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Why Khalil Greene might not work
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Call me a pessimistic person, but bringing in Khalil Greene, someone Cardinals management has openly called a "power bat", just won't work. He hit .213 last year with an OPS+ lower than offensive-handicapped Cesar Izturis. Sure, he did play in one of the most difficult hitters parks in the MLB at Petco in San Diego, but you almost have to hope that general manager John Mozeliak worked some salary issues into this deal that just haven't gone public yet.
The way I see it is Greene is due $6.5 million in 2009, and Izturis would be a much cheaper option to provide what seems to be the equal amount of offensive production. People can talk all they want about how solid Greene was in 2007, hitting 27 home runs, but I'll be like any other old-fashioned Cardinals fan and say I have to wait to see the results before I'm a believer.
Here's one thing I'm sure of: this kid can flat out play the field. He boots a fair number of balls, but he has an absolute rocket for an arm. Izturis just doesn't really compare in my mind to Greene defensively, er--maybe if you consider his Los Angeles days.
Anyhow, it's still early on in the game, but I just don't like this move. Mark Worrell, albeit not our top pitching prospect, did already have a major league stint, and could somewhere down the line be a quality reliever in the bigs.
All that being said, if Greene can return to even 75 percent of the amazing form he had in 2007, this trade is a steal by any other name for the Redbirds. So for that, I give temporary congratulations to Johnny Mo for pulling of what could be one of the best potential trades of the early offseason. Just know I'm not convinced quite yet.
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