Giants Give Away Good Player

Published by on April 16, 2010 | 11 Responses

It’s hard to write anything else about Fred Lewis. It’s not because he wouldn’t have helped the Giants, either. If you browsed this website by posts tagged ‘Fred Lewis’ you’ll see the numerous different posts, discussions, and topics on Lewis. He was a weirdly divisive player among Giants fans.

You’ll notice I said was. Past tense. The Giants have traded Lewis to the Blue Jays for a PTBNL or cash considerations.

The Lewis debate, at it’s core, boils down to realistic expectations. After a successful 2008 in which Lewis was worth 2.4 wins backed by solid hitting, above-average defense, and good baserunning, the Giants entered 2009 with the idea that Lewis could be more. So much more that in fact they wanted to hit him 3rd in the lineup. And they wanted him to hit for power.

Somewhere in the world, this following paragraph should be carved into stone.

The Giants expect Lewis to be more of a presence in the batter’s box while spending less time in it. Though the Giants did virtually nothing during the offseason to upgrade their offense, they believe that Lewis can be one of the power sources they sorely need — not a 40-homer slugger, but somebody who can hit at least half that.

You could call this a Spring Training fluff piece, and rightfully so, but I think at some level it’s a peak inside the Giants’ mindset with Lewis. He’s athletic as heck, fast, and just looks like he should be able to hit some dingers. How he looks is such an old school philosophy that it seems to fit right in with the Giants of the past 5 years. But as we’ve learned, how a player looks really has nothing to do with his on-field performance and unfortunately lends itself to the pitfalls of wish-casting. What you would most likely get from Lewis seems to have been well established by his track record in the minors. He’ll strikeout, but he’s going to post an above-average OBP with moderate power. He’ll swipe a few bags, too. The similarity between Lewis’ career slash-lines in the minors vs. majors is startling — .283/.383/.423 in the minors vs. 277/.355/.420 in the majors. The team was expecting the player with a career .423 slugging percentage in the minors to magically transform into a 20 HR hitter by the mere move of a few spots in the batting order.

It’s science!

Lewis struggled some in 2009, I don’t think anyone can question that, but he still offers several skills that would have benefited the Giants. Most noted is his ability to hit right-handed pitching. Examine the following:

Name	wOBA vs. RHP
Lewis	.349
Rowand	.335
DeRosa	.325
Bowker	.322
Velez	.321
Torres	.245

That’s the current OF roster for the Giants by career split against righties. You can make the argument that Bowker and maybe Torres have improved over what their career split would indicate, but Lewis is still probably the best — or 2nd best — option the Giants have in the OF when a RHP is on the mound. Remember this every time Velez is taking swings against RHP and playing the OF.

Here’s to you, Fred. As I stated above, you were a weirdly divisive Giant. Maybe the most divisive one that I can remember in recent history. I wish you the best in Toronto.

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marcello
marcello

Don't equate this to a first rounder. What deceitful analysis. Draft picks bonuses are held WAY below market value. $1 million dollars is peanuts to give a player of Lewis' talents away for.

ADoc1980
ADoc1980

giantsrainman, I think the point here is that Fred Lewis should have been given more of a chance and viewed differently by management given his offensive profile. On a team full of guys who you could hang the nickname "GIDP" on, a guy like Lewis could and should be a bright spot. Instead the Giants looked at him through old-school lenses and subsequently traded him. I agree that they could possibly get a quality player from the Jays or spin whatever cash they get into a quality player from the draft, but why gamble on the unknown when they had a solid contributor right under their nose. I'm with Chris and the rest on this one, Lewis worth keeping around.

giantsrainman
giantsrainman

Marcello, The cash can be up to $1M which is the signing bonus for a late 1st rounder. It could be even more with the approval of the commissioner. Once again you don't know. you just assume the worst.

marcello
marcello

If cash is an option, the PTBNL is going to be garbage. If cash might be a more desirable option, the players to choose from are basically nothing.

giantsrainman
giantsrainman

Marcello, The only thing PTBNL implies is that the player is a non 40 man roster minor leaguer and one of several the Giants have to choose from with the Giants being given more time to scout their options. There is nothing that prevents or even implies that a PTBNL isn't a B level prospect.

Chris Quick
Chris Quick

Cash or a C prospect seems like giving him away to me.

marcello
marcello

It's a PTBNL or cash. That implies that the PTBNL is of very little value, since they wouldn't be sending us millions of dollars for Fred Lewis.

Chris Quick
Chris Quick

And with Rowand and now DeRosa hurting, it might have been a good idea to hang onto Fred.

giantsrainman
giantsrainman

You do not know that the Giants just gave him away. You do not know what players the Giants have to choose from (by scouting over the next few weeks or perhaps even months) to select the PTBNL they prefer from the list of options they and the Blue Jays agreed too. As you frequently do you just assumed the worst.

Remember 51
Remember 51

You hit the nail on the head Chris. What devastated Lewis from the beginning was the Giants' decision to hit him third. He wasn't a power hitter, was never meant to hit for power, but because he played Left Field in the Post Bonds-era, a lot of fans thought he should hit for power, and when he didn't they bailed ship. Overall, I am disappointed with this move but not surprised. Lewis isn't a HOF, but he was a cheap asset that proved in 2008 that he could be a very capable player. Unfortunately, the over-emphasizing of his defense (which wasn't that bad by the way!) and him being in the dog house with all the wrong people (Sabean, Bochy, the SF Chronicle) seemed to doom him. All I can say is this: if people seriously think Torres and Velez are that better options than Lewis, well...I hope they are ready for some disappointment in 2010. I wish we had Alex Anthopoulos as our GM.