While the Cliff Lee-Dodgers’ saga continues to garner the lion’s share of attention over the weekend, there has been a few other teams wheeling and dealing with little notice.
First, the Tigers acquired Jeff Baker from the Chicago Cubs on Sunday in exchange for two players to be named.
The 31-year old right-handed-hitting was batting .269/.306/.448 in Chicagoland this season, and has seen action at first, second, right and left field. The bonus for the Tigers is that he can also play third. In other words, he will certainly improve Detroit’s depth-all over.
Meanwhile over in Philadelphia, the Phillies announced that they had released veteran infielder Mike Fontenot after designating him from assignment on August 1.
The 32-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Phillies in April, splitting time between second and third base in 2012, while hitting .289/.343/.340 in 105 plate appearances.
For his career, Fontenot owns a .265/.332/.401 slash line in seven seasons with the Cubs, Giants, and Phillies, and is likely to find himself back in the minors over the next few days, adding insurance to a club that is need of some infield depth.
Finally, over in Beantown, the Red Sox announced Sunday, their acquisition of third baseman Danny Valencia from the Twins, for minor league outfielder Jeremias Pineda.
It looks like the Twins may have gotten the better deal here, as the 21-year-old Pineda is currently hitting .421 (56-for-133), with nine doubles, three triples, 14 stolen bases and 20 runs scored for the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Red Sox.
Meanwhile Valencia, 27, was hitting .198 with two homers and 17 RBIs in 34 games for the Twins.
With the Twins out of contention, this is a nice move towards the future.
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