston hasn't played SS for us except one game recently, how is he thought of defensively as a shortstop because i have no clue from a simple eyeball test?

 

Then again, Betancourt could make nothing but outs at the plate in the playoffs and even make a couple of errors, yet i still don't think Roenicke would start anyone except Yuni in every single playoff game the Brewers manage to play. Same with McGehee. Those two will start every game in the playoffs, regardless of how they finish the season.

 

Hell, i don't think it's even a 100 percent lock that Green will make the playoff roster. If for some crazy reason the team keeps 12 pitchers, i'd bet that they'd keep Wilson over Green even though it would make no sense at all. That said, i do think it's about 85/15 odds that they only carry 11 pitchers since it would be so dumb to carry 12 given Narveson goes to the pen.

[alwz4gbp]

Lets face it guys. This is our 3b/ss for better or worse. (mostly worse). We can opine about changes all day long but they just aren't gonna happen.

[Baldkin]

Hairston hasn't played SS for us except one game recently, how is he thought of defensively as a shortstop because i have no clue from a simple eyeball test?

Hell, i don't think it's even a 100 percent lock that Green will make the playoff roster. If for some crazy reason the team keeps 12 pitchers, i'd bet that they'd keep Wilson over Green even though it would make no sense at all. That said, i do think it's about 85/15 odds that they only carry 11 pitchers since it would be so dumb to carry 12 given Narveson goes to the pen.

JHJ is +2.3 total UZR/150 over the last 4 years, so he is basically average. The last time he played SS regularly (2009) he was +8.6 UZR/150.

 

There is no way they keep 12 pitchers, heck, it might be more likely they keep 10. I would be ready to argue that someone should be fired if they kept 12 pitchers.

[logan82]

"There is not a defined plan, because we're still going game to game
with what we see from him," Roenicke said. "We'll see what we get from
Jerry [Hairston Jr.]. That's going to be a tough situation. Casey, we're
still hoiping that he catches on fire and gets it back. I know he's
looking forward to the playoffs and not having to worry about what his
average this year or anything else.

"You know, down deep, I still feel like this guy is going to do the job.
When the game is on the line, I don't think his [slump] is going to
bother him any. We'll see how this goes, but it's going to be tough."

Wish in one hand...

[Ennder]

If our choices are Betancourt or McGehee or Green I'd just as soon see Counsell in the playoffs.

[Glennron]

 

 

"There is not a defined plan, because we're still going game to game

with what we see from him," Roenicke said. "We'll see what we get from

Jerry [Hairston Jr.]. That's going to be a tough situation. Casey, we're

still hoiping that he catches on fire and gets it back. I know he's

looking forward to the playoffs and not having to worry about what his

average this year or anything else.

 

 

"You know, down deep, I still feel like this guy is going to do the job.

When the game is on the line, I don't think his [slump] is going to

bother him any. We'll see how this goes, but it's going to be tough."

Wish in one hand...

From that same article: "Playoffs are a different animal," Roenicke said. "[McGehee], he's not

going to freak out because it's the playoffs, and that means a lot to me

[in terms of] what I think a guy is going to do in the playoffs. We all

know his high end."

 

Maybe I'm misinterpreting this, but this seems like a roundabout way of saying that McGehee is a veteran and not all the other options (ie Green) are. Fine if Roenicke feels that way, but McGehee has 0 postseason at bats. What makes him so sure he's "not going to freak out because it's the playoffs"? His terrible slump in what's been an otherwise bad year? His timidness at the plate?

[JohnBriggs12]

After starting for 142 of the 159 games, anyone who thinks Yuni won't be at SS for the playoffs is delusional. It's one thing if a guy is slumping badly but Yuni's hit .256/.272/.423 with 3 HR and 8 RBI over his last 28 games, and numbers like that didn't get him benched during the regular season. Defensively as Brian Anderson said yesterday, he's been "better than advertised". Granted he was "advertised" on here as the worst ever, so one could interpret that as faint praise but I don't think that was BA's intention.

 

3B is a different story. I've defended McGehee more than once, but he's slumped badly in September. Much like the Giants benched Pablo Sandoval last year, it's quite possible Roenicke would go with Hairston there with maybe a start or two for Green though I doubt it.

[rluzinski]

I agree that Betancourt is not going to get benched for the playoffs but a .272 OBP over 28 games and a TV announcer saying his defense has been better than horrible is some terrible evidence that he's been doing OK. It almost seems like a joke.

[RightFieldCoder]

I am more interested in what the TV guys say next year. IIRC, they didn't rag on Johnny Estrada too bad until after he was off the team. I think the same thing will happen to Yuni.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I agree that Betancourt is not going to get benched for the playoffs but a .272 OBP over 28 games and a TV announcer saying his defense has been better than horrible is some terrible evidence that he's been doing OK. It almost seems like a joke.

Although RBI should never be used as a predictive or evaluative stat, 8 RBI in 28 games for a #6 hitter really is no great shakes either. Yuni's doing what he's done all season, which is make tons of outs, not drive in many runs, and sucked at defense.

[DougJones43]

Gotta like the rationale that McGehee will get hot in the playoffs because he won't be worried about his numbers anymore. Didn't a bunch of our minor league studs just get ripped a new one by the organization for worrying too much about their numbers?

 

And why is he acting like McGehee has "been there, done that" in terms of playing in the postseason? As was pointed out by another poster, Casey has no playoff experience whatsoever under his belt. If there is anyone we could count of to not be overwhelmed by the pressure of the playoffs, it would be Counsell or Hairston.

 

It's very unnerving when the manager seems to be living in an alternate reality.

[Roderick]

From that same article: "Playoffs are a different animal," Roenicke said. "[McGehee], he's not

going to freak out because it's the playoffs, "

I'm hoping that McGehee freaks out. Maybe being in a state of freaked out he may be able to hit the ball.

[yoshii8]

I don't get RR's reasoning either, I've been frustrated w/ his use of McGehee and Betancourt all season. It's made an amazing season less fun for me to watch.

 

However, I've decided to pretend to not care about it for the rest of the season and playoffs, and hope for the best.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I don't get RR's reasoning either, I've been frustrated w/ his use of McGehee and Betancourt all season. It's made an amazing season less fun for me to watch.

 

However, I've decided to pretend to not care about it for the rest of the season and playoffs, and hope for the best.

Yes. I know I shouldn't let those things take away from my enjoyment, but they do.

[tigerbrew]

From that same article: "Playoffs are a different animal," Roenicke said. "[McGehee], he's not going to freak out because it's the playoffs, and that means a lot to me [in terms of] what I think a guy is going to do in the playoffs. We all know his high end."

 

Maybe I'm misinterpreting this, but this seems like a roundabout way of saying that McGehee is a veteran and not all the other options (ie Green) are. Fine if Roenicke feels that way, but McGehee has 0 postseason at bats. What makes him so sure he's "not going to freak out because it's the playoffs"? His terrible slump in what's been an otherwise bad year? His timidness at the plate?

Is Roenicke implying that rookie players like Green will "freak out" in the playoffs ? Wow, way to put down and degrade your rookie players Ron. I didn't see rookie players like Buster Posey "freaking out" in postseason last year. If I were Green, I will probably feel insulted by his comments. Fine that Roenicke has a veteran bias and is anti rookie, but this "freaking out" reasoning not to play rookies is plain ridiculous. Rookie players do experience playing in minor league playoffs too.

 

[joepepsi]

I don't get RR's reasoning either, I've been frustrated w/ his use of McGehee and Betancourt all season. It's made an amazing season less fun for me to watch.

In fairness his only alternatives to these two were Counsell and Wilson for most of the year. Hairston arrived to play CF for Gomez, then ended up taking over for Lopez at 2B while Rickie was on the DL. So he really wasn't available that much until Rickie came off the DL. Green has been playing on a semi regular basis, starting in 7 of Septembers 22 games, and seeing action in 10 others.

 

Of course Green could have been called up much earlier in the season. Or Gamel. But they weren't, for whatever reason. Counsell or Wilson could have played more ss, but their play didn't exactly demand to be in the lineup ahead of Yuni.

[Raw Biz]

I don't get RR's reasoning either, I've been frustrated w/ his use of McGehee and Betancourt all season. It's made an amazing season less fun for me to watch.

In fairness his only alternatives to these two were Counsell and Wilson for most of the year. Hairston arrived to play CF for Gomez, then ended up taking over for Lopez at 2B while Rickie was on the DL. So he really wasn't available that much until Rickie came off the DL. Green has been playing on a semi regular basis, starting in 7 of Septembers 22 games, and seeing action in 10 others.

 

Of course Green could have been called up much earlier in the season. Or Gamel. But they weren't, for whatever reason. Counsell or Wilson could have played more ss, but their play didn't exactly demand to be in the lineup ahead of Yuni.

The reason being Roenicke didn't want him to be. I know people will claim Melvin is the GM and he makes the personnel moves but I have no doubt that Roenicke had a lot of influence. He's made countless statements (including his most recent one being discussed) that he has more trust in veterans who "have done it in the past" than rookies. He wouldn't have played Green even if he was up so Melvin probably decided it wasn't worth it for him to rot on the bench.

And some might say that Green hasn't done much since his hot start but he's hit the ball hard for the most part and has had to deal with inconsistent playing time, as well as face CY Young caliber pitchers in Carpenter, Halladay, and a surprise this year in Worley.

 

[DougJones43]

And some might say that Green hasn't done much since his hot start but he's hit the ball hard for the most part and has had to deal with inconsistent playing time, as well as face CY Young caliber pitchers in Carpenter, Halladay, and a surprise this year in Worley.

It seems Green has been used more or less as a shield to protect McGehee from facing tough pitchers/matchups. And even with that coddling, McGehee's production over the past month has been dreadful. It's very disappointing.

 

Hopefully next year Green will be given a more decent opportunity to play 3B for the team.

[Roderick]

In fairness his only alternatives to these two were Counsell and Wilson for most of the year.

The reason being Roenicke didn't want him to be. I know people will claim Melvin is the GM and he makes the personnel moves but I have no doubt that Roenicke had a lot of influence.

I agree that Melvin would have brought up Gamel/Green if he thought they would play. Since they wouldn't, why bring up? Either that or Jason Kendall gave McGehee his incriminating pictures of Melvin.

[fondybrewfan]

I actually took that article in a positive light in that McGehee is not going to be gauranteed a spot in the lineup once the playoff starts. Might as well start looking now at McGehee's splits against the starters for ARI, PHI, and ATl to determine how much playing time he'll get. I bet it comes down to almost exclusively starting pitcher matchups; of course the obvious problem being RR will use stats incurred when McGehee was actually good in 2009 and 2010. If I had to guess I would say McGehee will get 3-4 starts in a 5 game series and 4-5 starts in a 7 game series. McGehee probably has more upside from a productivity standpoint as compared to Hairston but he also has a much lower downside. And despite what the media says; he just isn't a good 3rd basemen. If we are in a position to win a game/series in the 8th or 9th inning it would be nice to see COunsell in there if at all possible.

 

It is what it is with Yuni; we only have to put up with him for another month at most so lets just hope for the best.

[adambr2]

I have a great promotion idea for the last home game, have an on-field athletic contest during the 7th inning stretch with several randomly drawn fans with Casey McGehee's playoff roster spot at stake.

 

It would be great for the fans, and would probably help the team since Roenicke would be removed from the temptation.

[Invader3K]

Betancourt has been putting up a .766 OPS over the past 28 days. McGehee's OPS is .460 over that same period. There is no way McGehee should be the starting 3B right now. Betancourt is at least tolerable right now at the plate.

[joepepsi]

Betancourt has been putting up a .766 OPS over the past 28 days. McGehee's OPS is .460 over that same period. There is no way McGehee should be the starting 3B right now. Betancourt is at least tolerable right now at the plate.

I will not be surprised at all if Betancourt's option is picked up for 2012.

[reillymcshane]

I think Yuni is terrible, but I totally agree that McGehee is even worse.

 

His hitting is just putrid this year. His base running is bad. he's slow. His defense is not terrible, like Yuni's, but I'd say it's below average. And he's struggling badly right now.

 

I'd be happy letting Hairston (and perhaps Green) getting the job during the playoffs. Do I think it will happen? No. Despite RRR's comments, I think he'll live and die with 'the guys that got us here' attitude. Perhaps I'm wrong. Maybe Casey's dreadful September will actually make RRR make the move.