Jays Make Nice Move For Lewis

by Satchel Price on Apr 16, 2010 9:36 AM EDT

I talked about how the Giants should make room on their roster for Fred Lewis a couple days ago, and the team promptly ignored my pleas. Lewis saw the same fate as Kevin Frandsen last night, being dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays for cash or a player to be named later. Now, I'm rather disappointed that the Giants' front office thought they'd be better off with Eugenio Velez, John Bowker and Andres Torres all in favor of Lewis, but I'd like to quickly focus on Toronto's side of the deal.

As I discussed before, Lewis has actually been a pretty good player before and there's little reason to believe that he can't be a league average left fielder over the course of a full season. But for a team whose outfield is seriously lacking athleticism, even with a rejuvenated Vernon Wells, Lewis injects a nice set of tools into the team's roster as well as a hitter who has shown a willingness to take pitches.

He's likely to start on the bench, but the plan here for Toronto seems obvious: they're going to platoon Lewis with Jose Bautista in left field. Bautista is currently the team's left fielder and leadoff hitter, but he has never hit right-handed pitchers in his career. Even while factoring in some regression, both Lewis and Bautista project as above average hitters against right-handers and left-handers, respectively, giving the team a potentially above average combination in left field going forward.

Toronto almost definitely isn't going to continue to play as well as they have so far this season, but they continue to show that they're in a better position than many made them out to be a few months ago. For practically nothing, the Blue Jays managed to get their hands on a useful player with some team control left. Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos has made a pretty good impression so far in his tenure replacing J.P. Ricciardi, and that should continue with nice moves like this.

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Jays OF

Bautista is actually the Jays RF (and backup 3B). Travis Snider has been playing in LF.

Platooning Lewis and Bautista makes sense (as long as Cito realizes that Bautista can’t hit RHP).

I’m new to these stats, but always intrigued…does Lewis playing RF hurt the numbers significantly more than Lewis playing LF?

It’s a bad defensive OF in Toronto (at least it feels like it is), so hopefully Lewis is an improvement defensively as well as offensively.

Knights, Canucks, Dolphins, Jays and Raptors all the way.

by Jevant on Apr 16, 2010 10:15 AM EDT reply actions

Snider has more experience in right than Lewis, so it wouldn't surprise me if Snider is moved over to RF when Bautista isn't playing

The biggest problem with Toronto’s outfield defense is really Vernon Wells, who needs to be moved over to a corner spot, I would argue.

I like baseball.
I write for Beyond the Box Score and The Hardball Times Fantasy

by Satchel Price on Apr 16, 2010 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions

I hope you are right. Snider should have been playing RF to start the year, in my opinion. In a developmental year for the Jays, they should be giving him all the opportunities required.

And I 100% agree on Wells. The Jays need to find a CF prospect quickly, because Wells needs to be moved to RF as soon as possible. Regrettably, the best CF prospects in the system are at least 2-3 years away.

Knights, Canucks, Dolphins, Jays and Raptors all the way.

by Jevant on Apr 16, 2010 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, I'm a little surprised that they didn't try to get Gillies or Gose

when they were dealing Halladay. Then again, I really like the Drabek/Wallace/d’Arnaud haul.

I like baseball.
I write for Beyond the Box Score and The Hardball Times Fantasy

by Satchel Price on Apr 16, 2010 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions

Wells in center field

is actually turning out better than i thought. i dont know if everyone has noticed but he is playing about 10 feet deeper this year and it has made a huge difference.

by JaysFan101 on Apr 16, 2010 1:31 PM EDT up reply actions

I haven't really seen him this year, but the DRS numbers are encouraging

After posting consecutive -12 DRS marks in 2008 and 2009, he’s at +1 this year, although obviously 88 innings of data is practically nothing.

I like baseball.
I write for Beyond the Box Score and The Hardball Times Fantasy

by Satchel Price on Apr 16, 2010 1:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Jays fan

As a jays fan I like the deal, but it depends what was given up. So far AA (the GM) has done a great job. He got a great haul out of Halladay when the Phillies were really our only trading partner, He got Dana Eveland who has been fantastic just for cash from the A’s and he has double our scouting operations and just signed the cuban shortstop Hechevarria. So far so good. Same goes for the season.

by JAYson G on Apr 16, 2010 4:26 PM EDT reply actions

Lewis should start immediately because of an injury to Encarnacion which moves Bautista to 3rd.

by JAYson G on Apr 16, 2010 4:28 PM EDT reply actions

I think the whole Fred Lewis saga is a bit overdone, at this point, and while I think the Giants are not coming out ahead on this trade, I don’t think they’re losing big. Lewis strikes me as a league average (-ish) player who, owing to his high strikeout rates, seems prone to slumps.

He might be a 1.5 WAR player, which means the Giants are probably losing .5 war for their 4th outfielder. Depending on how much money, or how much of a fringe prospect they get in return, the trade might turn out to be a wash. That wouldn’t be terrible for a player who’s been asking to be traded since last year.

Aubrey Huff: guilty until proven productive.
Andres Torres: perfectly cromulent.

by Solidarity on Apr 17, 2010 2:54 AM EDT reply actions