Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - 10 Photos

The Cincinnati Reds have signed former Jays outfielder Fred Lewis to a one-year deal worth $900,000 according to MLB.com. He joins World Series MVP Edgar Renteria as the veteran shortstop also signed on with the Reds.

Fred Lewis takes off his gloves as he prepares to take to the field against the Los Angeles Angels at the Dome April 18th.

Lewis takes a huge lead from second base after a third inning double off Angels starter Ervin Santana. He would go on to steal third but he would be stranded in the Jays 3-1 loss.

Lewis fouls one back against the Royals Zack Greinke at the Dome April 21st.

Lewis greets Alex Gonzalez after scoring on Gonzalez's two-run homer in the fourth inning to pull the Jays to within 3-2. However, the Jays would fall 4-3 to the Royals in 10 innings.

Lewis is about to reach third and head for home as he clubs his first home run in a Toronto uniform against the A's Ben Sheets at the Dome May 2nd.

Lewis and Aaron Hill hit back-to-back jacks in the fourth inning to give the Jays a comfortable 9-1 lead.

Lewis also added a stolen base as the Jays annihilated the A's 9-3.

Lewis tries to ground one up the middle against the Indians Fausto Carmona at Progressive Energy Field May 5th.

Lewis hustles towards first but is thrown out by Carmona.

Lewis stands at first after a single in the fifth inning. He also added a pair of doubles, the second of which jump-started a three-run rally with two outs in the ninth as the Jays stunned the Tribe 5-4.

The 30 year-old Lewis moves on to his third major league team in Cincinnati after beginning his career back in 2006 with the San Francisco Giants. Acquired by Toronto for a player to be named later or cash, Lewis batted .262/.332/.414 with the Jays in 2010 and hit 31 doubles, five triples, eight home runs and 36 runs batted in. The Hattiesburg, Mississippi native also stole 17 bases in 23 attempts.

Lewis was picked by the Montreal Expos in the 20th round of the 2001 amateur draft but decided to sign with the Giants after they took him in the 2nd round of the 2002 draft. A product of Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Lewis is a career .272 hitter in the majors with 21 homers and 51 steals to his credit. The 6-foot-2, 200 pound outfielder will try to do some damage against the Jays when they visit Cincinnati June 17-19.

Posted by #2JBrumfield on Monday, January 10 2011 @ 10:52 PM EST.

10 Photos - Fred Lewis | 15 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

92-93 - Tuesday, January 11 2011 @ 12:27 AM EST (#228646) #

Lewis could be a valuable player if he embraces his role as a 4th OF/PH/PR and doesn't pout on the bench. Well worth 900k.

Alex Obal - Tuesday, January 11 2011 @ 01:43 AM EST (#228647) #

Sounds like a steal for the Reds. I'm amazed it took this long. Lewis seems like an okay starter in the outfield. Not much of a fielder, but he could easily be one of the better hitters on a bad team. Not to mention a good NL reserve (assuming he's willing), and solid Gomes insurance.

I'll always remember Lewis for that game in Cleveland, for having "Back Then" by Mike Jones as his at-bat song (fluke rap one-hit-wonder from six years ago?! awesome!), and for being the Jays' first leadoff hitter with presence and pop in a while. Unless you count Alex Rios in the first half of 2007, I guess. I hope he breaks out in Cincinnati.

Chuck - Tuesday, January 11 2011 @ 08:07 AM EST (#228652) #

Career L/R OPS splits: Gomes 878/746, Lewis 650/796

Lewis isn't miles better than Gomes vs RHP, but is better and does provide better defense. If the Reds were a Strat-O-Matic team, you'd be looking at a platoon here, making Lewis an incredible steal at $900K.

Even if Lewis doesn't start, he should find his way into plenty of games on an NL team via pinch-hitting, pinch-running, and double switches.

Parker - Tuesday, January 11 2011 @ 11:21 AM EST (#228659) #

I'll always remember Lewis for that game in Cleveland, for having "Back Then" by Mike Jones as his at-bat song (fluke rap one-hit-wonder from six years ago?! awesome!)

That's funny, I thought Mike Jones was a one-hit wonder for his single "Mr. Jones" in 2007. I'd never even heard of "Back Then" until just now. I guess that'd make him a two-hit wonder.

I always liked Fred Lewis (at least partially because in one of the previous iterations of OOTPB, I had a package of historical player pictures installed and whenever Lewis came up to bat the picture it showed was for this guy.)

Best of luck to Lewis in Cincy.

cybercavalier - Tuesday, January 11 2011 @ 11:46 AM EST (#228661) #

Thanks, Brumfield.

I agree with Alex and Chuck: the deal sounds like a steal for the Reds. IMO, if the Jays was successful in "low risk high reward" strategy with Buck and Alex Gonzalez 2.0, could the trick be used again for 2011 season? I know the trick is not a replacement of developing the minor leagues and propsects, and branding the Jays as a Canadian baseball team, which Alex A., Beeston et al. have been working steadily on. But if the trick is still useful, why not keep doing it? For 2011 season, I am looking forward to comparing Cordero and Dotel to Buck and AGonzo 2.0, respectively.

minor note re Parker: Do you still involve with OOTPB?

zeppelinkm - Tuesday, January 11 2011 @ 01:54 PM EST (#228662) #

Hey everyone. Not sure where to post this, but this seems like the type of article many Bauxites would enjoy reading so I will post it here as this article is currently at the top of the page and I don't want to distract from the excellent Jays related threads below.

I also should apologize for not knowing how to format links properly. I am what I am.

http://www.athleticsnation.com/2010/8/8/1611852/carlos-gonzalez-a-god-on-a-mountain

Cheers and happy reading.

Parker - Tuesday, January 11 2011 @ 02:58 PM EST (#228663) #

cybercavalier, I'm not running a team in an online league or anything right now. I do have a personal game on the go where I manage the Expos. I drafted a player who looks like the second coming of Ty Cobb: an outstanding defensive centrefielder with insane contact ability and blazing speed, and I want to find out if he can break Pete Rose's all-time hits record.

zeppelinkm, thanks for the link. Very interesting stuff.

Mick Doherty - Tuesday, January 11 2011 @ 10:04 PM EST (#228668) #

2J, really enjoying the photo essay threads. This whole collection is really striking, and that first photo, the one above the fold, is best in show.

Keep 'em coming!

brent - Wednesday, January 12 2011 @ 04:21 AM EST (#228679) #

Fangraphs page here

Fred Lewis is so close to being a really good player. If he worked at it and became a plus glove in the outfield, he could still have a nice career. He's a guy that needed a Butterfield for the outfield when he was still developing. I was hoping the Jays could have kept him and Rajai to have a lot of team speed, but it's obviously not what GM AA sees.

The thing with team speed isn't just the stolen bases, it's legging out an infield single, stretching a single to a double, double to triple, making the pitcher throw pick off attempts. Putting pressure on the other team is exciting. I hope to see a Jays team that is going to be really aggressive this year (not just vicious home run cuts although those are good too).

Thomas - Wednesday, January 12 2011 @ 09:32 AM EST (#228681) #

The thing with team speed isn't just the stolen bases,

"Team speed, for crissakes, you get [CENSORED] [CENSORED] little fleas on the [CENSORED] bases, getting picked off, trying to steal, getting thrown out, taking runs away from you. You get them big [CENSORED] who can hit the [CENSORED] ball out the ballpark and you can't make any [CENSORED] mistakes."

Mick Doherty - Wednesday, January 12 2011 @ 09:44 AM EST (#228683) #

Earl? Izzat you?

bpoz - Wednesday, January 12 2011 @ 11:04 AM EST (#228688) #

Great link Zeppelinkm, thanks.

So just to make sure I understand, Basically the lost movement on all pitches is the harmful factor.

So FB pitcher gets hurt and a guy who relies on breaking pitches because glass is safe from his best FB also gets hurt.

Hitters whose strength is recognizing pitches and their movement gain a lot less than a hitter weaker at this because it is easier to see location. Also a guy who is good at making contact will get increased results at making contact. Is that correct?

Is this the same effect at Vegas? I am now struggling with my thoughts on this but what about the following at Vegas, if these effects are similar.
1) A pitcher with a larger variety of pitches, arm angles etc can have more success at Vegas...B Mills, D Farquar? than R Gonzales who got crushed there because he may not have the variety and relies on 1 of his pitches more than his other 2-3 offerings. So would J Fraser or A Farina if they are mainly FB pitchers do badly in Vegas?
2) Hitters with a quick bat but not so good an eye will gain more than good eye but not so quick a bat.

I am still working on understanding the Vegas effect.

Gerry - Wednesday, January 12 2011 @ 01:31 PM EST (#228705) #

Las Vegas is not as high as Colorado. There is some height effect but it's the infield there that is a problem, it is very hard, baked dry. Groundballs scoot through the infield there.

I addressed this issue with Doug Davis back in September. Here is his response:

I played in that league, Las Vegas isn't the only place in that league that is a difficult place to pitch in. But I think the field surface is something that needs to be addressed and that's not an easy fix because of the climate. It's so hot and so dry that makes it very difficult to maintain thick grass, everything gets very hard and dry and dusty and it's hard to maintain the smoothness of it. I think we can address that a little bit so that if the pitchers can keep the ball on the ground we can have a surface that is conducive to making a play that a normal infield would give us. I think we need to spend time, they are willing out there to do something with us, so if we put our heads together we'll see what we can come up with.

bpoz - Wednesday, January 12 2011 @ 03:32 PM EST (#228715) #

Thanks Gerry. I read the interview again. Excellent stuff.

cybercavalier - Thursday, January 13 2011 @ 12:26 PM EST (#228740) #

re Parker: OOTP is a nice game; probably one of the best in its category of games. I wish I would still be playing it: it is just quite time consuming.

re Brent: I agree with you. Referring to Lewis and in an ideal situation, I thought Jays' management would let him become a free agent and contact Lewis' agent ASAP to resign him. A Lewis-Davis combo in the outfield is just a right mix. I believe Lewis' K/BB hurts his chance in GM AA's decision to keep him and the GM think the 2010 asset of Lewis can easily be replaceable by the likes of Corey Patterson, who is just a few months older. And Patterson is a first rounder; Lewis is a second rounder. So it seems neither Lewis nor Patterson is part of AA's plan of youth development; they are all in their 30s. For Davis, I think he is a Jays because of his supernatural base-stealing ability (which was compared to Rickey Henderson's). If Rajai is perceived as not a useful piece of the puzzle (for instance, improved OBP as a leadoff, improvement under the eyes of Jays' scouts), he can be a useful trading chip due to his base-stealing ability. So keeping (or not) those three players blends well with the "low risk high reward" philosophy on "puzzle pieces". And no matter what happens, the Jays is on a non-losing ground, and that is a reason I admired AA., Beeston et al. for their management.

10 Photos - Fred Lewis | 15 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.