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

[FVBrewerFan]

Every time I come to bf.net I'm just hoping to see the words "Green to Milwaukee, McGehee optioned to Nashville" I've said over a month ago casey should be sent to Nashville, there really is no downside. He's literally been hitting Nieves-esque since May. I would like an improvement over Yuni, but he's not hurting this team nearly as much.

 

Besides, this line-up could really use another lefty in Green. Everything about this move makes sense. Now I know DM/RR will always have more patience than I do in situations like this. (Nieves, etc.) But the time has to be now, even for them. If he was hitting the ball hard and just getting "unlucky" it's one thing. But he's deciding BEFORE every pitch if he's going to swing, if he's going opposite field, etc. You can tell. Doesn't matter what the pitch is or where. I'll bet my house Cirillo could suit up tonight and play better defense and scratch more hits than McGehee.

[Rhett16]

He just needs a hot streak. For instance, if he goes 30 for 30 on this road trip with 28 doubles and 2 home runs, he will be right about at last year's numbers of .285 AVG and .465 SLG. Just give him time, we clearly don't have an answer at AAA.

[Raw Biz]

He just needs a hot streak. For instance, if he goes 30 for 30 on this road trip with 28 doubles and 2 home runs, he will be right about at last year's numbers of .285 AVG and .465 SLG. Just give him time, we clearly don't have an answer at AAA.

/blue?

[TooLiveBrew]

Yeah, that *had* to have been sarcasm.

 

 

it's like having two Yuni Betancourt's playing everyday. Unacceptable on a team trying to make the playoffs.

 

It's poor decision-making like this that keeps teams from making the postseason. 'It's fine for now' & 'you just have to ride it out & he'll get it going', until all of a sudden it's September & you've wasted away soooo many chances at those two, three, four, extra wins that are the difference between playing in the postseason & wondering what went wrong.

[brewmann04]

Casey lease should be ending after all he was replaced by a guy who was 0-24.

[wibadgers23]

Green should have been called up weeks ago, but I just don't think Melvin is real big on calling up rookies in the middle of a season where the team is competing for a playoff spot. It doesn't seem to be his style.

[adambr2]

It always makes me laugh a little bit when GM's and organizations freak out about bringing up a guy because he's inexperienced at the MLB level. Like the rookie inexperience is somehow going to magically add numbers in the loss column. Lucroy was better defensively last year as a rookie than he is this year.Personally, does anything other than production really matter at this point? Is Green going to look like a rookie at times? Of course.

 

The bottom line is - can he OPS better than .587 and give us better defense than McGehee? I'm not saying he's going to OPS .935 like he is in AAA, but does anyone really think the answer to that is no?

[danzig6767]

Green should have been called up weeks ago, but I just don't think Melvin is real big on calling up rookies in the middle of a season where the team is competing for a playoff spot. It doesn't seem to be his style.

The frustrating thing is McGehee was a rookie when he posted a very unexpected .859 OPS as a rookie in 2009. I just don't get why Melvin has been so incredibly stubborn with the McGehee/Green situation in a year he's mortgaged so much to make the playoffs?

 

It would be one thing if Casey had been hitting into a lot of hard luck outs and/or playing good defense, that then Doug would be more willing to hold off on making a move to platoon McGehee and Green. It's been 2 1/2 months though of Casey being one of the worst overall everyday players in all of baseball, and along the way showing little to no signs that things should get better.

 

It would take some some serious odds for Green to come up in a platoon situation, and while playing vs righthanders, for him to hit worse and field worse than McGehee has for roughly the last 70 games. Not some 15-20 game common slump, 70 games of worse than Yuni Betancourt production.

 

How can Doug just keep stubbornly keep sitting on his hands with McGehee for this long with a plan of nothing more than hope/pray that Casey turns things around at some point before the season ends and the Brewers miss out on the playoffs by say 1-3 games? I just don't understand his stubbornness on McGehee, it's gone past perplexing to me. These games count and are over after a loss, we don't get to go back and have a do over.

 

Please stop the madness Doug, Green wouldn't even have to play all that well to be an upgrade over McGehee.

[brewmann04]

please don't split casey and craig.

[JohnBriggs12]

please don't split casey and craig.

 

Yeah, cut em both at the same time.

[FVBrewerFan]

Cmon, Counsell is tearing up RHP, and Casey is destroying LHP. Don't mess with what's working.

[DonMoney4Mgr]

Green should have been called up weeks ago, but I just don't think Melvin is real big on calling up rookies in the middle of a season where the team is competing for a playoff spot. It doesn't seem to be his style.

The frustrating thing is McGehee was a rookie when he posted a very unexpected .859 OPS as a rookie in 2009. I just don't get why Melvin has been so incredibly stubborn with the McGehee/Green situation in a year he's mortgaged so much to make the playoffs?

 

Please stop the madness Doug, Green wouldn't even have to play all that well to be an upgrade over McGehee.

This is a good point. The Cardinals seem to do it quite often without reservation. Ankiel, Rasmas, Freeze, and Jay just to name a few. But all these guys came up and had reasonable success right away.

[kilgore37]

Green should have been up on or about June 1st. That way you have 6 weeks to see if he can play in the bigs. Now we are looking at Betemit and could cost us a decent player.

[Gobias Industries]

Good hitters pull the ball.

Actually, I think good hitters use the entire field.

Yeah, I never said good hitters pull the ball exclusively. But that's for the most part what they go up there intending to do. A lot of the greatest hitters of all time have had huge shifts employed against them (Bautista, Bonds, Giambi, Ortiz, Prince, Ted Williams). McGehee has pretty much gone exclusively oppo for his hits during this slump. I don't think he's covering the inside corner at all.

 

And I swear to god, if DM gives up anything of value for Betemit before he's actually given Green a chance I'm done with the guy.

[BrewCrewForever]

McGehee now hitting a hard .219. Oof.

[logan82]

Gobias Industries wrote:

And I swear to god, if DM gives up anything of value for Betemit before he's actually given Green a chance I'm done with the guy.

I would have to agree with that. Melvin has been really frustrating this year. I have given him the benefit of the doubt but his handling of the fringe areas of this roster in addition to McGehee and Betancourt has been really beyond poor.

[DonMoney4Mgr]

Two hits and two RBI's in one game! Is that enough to keep Green at Nashville? I hope not.

[DougJones43]

Two hits and two RBI's in one game! Is that enough to keep Green at Nashville? I hope not.

I don't know, the announcers were acting like it was the most impressive accomplishment of the 21st century.

[Funketown]

A year ago when Casey would hit two singles we wouldn't bat an eyelash. Man do I miss the Casey McGehee from 2009-2010.

 

I do believe that by July 31st either McGehee or Betancourt will lose their starting position. Perhaps my beliefs cannot be rationalized though.

[GAME05]

i just can't figure out what DM's thinking could be on this one. i believe in giving a struggling guy a chance, but the entire first half isn't a mere "cold streak". i can understand Betancourt because there aren't a lot of alternatives, but not bringing up Green doesn't make sense. even if you bring him up for a month and find out he's not ready yet, then at least you've given it a shot without having to trade for somebody.

[TooLiveBrew]

It was nice to see Casey come up with a couple timely singles, but he didn't exactly hit the ball hard yesterday. Over the past two seasons, McGehee is a guy that worked the count well & hit the ball hard. This season he's just been flailing & doesn't seem to have a plan at the plate.

[And That]

I've seen it mentioned a few times now here and there that we can't call up Green because we're in a pennant race. Would someone care to explain this to me? The worst thing that could happen is he'd hit like McGehee until the end of the month (with better defense) and we'd still have a chance to go out and get a guy.

 

Do others know something I don't about his character? From what I know, the last words I would use to describe him are "wilting lily."

[FVBrewerFan]

Maybe Green is one of the guys on the block for another deal DM is working on? It's the only rational explanation.

[DocLuna7]

For some reason I have this (hopefully unsubstantiated) belief that Green is for whatever reason not even on the Brewers radar. RR doesn't seem to ever mention him as a potential solution at 3rd and DM is going after the likes of Betemit rather than trying to address SS. What am I missing and are we completely overlooking something with Green?

[MillerBombers]

If Green is on the block for anyone who has been mentioned like Carroll or Betemit (KRod trade included), it would be one of the dumbest moves DM could make in our left infield situation. The left of our infield is a major issue holding us back. With a depleted farm system currently, we do not have a lot of prospects desired nor can we afford to move the ones that are. Even if Taylor Green falters some, he doesn't ruin his trade value or his potential on this team in the future. If anything you at least improve defense; however, I can't see Green batting much worse than the current solution. On top of that, when Green doesn't get hits he seems fine taking walks (something left to be desired on the left side of the infield).