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

[jmeks23]

I was never really sold on Casey to begin with, his minor league numbers coupled with his fundamentally bad batting stance, and poor speed and poor glove (though BA and Rock would tell you he's always been defense first). To me, I think it's about that time they option him to the minors. I don't think he has enough service time to deny it, and he has all of his options left. As others mentioned, I think a clean Green for McGehee swap is a win win for both the Brewers and McGehee. McGehee gets to work on his game against minor league pitching, and the Brewers get to see what Green's really got. Only a year or two ago Green was a top prospect for the Brewers.

 

If they really want to keep Casey up but also bring Green up, I'm not really sure who should get cut. I actually like what Wilson provides, he has good D and not that bad of a bat honestly. You can't get rid of Craig, and who knows if they'll ever cut their loss on Yuni. So that basically leaves Kotsay, but then you only have 4 OF'ers. So who knows.

[PilprinBuddha]

How much money did Casey lose by not signing a longterm deal last year when Melvin wanted to lock him up?

[cwolf2012]

"How much money did Casey lose by not signing a longterm deal last year when Melvin wanted to lock him up?"

 

Assuming McGehee never gets it back (I hope this isn't the case), he probably left about 20-25 mil over 4-5 years on the table. At this rate, he'll be lucky to make more than league minimum.

[Nottso]

McGehee to dh tonight, Josh Wilson at 3b, Gamel sits.

[fondybrewfan]

Not a big deal tonight for me with Gamel/McGehee considering Liriano is going. But its not like I am expecting that McGehee will actually get a hit either

[PrinceEatMeat]

Not sure why Roenicke felt the need to play Gamel against CC, but not Liriano.

[Funketown]

Just posted this in the IGT: In 72 PA's against LHP this season, McGehee is 12/67 with 12 singles and 4 walks. Of course, he hammered LHP's the two previous seasons; I was just amazed to see that he has been so inept against left handed pitching this season.

[PrinceEatMeat]

He's been inept against all pitching this year, so it's not much of a surprise.

[TheCrew07]

If Casey is done... I'll be surprised. I expect(ed) him to lose it fast, as it seems that all players of limited ability who burst onto the scene have a short shelf life, but I would have guessed at more of a steep linear decline rather than the exponential decline we're seeing this season. I suppose in the end it doesn't matter how quickly it ends, as long as the team moves on at the appropriate time. I'm just glad Casey saved Melvin from another horrible contract.

 

If he starts to hit again... great. If not, I'm cool with Green. He never was a good defender and never will be, I don't expect his D to magically improve with age.

 

edit. he=McGehee

[RockCoCougars]

Does the team have control over Green past this season? I'm assuming he can be a minor league free agent after next year, but not sure. I'd be inclined to give McGehee another month (but I think that I'm more patient, OK stubborn than average), he has shown a few signs of life over the past few weeks. Even if he is benched, I'd be shocked if he was sent to Nashville. Hardy was sent down, but that wasn't due to his play, it mostly related to his service time.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Just thought of this if Green isn't the answer to replace McGehee. How about Wilson Betemit? He is having a good year, and could be gotten pretty easily I would guess. He hits RHP better than LHP, but is a switch hitter. At the very least he could platoon with McGehee if they want Green to stay in AAA, or Wilson.

[adambr2]

Yeah, McGehee has to want to kill his agent right now.

 

Even if he was lowballed to say a 4 year, $12M dollar deal, I bet he'd love to have that offer back considering he's never made more than 400-500K in a season and will be lucky to get a major league contract offer next year, much less an arbitration tender.

[razzzorsharp]

I don't know what to think in terms of the McGehee/Green situation. I scoffed at that idea a month ago but he seems to almost be a black hole in the lineup. Either way, I am not sure a platoon is the best answer either.

[adambr2]

I'd just option McGehee to AAA and promote Green. See what Green has and let McGehee try to work it out down in Nashville. You have absolutely nothing to lose at this point.

[PrinceEatMeat]

There's no way that Green, or anyone else for that matter, can do any worse than McGehee is doing right now. So I say make the move, and let McGehee work it out in AAA instead of in the major league lineup.

[Ennder]

There are so many useless players on our roster that I don't see a need to DFA him, but limiting his role is certainly a valid option at this point.

[danzig6767]

I don't know what to think in terms of the McGehee/Green situation. I scoffed at that idea a month ago but he seems to almost be a black hole in the lineup. Either way, I am not sure a platoon is the best answer either.

Almost a black hole?

 

After a terrible month of May where McGehee posted a .593 OPS, he's followed that up in June with an absolutely abysmal .214OBP/.208SLG/.422OPS. If that isn't the total definition of a black hole in the lineup, what would be? I understand that Green has never done anything at the big league level, but it would be literally almost impossible for Green to not hit better and he can't have less range at third than the statue that is McGehee.

 

It would be one thing if Casey was just in some 15-20 game slump, that happens to a lot of players and thus you can't just go benching everyone it happens to. We are talking about 55 games here though with McGehee and not just a slump, we are talking about utter ineptitude here at the plate along with terrible defense with zero signs that he's possibly going to snap out of this anytime soon. The vast majority of his at bats are flat out ugly.

[Funketown]

Yeah, McGehee has to want to kill his agent right now.

 

Even if he was lowballed to say a 4 year, $12M dollar deal, I bet he'd love to have that offer back considering he's never made more than 400-500K in a season and will be lucky to get a major league contract offer next year, much less an arbitration tender.

When players make decisions, I just don't think they give enough consideration to the marginal value of money. Think about it: McGehee can either (1) accept the $12MM contract and be very wealthy for the rest of his life, or (2) turn down the contract and have a 75% chance at being extraordinarily wealthy and a 25% chance at only making a couple million dollars in his career, which is not nearly enough to retire these days. I have no doubt which one I'd pick. Part of this is also probably players believing they won't be "that guy who loses it", although perhaps the guys who feel like they're breaking down are the ones who are more likely to accept these extensions, but that's another discussion.

 

As for McGehee's leash, I don't see a reason to cut him with Kotsay, Wilson, and YuBet on the roster. Unfortunately I don't know if they have an option other than Green if they want to be serious about going for it this season.

[Dmiles23]

This would be the perfect time to send McGehee down for a bit. Looking at the pitching probables between now and the All-Star break, we will only face 1 left handed pitcher (Zach Duke). It would give McGehee 8-9 non-pressure games to try to figure things out, and then a 3 day break to clear his mind. And then after the All-Star break, take things day by day depending on how Green is doing in Milwaukee and McGehee is doing in Nashville. It would be great to have McGehee figure things out and return to his form last year, but it would be nice if he could just figure it out enough to be a somewhat productive L/R platoon with Green.

[wibadgers23]

Maybe it's just me, but the Brewers seem to have a knack for giving struggling players a long time to figure things out. I expect no different with Casey. I would love for Green to come up and get some playing time, but I fully expect if they do send down Casey, it'll be a Counsell/Wilson platoon at 3rd base (yuck).

[joepepsi]

I bet they hobble along with McGehee until the All Star break, then barring a miraculous turnaround, Green is brought up and Casey sent down to "work on his swing" or some such line.

 

Did anybody catch RR on the radio pregrame the other day saying Gamel is playing 1st in AAA but may have to go back to playing some third?

[endaround]

Did he really say that? My God if true...

[PrinceEatMeat]

Hey, at least Gamel can hit. Can't say that about McGehee right now. Gamel is very bad at 3B defensively though, but McGehee isn't that great himself.

[greeg35]

Did anybody catch RR on the radio pregrame the other day saying Gamel is playing 1st in AAA but may have to go back to playing some third?

 

 

I'm not happy with the total lack of any mention of Tyler Green as a possibility. Gamel back to third? Why?

[RockCoCougars]

Why couldn't Gamel play 1st and 3rd at the same time? Back in the day, guys used to do it all the time. It's not like he switched from quarterback to cornerback or something. I wouldn't mind seeing Green get a look-see, I'd certainly rather see him at third than Wilson. That said, if you think that McGehee is going to Nashville, I think that you are deluding yourself. His knee might 'act up' again, and he may go there on a rehab, but I don't think that this team will flat out send him down. The demotions of Hall and Hardy in '09 were because they were both in Macha's doghouse, and for Hardy mainly to mess with his service time.