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.