Khalil Greene Dilemma

Khalil Greene is a very interesting man. Before I get to that, I will hit the rewind button.

He began his Major League Baseball career by playing with the Padres during his rookie year back in September of 2003 and has been a huge fan favorite through 2007. I was one of those girls who would scream his name when he came up to bat, including infront of my television. Not so much in 2008– what ended up being his last year with the Padres –because he had a huge meltdown which caused him to literally punch a storage chest. That incident took place inside the Padres clubhouse on last day of July in 2008, after striking out 100 times during that season. I wonder if the Padres still have that storage. Anyway, he was later placed on DL with a broken hand. He did not come back to play ever since that injury.  

December 4th, 2008 was when he got traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. I was incredibly upset on that day. I thought he was going to stick around here for a while because he grew up from the Padres organization. So when he got traded, I took an enormous time to reflect and thanked him for what he brought to this club. He definitely shared ups and downs with the fans, but mostly ups because he was a fantastic defensive shortstop for us, set a record among Padres shortstops, and rarely smiled during some games. One of few problems with Jeff Spicoli, I mean, Khalil Greene, was that he didn’t show some kind of expression on the field whatsoever. Whenever he maked an eye-popping play, he would get up, brush dirt off from his jersey, and move on as if nothing happened. Aside from that and striking out too much, I really liked this guy.

He had a smoking hot spring training with the Cardinals so I expected a big improvement from him. Khalil did got off with a decent start but he struggled, again. He eventually got sent to the DL not because of a physical injury. He was suffering with a social anxiety disorder. Because of anxiety disorder, he spent most of his year on the DL. He put way too much pressure on his game and he not only hurt himself but the Cardinals. I felt so awful for him and can’t imagine what anxiety disorders are like, but I don’t think it would be very pleasant. He took time to recover and bounced back. At one point, he hit three homeruns in three straight games against the Royals during interleague games.

With new, strong acquisitions made by the Cardinals, Khalil’s playing time got cut and served as a utility role until the final game of 2009. He failed to impress the Cardinals and got what he deserved; relased from St. Louis and being a free agent.

So January 10th, 2010, Khalil signed with the Texas Rangers for one-year deal as a utility man. I’m not to surprised at all about hearing this news. He has been struggling for couple of years now and he can’t handle the starting role as a shortstop, yet. Since he will be a backup, I expect him to not be a starter on opening day for the first time during his career.

Ok. I called Khalil Greene an interesting person few moments ago. Why? This guy sure likes to mess up. One day, I would hating this guy so much but another day, I would feel bad for him, and even like him later. According to reason #36 of “101 Things Every Padres Fan Should Do Before They Die” I should make a working Khalil Greene robot so I can talk to it and spill out everything about what I have to say.

I wish him the best as a new member of the Rangers.