Khalil Greene, SS, San Diego Padres
Greene hit his stride in 2007, smacking 27 homers for the year. In the previous three years, Greene hit exactly 15 each year.
Greene will be 28 years old in the 2008 season, entering his prime offensive years. There’s no reason to believe he won’t build upon his success and top the 30-homer mark.
Greene is a .254 career hitter, but one look at his splits shows that he’s at a big disadvantage playing at Petco Park. His batting average at home is .228, compared to .280 away. He’s also hit almost twice as many home runs while not at home. This is something to keep in mind should Greene be traded to a more hitter-friendly park.
Even if he’s not traded, Greene can be considered in the same fantasy realm as Troy Tulowitzki at shortstop. Both should have impressive power numbers, with only Greene’s average dropping below Tulo’s. For that reason, I would not draft Tulowitzki too high, nor Greene too low. Also, and this is only for fantasy baseball purposes, both are not too far off of Derek Jeter in the shortstop rankings.
Bottom line: If Greene is traded, his stock goes way up. If not, I’d still take him above Michael Young, Rafael Furcal, Edgar Renteria, and Miguel Tejada.
Projection: 96 R, 30 HR, 100 RBI, 8 SB, .270 AVG
|