January 22, 2008
How Greene is my Shortstop
Ducksnorts discusses the problems Khalil Greene poses for the Padres. He doesn't appear to be interested in a long term deal, but not for monetary reasons. Geoff quotes Kevin Towers:
With Khalil, it might have nothing to do with the money. It might be family.
Greene was born in Pennsylvania but graduated from a high school in Key West, Florida, where he still makes his home. If indeed Greene wants to go east to stay near his family, the logical place would be Miami. Hanley Ramirez will be arbitration eligible next year, and given the way his career is progressing, Hanely might set a record for a first year player. Greene, meanwhile, will earn between $4 million and 4.9 million based on the numbers submitted for arbitration. It strikes me that with the right deal, the Padres and Marlins could swap shortstops, saving Florida money while still putting a good player at the position.
Posted by David Pinto at
11:56 AM
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I love Hanley's bat, but wouldn't the Padres realistically need to shift him to the outfield? He's a terrible fielder. I would take that trade as a Padres fan, don't get me wrong, although I'm sure it would cost a lot more than just Greene.
Greene for Hanley Ramirez? Seriously?
They aren't even close.
Trading Ramirez for Greene would be the final nail in the coffin for the Marlins.
Hanley Ramirez is probably the one reason to watch the Marlins.
As a Padre fan, I wish that would happen. Hell, I'd do it right now, maybe throwing in Chase Headley and whatever other goodies to the Marlins. They could play Hanley at SS this season and then move him to CF starting in 2009. That would leave a big hole at SS obviously but you can always find one of those, you can't find a Hanley Ramirez anywhere.
If this trade ever happened, Khalil Greene would be coming to the Marlins as a throw-in, not in any way, shape, or form as the centerpiece.
Outside of hitting homeruns, and playing slightly better defense than Ramirez at this point in their respective careers, what does the guy bring to the table? He doesn't hit for average. He doesn't get on base. He doesn't steal bases.
In Greene's first full season in "The Bigs," he committed 24 errors, very similar to Hanley's 26. Ramirez will improve on defense, just like Greene did.
If the Marlins were to trade Ramirez to the Padres, I'm not even sure Greene would be part of the deal. The Marlins prefer to trade for players yet to hit arbitration.
If you want to argue Greene's "affordability" and "defense" (his only two advantages over Hanley), why wouldn't the Marlins just go with in-house options Alfredo Amezaga or Robert Andino?
Sean's talk of Greene as a throw-in illustrates my point that Petco Park may deflate his trade value. His road numbers since 2004 are .280/334/.511 (over 1090 PA). That's basically Alfonso Soriano. Obviously Greene isn't the player that Hanley is, but neither is he a throw-in.
Also, Greene is a pretty damned good defensive player.
he's a big defensive improvement but I'd seriously beware of anyone who wanted to paly for the Marlins because it was close to home - he'd need his head examined
Greene's career stats at Pro Player Stadium in a whopping 33 AB's:
.212 AVG, .317 OBP, .424 SLG, .741 OPS
He must be hitting the hide off the ball somewhere else to get his AWAY stats to .280/.334/.511
Sean, you wouldn't build a blockbuster deal around a player based on 33 ABs, would you? Why would you point 33 ABs performance as an indicator of how a player would perform given more ABs?
Geoff's point is that he's not a throw-in player. Compare 33 ABs to 1090 ABs, I'd trust the numbers produced in more than 1000 ABs.
For the record, I'd not play for the Marlins if I were an MLB player.
Max, I realize that 33 AB's is a very small sample size. Still, it is a sample spread over 3 seasons(he didn't get any AB's in Florida in '05), and you can't deny the fact that Pro Player Stadium has to be one of the venues where he's had the least success out of all of the road venues he's played at in accumulating those 1090 ROAD AB's.
Road stats aside, I still believe he would be a throw-in player in this proposed Hanley for Khalil trade (not necessarily in a trade with another team) for these basic reasons.
1.Greene may seem a bargain at only $4-$5 million, but that's still twice as expensive as the Marlins' most expensive player in '08 (Kevin Gregg 2.5 mil).
2.The Marlins have an extensive track record showing a trend towards trading for young talent, who have yet to reach arbitration. (Beckett and Lowell trade, Delgado trade, Castillo trade, Pierre trade, Cabrera/Willis trade)
and
3.The Marlins have capable in-house replacements at SS who are less expensive than Greene. (Amezaga/Andino/Jo. Castillo/Cantu)