Hot Stove League: Giants Interested in Rays' Jason Bartlett

According to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Giants as well as the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles are interested in trading for shortstop Jason Bartlett.  According to Cafardo, the Tampa Bay Rays are looking for bullpen help and with Reid Brignac ready to take over at shortstop Bartlett has become expendable.

The Giants are a good fit to make a deal with the Rays as they have a lot of good young reliever talent that they could send to the Rays for Bartlett.  Bartlett would give the Giants a legit shortstop to replace Edgar Renteria as it is unlikely that the Giants will want to bring him back.  Jason Bartlett, who is coming off his worst year as a major leaguer both defensively and offensively, is a natural shortstop and has at least one more year of arbitration left.

This move would also leave the Giants with a backup plan if Juan Uribe leaves to another team which is looking like a very good possibility.  There has been a lot of interest in Uribe because of his position flexibility and his offensive power.  The Giants aren't likely to match a three-year deal for Uribe because they don't want to block their young prospects like Brandon Crawford, Ehire Adrianza, or Conor Gillaspie.  If the Giants are able to bring back Uribe then they could have him play third baseman, which is a better position for him defensively anyway.  This would also allow the Giants to finally move Pablo Sandoval to first base where he belongs, assuming the 2009 Sandoval shows up to training camp.

Giants Add More Players to 40-man Roster

With the deadline to protect players for the Rule 5 draft pending the San Francisco Giants have made some final moves.  Today the Giants outrighted first baseman Brett Pill to Fresno, therefore removing him from the 40-man roster, and they released pitcher Waldis Joaquin.  By opening two spots on the 40-man roster the Giants were able to purchase the contracts of right-handed pitchers Jose Casilla and Steve Edlefsen as well as left-handed pitcher Clayton Tanner.

These moves come two days after the Giants purchased the contracts of infielder Ehire Adrianza and outfielder Thomas Neal to protect them in the Rule 5 draft.

Here is some information about the players that were involved in the moves today from the Giants press release:

Casilla, who is the younger brother to Giants relief pitcher Santiago, spent the 2010 campaign at Class A Augusta forging a 4-1 record with a 1.16 ERA and 14 saves in 46 relief appearances. The 21-year-old right-hander was named to his first All-Star team in 2010, making the South Atlantic League's squad. 

The five-year professional has logged a 15-6 record with a 2.33 ERA and 26 saves in 97 relief appearances. He was signed by the Giants as a non-drafted free agent in 2006.

Edlefsen posted a 7-2 record with a 2.38 ERA and six saves in 49 relief appearances in his second season at Triple-A Fresno. The 2010 PCL All-Star has quickly climbed San Francisco's organizational ladder since being drafted by the club in the 16th round of the 2007 Draft. In parts of just two seasons at the Triple-A level, the 26-year-old has gone 12-2 with a 2.39 ERA and eight saves in 71 relief outings.

A native of Minneapolis, Edlefsen has posted a record of 25-8 with a 2.46 ERA and 17 saves in 156 relief appearances in his four seasons at the Minor League level.

Tanner, 22, went 9-9 with a 3.68 ERA in 27 starting assignments for Double-A Richmond in 2010. The left-hander, who was named to the Eastern League All-Star team, finished ninth in the league in ERA.

Born in Mona Vale, Australia, Tanner grew up in the Bay Area and graduated from De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) High School. In five seasons at the minor league level, he's gone 45-33 with a 3.53 ERA in 117 games (100 starts).

Pill, 26, batted .275 (143-for-520) with 34 doubles, 16 home runs and 84 RBI at Triple-A Fresno in 2010.

Joaquin, 23, appeared in just four games with the Giants this season, allowing six runs (five earned) in 4 2/3 innings. He spent the majority of the 2010 season with Triple-A Fresno, going 1-2 with a 4.93 ERA in 23 games (five starts). He underwent surgery on his lower back (microdiscectomy) on Nov. 10.

 After all these moves have been made the Giants currently have 37 players on the 40-man roster which would lend one to think that they can only add three major leaguers in free agency.  Here is the current 40-man roster after these moves:

Pitchers (18) -- Jeremy Affeldt, Madison Bumgarner, Matt Cain, Jose Casilla, Santiago Casilla, Steve Edlefsen, Alex Hinshaw, Tim Lincecum, Javier Lopez, Ramon Ramirez, Chris Ray, Sergio Romo, Dan Runzler, Jonathan Sanchez, Henry Sosa, Clayton Tanner, Brian Wilson, Barry Zito.

Catchers (2) -- Buster Posey, Eli Whiteside.

Infielders (8) -- Ehire Adrianza, Emmanuel Burriss, Mike Fontenot, Conor Gillaspie, Travis Ishikawa, Ryan Rohlinger, Freddy Sanchez, Pablo Sandoval.

Outfielders (9) -- Mark DeRosa, Darren Ford, Thomas Neal, Francisco Peguero, Cody Ross, Aaron Rowand, Nate Schierholtz, Andres Torres, Eugenio Velez.