Panda replacement: Giants to acquire Casey McGehee from Marlins
According to Juan C. Rodriguez of the Miami-Sun Sentinal, the San Francisco Giants have a deal in place to acquire veteran third baseman Casey McGehee from the Miami Marlins. The return for McGehee has not been announced, but Rodriguez believed it to be lower level minor league pitching.
It’s not exactly the big name many anticipated the Giants would land to fill the sizable gap created by Pablo Sandoval’s departure. The Giants were also in on but eventually lost out on free agents Chase Headley and Yasmany Tomas, who were viewed as the best bets available at third base position in the short and long term. McGehee is more of a short term, fall-back option, but he fills the need nonetheless.
McGehee, 32, is a .264./.324/.400 career hitter over six big league seasons. He actually spent the 2013 season in Japan, before returning to MLB with the Miami Marlins. In the first half of 2014, he came out strong, hitting .321 and knocking in 53 runs, but the power upside shown in his previous MLB run — he averaged 17 from 2009-11 — was non-existent. McGehee finished with a .287/.355/.357 slash line, only four home runs and 76 RBIs in 691 plate appearances.
By comparison, Sandoval has averaged 18 home runs and 103 RBIs with a .292/.345/.464 slash line over his six full seasons. It doesn’t represent a huge leap from McGehee’s career slash or peak production, but obviously McGehee is on the downside of those numbers while Sandoval may just be reaching his peak. The Giants will likely have to pursuit an upgrade elsewhere in their lineup to offset the current and expected future loss in production.
As for the Marlins, McGehee became expendable on Friday after they acquired Martion Prado in a five-player deal with the New York Yankees. It doesn’t sound like a great return is coming, but Miami is probably happy getting out from under McGehee’s arbitration, which MLB Trade Rumors projects at $3.5 million.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
