Thursday, April 15, 2010

Jays Acquire Fred Lewis, Make My Day


What is this strange, alarming feeling? Is it...smug satisfaction?? Why yes, smugly satisfied is exactly how I feel after the Blue Jays went out and acquired Fred Lewis for cash or a non-roster swine to be named later.

If you recall the halcyon days of one month ago today, you'll recall me openly pining for the Jays to grab the speedy Lewis, on the outs with the brain trust in San Fran. And they did it! We can naturally assume the large army of scouts under the Jays employ have exactly nothing to do with this deal, instead it was Alex Anthopoulos lazily perusing the internet one afternoon in March. ME ME ME!!!

Lewis is as classic a "change of scenery" guy as you'll find. He plays fine outfield —with a knack for dramatic routes and lapses in sanity, I've heard—and should work out well on the fast turf in the symmetrical Phone Booth. His swing is sweet as candy though his eye is his calling card. Resigning Bengie Molina while Buster Posey rots in Fresno? You get what you deserve.

Lewis clashed with Giants manager Bruce Bochy and Brian Sabean, which means he's okay in my books as those two guys are dummies. Lewis has the speed/on base combination of a lethal leadoff man, should Clarence play along. If Edwin Encarnacion is out for any length of time (he didn't play tonight with a bad shoulder), Fred Lewis might just get the chance to play every day.

Spoiler Alert: Fred Lewis isn't a major part of The Plan. Fred Lewis is, however, an excellent stopgap with enough potential and track record to insert himself into the conversation for 2011 if everything goes well.

Two extra reasons to be excited: hardcore Giants fans absolutely love him and are sad to see him go. He also comes complete with a tragic human-interest angle to make rooting for him that much easier. What more can we really ask of the general manager of a rebuilding team?

Image courtesy of the UPI. Hat tip to @22gigantes for the ESPN link.

15 comments:

  1. "Lewis has the speed/on base combination of a lethal leadoff man, should Clarence play along"

    Already he's said that he won't. Insert head-bang here.

    And if he does play while EE is dinged, I'm sure he'll be wasting his speed in the 7 hole while JB and his .333 OBP vs. RHP continues to lead off.

    Mega-sigh.

    I'd love this deal if he was going to be used sensibly.

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  2. Fucking YES!

    The Fred Lewis Freedom Collective is born

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  3. A rudimentary study of online trade suggestions by fans leading to them actually happening occurs, what, 0.001% of the time? So yea Drew, pretty cool. Everything about him screams LEAGUE AVERAGE PLAYER but the Jays these days are in the position of Kramer in the Seinfeld coffee cup lawsuit..."I'll take it!!". I just hope they'll actually use him.

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  4. Just realized that this also means that Dusty is now on the 60 day DL. Stomach punch! Just had to sneak that in eh, Baseball Gods?

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  5. **A rudimentary study of online trade suggestions by fans would show they actually happen, what, 0.001% of the time?**

    is what that's supposed to mean.

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  6. Dusty on the 60 day doesn't change his timetable, we're told.

    Fred Lewis Freedom Collective is now welcoming like-minded individuals into the fold. Working towards a cooler world!

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  7. Drew - lay down a prophecy of Overbay being platooned and Snider hitting more jacks while you're at it. I could also stand to see a no-hitter or two.

    But seriously, you should start asking for cooler stuff.

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  8. Is it just me or is AA batting as close to a thousand as possible with his deals here? I don't want to sound like a boner sporting fanboy but I'm having a real hard time finding fault with this Greek baseball philosophy.

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  9. What I would have done vs. Alex:

    1. I would have gone after Kelly Shoppach to be the Jays everyday catcher and Alex got John Buck, Shoppach is on the DL and Buck has been serviceable to day (1-0 Alex)
    2. I would have traded for Jeremy Hermidia and not resigned Jose Bautista, Alex kept Bautista and he is putting up his typical mediocre numbers (1-1)
    3. I would have traded for JJ Hardy and Alex signed Alex Gonzalez who has been unbelievable to date (2-1 Alex)
    4. I would have let John MacDonald walk and given the utility role to major league minimum guy with upside, like a Mike McCoy. Alex kept MacDonald and the fans seem to be happy about it, meanwhile I have been underwhelmed by McCoy. (3-1 Alex)

    It's early but these moves have worked better than I expected.

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  10. AA said he went after JJ Hardy with all he had but the price (Travis Snider) was too high. I agree.

    The Johnny Mac signing I'm at peace with. Let him get his pension.

    Drew

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  11. I agree that giving up Snider for Hardy didn't make any sense, however, I'm sure their was an alternative deal to be had (say David Purcey for Hardy?). That is unless the Brewers are completely insane in their evaluation of Carlos Gomez.

    Also I was suggesting the Jays deal Rickey Romero for Matt Gamel, that would have looked pretty stupid right now.

    Truth be told we don't know if any of my suggestions were possible? But it's still fun to speculate.

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  12. Are you sure the price was Snider? I thought the price was Lind. I suppose either one would have worked but either one also have been an insane price to pay for Hardy.

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  13. You're a genius, Drew.

    And I loved this: The Johnny Mac signing I'm at peace with. Let him get his pension

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  14. Does anybody have a link about how Cito says he is going to play him?

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  15. Drew, you are a genius for having the foresight about this in the first place.

    At least this way, Lewis can keep Ruiz company on the bench.

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