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The Jays acquired Fred Lewis for a player to be named later or cash today.  Jeremy Reed was returned to Las Vegas and Dustin McGowan goes on the 60 day DL.  Lewis will be a bench player per the tweets from the Rogers Centre tonight.

 Lewis fills AA's desire to get more speed on the bench, if not into the lineup.  2008 was Lewis's best year, he hit .282 that season with 51 walks.  Lewis fell out of favour last season and the Giants have been looking to move him.  Lewis was on a AAA injury rehab until today and played against Las Vegas this week.

 Here is a report on Lewis from April 1, this from the Giants perspective:

 Lewis probably will start the season on the disabled list — that is, if the Giants decide to keep him around at all. Hindered by a rib injury, Lewis was unable to do much more than running work Thursday night when the Giants returned to AT&T after six weeks in Arizona.

"Running doesn't bother me at all," Lewis said.

Swinging the bat is a different story. Lewis said he planned on taking a few swings off a batting tee Thursday night but acknowledged he'll need more than that to get ready for opening day Monday in Houston.

"We're not sure if he's going to be ready. I've talked to Freddy about that,'' Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Could he start the season on the DL? Sure. We're not going to push him. We'll have a better idea in a few days."

Even when Lewis regains his health, his future is murky. He is out of minor league options, so he remains a candidate to be traded or released.

Such a move would complete a long fall for the outfielder whose hold on the starting left field job lasted until last June 11. He started only four of the Giants' final 45 games and hit just .091 (2-for-22) after Aug. 30.

 

As a bench player Lewis can be a late inning defensive replacement or can cover the outfield when Bautista has to play third base.  Is Lewis better than Jeremy Reed?  I don't know, he was highly regarded a couple of years ago but Lewis is 29 now.

This move also means that either Mike McCoy or Randy Ruiz will go down to Vegas when Aaron Hill comes off the DL.

 

Fred Lewis, Here Comes the Speed | 21 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Matthew E - Thursday, April 15 2010 @ 11:01 PM EDT (#213728) #
As a bench player Lewis can be a late inning defensive replacement or can cover the outfield when Bautista has to play third base.

I thought the idea was that Lewis and Bautista would platoon. No?
scottt - Thursday, April 15 2010 @ 11:08 PM EDT (#213729) #
Bautista is expected to play 3rd for at least the next 3 days.



greenfrog - Thursday, April 15 2010 @ 11:08 PM EDT (#213730) #
Looks like a worthwhile move. If he's healthy and still has some offense in the tank, he could help create more balance against RHPs. Maybe something like:

Lewis
Hill
Lind
Wells
Overbay
Encarnacion
Snider
Buck
Gonzalez

That's not the worst offense or defense in the AL by any stretch, especially if Wells continues to hit. And Brett Wallace is getting tuned up at AAA...
Hodgie - Thursday, April 15 2010 @ 11:37 PM EDT (#213732) #
A nice game for Snider tonight. A bomb, a walk, robbed of another hit by Beckham and a very nice play in the field to rob Lucy. Would still like to see him cut down on the strikeouts (~32%) but I am also pretty sure he isn't going to sport a 0.158 BABIP for the season either.
TamRa - Thursday, April 15 2010 @ 11:44 PM EDT (#213735) #
I thought the idea was that Lewis and Bautista would platoon. No?



For everyone but Gaston it's glaringly obvious.

Sadly, he gets to decide.

Even when JB plays 3B, i figure Gaston will leave him leading off while Lewis's speed is wasted at #7 or something.

*sigh*

Maybe Lewis will find a way to get into Gaston's Fixations and get more time. We can only hope.

TamRa - Thursday, April 15 2010 @ 11:55 PM EDT (#213737) #
As a bench player Lewis can be a late inning defensive replacement or can cover the outfield when Bautista has to play third base.  Is Lewis better than Jeremy Reed?  I don't know, he was highly regarded a couple of years ago but Lewis is 29 now.

Reed's career slash lines, WAR and OPS+

.255/.312/.357/.669 - 0.9 - 80

Lewis'

.277/.355/.420/.775 - 4.4 - 101

Reed is only 6 months younger. Further, lewis accomplish that WAR total in 300 fewer PA.

I can't believe anyone even asks that question.
uglyone - Friday, April 16 2010 @ 12:56 AM EDT (#213738) #
For a better comparison than Reed, maybe try this one, up against another speedy mediocre-fielding corner outfielder:

J.Ellsbury (26): 1459pa, .298/.350/.415/.765, 3.2WAR/700pa, 96ops+
F.Lewis (29): 1048pa, .277/.355/.420/.775, 2.9WAR/700pa, 101ops+
TamRa - Friday, April 16 2010 @ 03:12 AM EDT (#213739) #
why does your line have 2.9 WAR and mine has 4.4? Did i look at the wrong figure?

No...

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=4693&position=OF

They have it at 4.4


scottt - Friday, April 16 2010 @ 06:20 AM EDT (#213740) #
Ah, WAR. What is it good for?

Lewis is faster and usually hits for higher average. Unless Lewis has some defensive shortcoming, there's not much to debate here.

Alex Obal - Friday, April 16 2010 @ 06:46 AM EDT (#213741) #
ugly's line has WAR per 700 PA, to adjust for the difference in playing time. Same figures.
Spicol - Friday, April 16 2010 @ 09:10 AM EDT (#213742) #

It just speaks to the Jays' fantastic depth that the AL leader in BB will take a seat for Lewis.

(I'm kidding, of course...just wanted to bring up that Bautista is leading the AL in walks, which is probably the craziest outlier stat on the Jays at this point.)

PeteMoss - Friday, April 16 2010 @ 12:26 PM EDT (#213750) #
This blog - http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/giants/detail?blogid=22&entry_id=61423 - seems to indicate he has some kind of defensive issues. 
PeteMoss - Friday, April 16 2010 @ 12:29 PM EDT (#213751) #

And the defense stats seem to indicate he's well below average in CF or RF but good at LF....

Lewis has a career 4.8 UZR/150 as an outfielder, and that rating jumps to 10.2 as a left fielder (though it plummets well below average in CF and RF, albeit in a much smaller sample size).  Toronto would likely use him primarily as a late-inning defensive replacement in the outfield and a pinch-runner.  Given Lewis' .805 OPS in 838 career plate appearances against right-handed pitching, though, Lewis could also take some playing time away from starting right fielder Jose Bautista, who has just a .225/.316/.364 career line against righties

Brent S - Friday, April 16 2010 @ 02:08 PM EDT (#213759) #
Lewis has less than 400 innings combined at CF and RF, so sample size issues are definitely an issue when looking at his +/- and UZR numbers.
Lylemcr - Friday, April 16 2010 @ 02:35 PM EDT (#213760) #
It is probably McCoy that is sent down, but this trade does put pressure on Snider and Bautista to step it up.
VBF - Friday, April 16 2010 @ 04:28 PM EDT (#213768) #

I don't think McCoy has any options left, so this could be it for McCoy.

Thomas - Friday, April 16 2010 @ 04:35 PM EDT (#213770) #
An article on the team site quotes Anthopolous as saying the team views Lewis as a bench player and a left-fielder only. The first isn't positive and neither is the second, although I'm sure they know more about his defence than I do (and it doesn't prohibit Snider shifting to right on days they place Lewis).
rtcaino - Friday, April 16 2010 @ 04:49 PM EDT (#213771) #
I didn't think the article knew what AA was thinking.

I would be interested to see some scouting reports on his RF defence. It was mentioned that several years ago he was rated as his organizations most athletic prospect.

If he can play a decent RF then and I am happy with the move.
rtcaino - Friday, April 16 2010 @ 04:53 PM EDT (#213772) #
Woops - retract button.

I thought the previous comment was regarding a different article.
Chuck - Friday, April 16 2010 @ 07:23 PM EDT (#213774) #

but this trade does put pressure on Snider and Bautista to step it up.

Once Lewis is healthy enough to play, I think Encarnacion is the one who could most feel the squeeze. He is not 100% healthy, he has yet to hit as a Jay, his defense has not been good and he's gone after this season. I think Gaston wouldn't mind having Bautista at 3B and Lewis in the outfield. Lewis and Ruiz could platoon with Lind splitting time in LF/DH (vs. LHP/RHP).

martinthegreat - Sunday, April 18 2010 @ 08:10 PM EDT (#213843) #
Lewis looks like a good platoon player with Bautista... he hits righties, Bautista hits lefties.

I also think Encarnacion could be the one to go. He was mostly just a salary dump from the Reds, the real acquisitions were Stewart and Roenicke. He also hasn't hit for at least a year, has only an above average ceiling, and fields 3B terribly. Maybe he could be put on the DL with the wrist or something too, and figure it out later. Then we could give more at bats to Ruiz at DH, which would be good.
Fred Lewis, Here Comes the Speed | 21 comments | Create New Account
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