Greene to Angels?

by Eli Greenspan on Jan 22, 2008 5:07 PM EST

The Padres have reportedly been shopping shortstop Khalil Greene to several teams. One team is the Angels, who may be willing to part with Reggie Willits in a trade. Acquiring Willits would give them the long term outfielder they need. Many think the Padres could also land Erik Aybar, who could definitely help the Padres as well. In 136 games, Willits hit .293 with 0 HR, 34 RBI, 27 SB, and an OBP of .391. He would make for a great leadoff guy for the Padres, and a solid center fielder when Jim Edmonds leaves. Greene, who batted .254 with 27 HR and 97 RBI, is also drawing interest from the Cubs, Cardinals, Red Sox, and Orioles.

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if the Cubs are not going get robert then lets trade for greene

by Anonymous on Jan 22, 2008 6:24 PM EST reply actions

Angels fan here.

Know that this was Willits' first year. His splits are striking. Ripped up in his first trip around the league and then had a pretty unremarkable second half.

He has speed, but is really a poor man's Juan Pierre. That's not good.

Extrapolating last year's numbers into 600 abs, he would have struck out 116 times.

And his BABIP is not sustainable.

He's a nice little player, but no more than a fourth outfielder at best who can fill in nicely when someone goes down.

Ask yourself if you would prefer him to patrol CF for the Cubs.

Do you feel like something would be missing or you would be giving something up?

by Anonymous on Jan 22, 2008 8:38 PM EST reply actions

I can't believe the pads want to get rid of Greene. He's such a fan fave and the padres are going to struggle enough in the west in 08.

by Anonymous on Jan 23, 2008 2:32 PM EST reply actions

Go get him Reagins!

by Halos on Jan 23, 2008 7:36 PM EST reply actions

The complaints by the previous poster that Willits strikes out too often is ignoring the bigger pitcher. Few players in either league made pitchers work harder than Willits. He has an amazing eye and fights off tons of pitches. He walked a lot in addition to his clutch hitting. Opposing starting pitchers left earlier in games against the Angels because of the work of Reggie Willits.

That said trades that benefit both teams are rare. This one would help both teams fill needs with talented young players.

Aybar and Willits will both have fine major league careers. Both have a ton of speed and are just finding themselves. What Greene gives the Angels is a steady experienced shortstop and at the same time would shut up the fantasy league fans who scream relentlessly for the big bat behind Vlad, as though power is the only way to score runs in this league.

by Anonymous on Jan 23, 2008 7:54 PM EST reply actions

Greene is the same player as Pedro Feliz, only at SS instead of 3B & with not quite as good a glove.

They both have power, they both get RBIs, they both K a lot they both have HORRIBLE OBPs, they both have good gloves. They are the same player.

by Anonymous on Jan 25, 2008 4:33 PM EST reply actions

This is completely unsubstantiated. The GM and CEO of the Padres both confirmed that there has been zero interest in Greene and no talks of trading him - yet. The only reason this rumor exists is because the Padres have thus far failed in extending him to a multi-year deal.

by Anonymous on Jan 25, 2008 5:02 PM EST reply actions