Casey McGehee, We Hardly Knew Ye
On Sunday, to the delight of many, the San Francisco Giants announced a set of roster moves. After being optioned back to Triple-A Sacramento due to doubleheader roster rules, the Giants recalled reliever Hunter Strickland, and to make room for him, third baseman Casey McGehee was designated for assignment.
By all accounts, the move to end the McGehee era was surprising, considering San Francisco’s history of sticking with struggling vets. Manager Bruce Bochy has shown his loyalty on many occasions in the past, but such was not the case with McGehee. Just 45 games into the season, and 110 at-bats for McGehee, Matt Duffy is the Giants’ new starting third baseman.
Saturday’s doubleheader is what really forced the Giants’ hand. The Giants are in a stretch of playing 17 games in 16 days, and after a four-game series in Colorado, the bullpen is taxed. By keeping Strickland with the big league club, the Giants add an eighth arm to the bullpen, and make that situation a little easier. That situation could also cost postseason hero Travis Ishikawa a major league job.
Duffy has clearly outperformed McGehee as well, which made the decision all that much easier to make. McGehee never really got comfortable with his hometown team, and Duffy took every chance he was given and ran with it.
The veteran McGehee handled the situation with about as much dignity as is humanly possible in the scenario. Before taking his leave, McGehee pulled Duffy, the man who had just taken his job, aside because he wanted to offer advice.
He told Duffy that he shouldn’t feel bad, because he did nothing wrong. He played his game and forced the issue. McGehee had been in a similar situation with the Milwaukee Brewers, taking Bill Hall‘s job, and didn’t want Duffy to feel bad like he did. For all the miscues on the diamond, there’s no denying that McGehee’s heart is in the right place.
This may not be goodbye forever to McGehee in the Bay Area. Given the nearly $5 million salary he’s slated to earn this year, it’s a virtual certainty he will clear waivers, leaving San Francisco on the hook for that money. If another team were to pick him off the waiver wire, that team would end up taking on that salary.
When he does clear, he’ll have 10 days to decide whether to accept the Triple-A assignment, or become a free agent, available to sign with any team for the veteran minimum.
This is a difficult decision for McGehee, but he’s made tough choices before. He went to Japan before the 2013 season knowing he may never play major league ball again. But he did make it back. Certainly, going to Japan is a much bigger step than going to the minor leagues.
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But McGehee will take his time to make a decision, talk things over with his wife and children, and decide what is right for him, and for them.
If he accepts the assignment, he can head to Sacramento to get his head on straight, and be there if the Giants need him. He has a lot of experience at first base, so if Brandon Belt‘s bad luck with injuries were to occur again, McGehee could realistically fill in there. Or if another infielder were to be hurt, and Duffy’s services were needed elsewhere, McGehee could reclaim the third base job and fill a void for the time being.
If McGehee were to decline the assignment and become a free agent, there would certainly be a suitor somewhere for him. One option could be the New York Mets, who need a third baseman right now. David Wright recently received a spinal stenosis diagnosis that could potentially end his career. His replacement, Eric Campbell, has struggled to fill in, hitting just .188 with one home run and seven RBI.
McGehee’s time with his hometown team wasn’t perfect, far from it in fact. After a red-hot start to Spring Training, he went cold, and the furnace never came back on. His knee injury may have been more of an issue than he ever let on, but now we’ll never know.
It wasn’t an easy decision, but in a difficult part of the schedule, the Giants really didn’t have a choice. McGehee handled the news with grace, and all we can do now is wish him the best of luck in the future.