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KHALIL AND KOUZ FAILING TO LIVE UP TO EXPECTATIONS by Jason Martinez posted 6/11/08 Before the season, I would have guaranteed that our left-side of the infield was good for 50 HR's and 175 RBI's. The question marks were in the outfield, not at 3B and SS. But 66 games into the season, the outfield has caught fire, behind the trio of Brian Giles, Jody Gerut, and Scott Hairston. In fact, those three have combined for a +.500 OBP in the month of June. That's a whole lot of baserunners for the middle of the order. While Adrian Gonzalez has taken full advantage, leading the league in RBI's, Kevin Kouzmanoff has failed to produce, stranding runners in every way possible. Strikeouts, infield pop-ups, double plays, and yes, even a triple play. Kouz has become the antithesis of what a team needs out of the #5 hitter. Take away the seven-day stretch from May 20th-May 27th when he hit 5 HR's in seven days and Kouzmanoff is a .246 hitter with 3 HR's and 19 RBI's, 8 walks and 47 strikeouts. Not acceptable from any spot in the order, much less from your lineup protection behind Gonzalez. With Chase Headley ready for the majors, I wonder if the front office is beginning to re-think whether they need his bat more in LF or 3B. In the case of Khalil Greene, we all knew he was a streaky player that could carry a team for 7-10 games at a time and then bat .170 for the next three weeks. Despite a sub-.300 OBP and 128 strikeouts, he was still good for 27 HR's, 97 RBI's, and Gold-Glove caliber defense in 2007. OK, so he strikes out a lot. And he'll never hit for a high OBP. We knew that. But in 2008, he's actually striking out at a higher rate and has a lower OBP than he ever has. Combine that with a slugging percentage of .311 and you have one of the worst offensive players in the league, thus far. If anything, he's been more consistent in 2008. Unfortunately, he's been consistently awful. Khalil's a much better hitter than this. Who knows what's going on? The Padres don't have the luxury of being able to send Greene to the minors to find his swing again. They can barely afford to give him a day off, period. His defense is much too valuable. But take a look at these numbers: .214 BA in April; .196 BA in May; .217 BA in June; .157 BA vs lefties; .226 BA vs righties; .231 BA at Petco; .184 BA on the road. I can go on and on but trust me, there really isn't anything positive here. Well, unless you consider that he has a .667 BA (2-for-3) in the #8 hole. Hey, there's an idea. Along with Gonzalez, Kouzmanoff and Greene were supposed to be the future of this team. I doubt that anyone sees it that way anymore. When prized prospect Headley is brought up to the majors, will he take at bats away from the red-hot Scott Hairston in LF or will he get to play 3B more often than was expected? And when Portland shortstop Luis Rodriguez comes off of the DL, do the Padres bring him to the big leagues to give them another option if Greene continues to struggle or do they just ride it out and hope that Khalil can break out of his funk? The Padres could have some big decisions to make soon. |