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Fred Lewis Dealt To Blue Jays

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9:10pm: The trade is official, as per a Blue Jays media release.

8:52pm: The Giants will receive either cash or a player to be named later, tweets Schulman.  He notes that this is also what San Francisco got from Boston in the Kevin Frandsen deal last month.

8:43pm: Schulman tweets that an official announcement is coming soon.  He notes that Lewis has updated his Facebook page to say that he's going to the Jays. 

7:49pm: According to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, he is hearing "strong indications from multiple sources" that the Giants are trying to finalize a trade that would send outfielder Fred Lewis to Toronto.  Schulman doesn't know as of yet what San Francisco will get in return.

Andrew Baggarly of The San Jose Mercury News reported on Tuesday that Toronto was "the most likely destination" for Lewis, who had become expendable in San Fran given their glut of outfielders.  Lewis is out of options, and since his minor league rehab stint was up today, the Giants had to either expose him to waivers or work out a trade.  Earlier tonight, Schulman passed on a report from Fresno Grizzlies radio broadcaster Doug Greenwald (via Twitter) that Lewis wasn't in the lineup for the Giants' Triple-A affiliate, leading to speculation that a deal could be forthcoming.

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.  

Discussion: Lyle Overbay’s Future

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It's no secret that the Blue Jays were openly shopping Lyle Overbay over the winter, with the first baseman's name popping up in a number of potential deals.  He was rumored to be going to the Mets, then to the Mariners, and actually looked to be on the move to Arizona before the Jays called off a proposed Overbay-for-Chris Snyder trade due to worries over Snyder's injury history.  Opening Day has come and gone and Overbay is still Toronto's first baseman, but there's no doubt the Jays would move Overbay if a good offer came along.

Overbay quietly posted a solid .265/.372/.466 line in 500 plate appearances last season, with that total largely due to a .905 OPS against right-handed pitching (his OPS against southpaws was just .534).  The Jays have been playing Overbay every day, but it's very likely that a trade partner would be looking at Overbay for a platoon or pinch-hitting role given his large career splits — an .844 OPS against righties and a .702 OPS against lefties.

Toronto can afford to be patient with any deal since top prospect Brett Wallace is waiting in the wings at Triple-A and the Blue Jays don't want to start his arbitration clock until it's necessary.  It's also likely that the Jays will have to eat a piece of Overbay's $7MM salary for the season in any deal anyway, so it's not like they'll be saving much money if they trade him sooner rather than later.  Overbay's contract is up after 2010, so a new team would likely be looking at him as just a rental over this season's home stretch.

New York, Seattle and Arizona can be counted out of the Overbay sweepstakes due to their acquisitions of Mike Jacobs, Casey Kotchman and Adam LaRoche, respectively.  There's also another left-handed hitting first baseman who is both available and provides considerably more power than Overbay: Carlos Delgado.  He would be a more expensive option than Overbay, so perhaps a team that doesn't want to meet Delgado's price might look to Toronto as a backup plan.

Joel Pineiro Vs. The Mets: Who Was Serious About A Deal?

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We heard all winter that the Mets were interested in free-agent starter Joel Pineiro, and at one point it appeared as if New York had a two-year offer worth around $15MM on the table to the right-hander.  Pineiro ended up signing with the Angels for slightly more money and it simply appeared that the Halos won a bidding war that also included the Dodgers.

John Harper of the New York Daily News, however, revealed a bit more to the story in an interview with the veteran right-hander.  According to Pineiro, he had heard from neighbor Alex Cora that the Mets were going to make Pineiro a top target of their winter shopping, and the right-hander was more than willing to hear New York out.  However, the club allegedly never made an offer to Pineiro until the Angels had already moved in and that $15MM offer "may well have been for the sake of appearance" since the Mets knew Los Angeles had made a bigger offer.

Adam Rubin of ESPN New York has the Mets' take on the situation, which is unsurprisingly different.  According to team representatives, they Mets "were willing to meet or narrowly exceed" the contract that Pineiro got from the Angels, but the club felt that "Pineiro wasn't sincere" in his desire to become a Met.

Given that the difference between the Mets' purported offer and Pineiro's Los Angeles contract was only $1MM, it's hard to believe that the Mets couldn't have made up that gap if they were really serious about bringing Pineiro to the Big Apple.  If "the sake of appearance" is as important to the Mets as Harper's article claims, then making the larger offer would've allowed the Mets to say offered the most money but the onus was on Pineiro for turning it down.

This kind of free agent gamesmanship no doubt occurs a dozen times over every winter, but in this case, it stands out given the small dollar amount involved and (as Harper points out) the major struggles of the Mets' pitching staff early in the season.  It's also possible that both sides were playing a game of chicken with the other and, in this case, both blinked. 

Odds & Ends: Evans, Sheffield, Slowey, Hechavarria

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Links for Thursday…

Stark On Bell, Nathan, Oswalt, Dunn

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Let's check in on the Rumblings and Grumblings of ESPN's Jayson Stark…

  • One exec Stark spoke to implied the Padres may not be motivated to trade closer Heath Bell because he's under team control through 2011 and signed at $4MM for 2010.  Bell's salary could double in '11, though, and I'm not convinced the Padres will want to pay it.
  • Stark talked to a GM who thinks Bell makes sense for the Twins as a backup plan in case Joe Nathan needs a 16-month Tommy John recovery period to get back to normal.  Stark learned that a significant part of Nathan's salary this year is insured, so that frees up some money this year.  But again, will the Twins want to pay nearly $20MM to two relievers in 2011?
  • Should Houston's troubles continue, Stark wonders if Roy Oswalt would consider waiving his no-trade clause.  He says a friend of Oswalt believes the pitcher's preferred destinations are Atlanta, St. Louis, and Texas.  It's hard to see those clubs making a play for Oswalt, especially with his large salaries for '10 and '11.
  • Stark guesses the Nationals are more likely to trade Adam Dunn before the deadline than sign him to an extension.  Last we heard, ESPN's Buster Olney said there were no ongoing extension talks.
  • Twins catching prospect Wilson Ramos has been labeled as one of the game's best trade chips, but assistant GM Rob Antony says that "right now, we'd lean toward keeping him."
  • If he can't find a big league job, Kevin Millar could sign with the St. Paul Saints, where his pro career began.  Millar was released by the Cubs on March 30th. 

Jason Bergmann Designated For Assignment

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The Nationals designated pitcher Jason Bergmann for assignment to make room for Scott Olsen, tweets MLB.com's Bill Ladson.  Ladson says the Nats were planning to demote Jesse English, but Bergmann's one-inning, two earned run performance yesterday against the Phillies changed their mind.  GM Mike Rizzo will attempt to trade Bergmann, writes Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post.

Bergmann, 28, posted a 4.50 ERA, 7.5 K/9, and 4.7 BB/9 in 48 relief innings last year, allowing seven home runs.  He posted a 1.16 ERA in 23.3 minor league frames, though his peripherals were unimpressive.  Bergmann's flyball tendencies have proven problematic, and he's also bounced between starting and relieving a few times.  In their '05 Handbook, Baseball America noted then-Nationals scouting director Dana Brown's familiarity with Bergmann.  Brown now works under Alex Anthopoulos in Toronto, so maybe the Blue Jays will take a look.

Olney On Cruz, Sanchez, Dye

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Buster Olney's ESPN blog is always a good read; here are a few hot stove nuggets to ponder…

  • Olney reminds us that Nelson Cruz cleared waivers in the spring of '08.  That's always a good time of year to sneak a guy through.  At 26, Cruz had struggled in the Majors in '07 but raked in 187 Triple A plate appearances.  Because he figured things out later in his career, he won't reach arbitration until after this season at age 30.
  • Olney notes that Jonathan Sanchez "seemed to come off the board" as a trade candidate after his July 10th no-hitter last year.  The Giants have Sanchez under team control through 2012.  Matt Cain is under contract through '12, and Tim Lincecum is under team control through '13. 
  • Olney on the Jermaine Dye-racism suggestion: "To suggest that there is a general reluctance, across a 30-team landscape, to sign Dye because he is black is completely absurd."  Talking to Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe, Bill Hall asks more nuanced questions.

Relief Trade Candidates

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Eleven bullpens currently sport ERAs over 5.00, but it'd be silly to draw conclusions from 25-inning samples.  Still, certain contenders are probably already surveying the field of available relievers.  The Rays, Cubs, and Marlins are three teams that had bullpen concerns heading into the season.  Which relievers might be available a month or two from now?

  • The Blue Jays are riding high, in a first-place tie after their first nine games.  Still, GM Alex Anthopoulos will probably think about the big picture and shop his three priciest relievers: Kevin Gregg, Jason Frasor, and Scott Downs.  The Jays would need Gregg's consent to deal him prior to June 15th.
  • The Pirates have the worst bullpen ERA in the NL right now, but most of that can be attributed to Hayden Penn's 2.3 inning stint.  Down the road all the veterans will be fair game – Octavio Dotel, Brendan Donnelly, D.J. Carrasco, Jack Taschner, and Javier Lopez.
  • The Padres have the big prize in closer Heath Bell.  His save total will allow them to demand a premium for him, and he can be retained for 2011 (albeit with a raise upon this year's $4MM).
  • The Nationals may also make a few veterans available: Matt Capps, Brian Bruney, and Tyler Walker would make sense.  The June 15th rule applies to Capps and Walker.  They'll both be arbitration-eligible after the season.
  • The Royals have a couple of contracts to move in Kyle Farnsworth and Juan Cruz.  Tracy Ringolsby tweets that the Royals are "looking to unload Cruz and willing to pick up salary."
  • Chad Cordero is a name to consider; the 28-year-old off to a good start for the Mariners' Triple A club.

2011 Contract Issues: San Francisco Giants

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The Giants face one contract option after the season.  Shortstop Edgar Renteria has a $10.5MM club option with a $500K buyout.  Even with a bounceback year, the Giants figure to decline.  The Giants could re-sign Renteria at a lower price, or look at other free agents.

Plenty of the team's patchwork free agent signings will be eligible again: Bengie Molina, Juan Uribe, Aubrey Huff, Todd Wellemeyer, and Guillermo Mota.  The group is earning $12.5MM in 2010. 

Increases to players under contract total about $10MM, for Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Brian Wilson.  Jonathan Sanchez is the key arbitration-eligible player; it'll be his second time.

The Giants increased payroll by almost $14MM this year.  They'd have $8-9MM to play with holding payroll steady, so maybe a smaller increase is in order for 2011.

Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the info.

No Moves Likely For Mets Pitching Staff

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Andy Martino of the New York Daily News writes that the Mets are unlikely to make any moves for pitching via trade or free agency, and specifically adds that the Mets are not interested in Jarrod Washburn.

If it seems a bit early for such discussions, that is largely due to the travails of John Maine, whose fastball velocity is way down, while his ERA is way up. After allowing seven earned runs in three innings last night, Maine faces a do-or-die start on Sunday night against the Cardinals, according to Newsday's David Lennon.

Another reason for New York's reluctance to reach outside the organization is a lack of attractive external options, though should the team climb into contention, a partial-season deal with Pedro Martinez could be considered.

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