Grant Green has been freed, now what?

#FreeGrantGreen has been a thing for much of 2015. It even had some moments during the 2014 season. Since the Angels acquired Grant Green at the 2013 trade deadline, they’ve been oddly reluctant to make use of him. There have been plenty of reasons given over the last two years, but now the Halos finally seem to have run out of excuses and have, in fact, freed Grant Green. So what happens now?

This is what Angels fans wanted, after all. They’ve been watching Green rake in Triple-A with batting averages well over .300 for each of the last three years. What they haven’t seen is Green get a prolonged look in the majors as he’s compiled just 262 plate appearances and only managed to post a .283 wOBA in that small sample size. That lack of performance hasn’t scared the fans off, but maybe it scared off Angels management who only just now finally gave Green a kick at the can when it comes to helping the beleaguered Angels offense.

But can he actually help? We’ve seen the prolific batting averages that Grant Green has posted in Triple-A: .325 in 2013, .333 in 2014 and .329 in 2015. Those are absolutely tantalizing, even if when you factor in the inflation of the PCL offensive environment. The problem is that the batting average is just about all he has to offer. His walk rates in Triple-A the last few years have been 6.5%, 6.1% and 2.7%, respectively. Those aren’t awful, but they aren’t good either. If he’s going to help the Angels OBP problem, he’s going to have to sustain that high batting average, something he’s failed to do thus far in those 262 PAs with a .261 career average and .294 career OBP. The same goes for his power production, he actually has a .164 ISO in his Triple-A career, again PCL-inflated, but that modest power hasn’t translated to the majors at all as shown by his .086 ISO in the majors. Nobody expects Green to be blasting homers, but demonstrating gap power would make him something more than an empty batting average.

One area he can help for certain is in providing roster flexibility. Until this last week, the Angels bench has basically been a collection of poor fielding first basemen. They’ve also had whichever outfielder that wasn’t in the lineup that day and Taylor Featherston, but they haven’t been able to use them much. Using them would put the Angels at risk of being out of outfielders or infielders if injury struck. It is part of the reason Scioscia has almost entirely foregone using Featherston for defense or pinch-running. However, with Green’s ability to play first second, third, short and left, Scioscia finally has a little flexibility.

Granted, Green isn’t actually good at fielding any of those positions. His defensive deficiencies have long been a major reason he’s struggled to carve out a niche for himself. He has made some strides with his glove over the last year and is now good enough to at least fake it at those positions on a more frequent basis now (except maybe for shortstop). That should give Scioscia the ability to give certain players, like Kole Calhoun, the rest they need or shelter them from poor match-ups, like Freese against right-handed pitching. With at-bats available at DH as well, there is no good reason for Green not to play several times per week now.

OK, there is one good reason. That bat MUST produce. Versatility is swell and all, but the point of Green adding more positions to his repertoire is to find different ways to get his bat into the lineup. If he’s not hitting for average and striking out at a 25%+ clip, then there is no incentive to suffer his below average defense anywhere on the field. The Halos have already churned through a number of other players that didn’t produce with the bat before they even got to Grant. Their patience is wearing thin overall and they clearly have never had much patience for Green himself.

In fact, if Grant Green cannot take advantage of this latest opportunity, it may be the last time we see him get “freed” by the Angels. The trade market will be opening up over the next month or two and if he’s shown himself to be nothing more than a replacement level bat, he will be replaced without hesitation. After that, the next #FreeGrantGreen campaign might be the Angels granting Green his freedom by way of trading or releasing him.