Blue Jays Acquire Ben Francisco from the Phillies for LHP Frank Gailey

Alex Anthopoulos was busy again at the end of the Winter Meetings by making a trade for another outfielder in Ben Francisco, according to The Associated Press (h/t ESPN).

Francisco was acquired by the Phils along with Cliff Lee in July 2009. I always thought Francisco had the ability to produce as I briefly watched his career with the Tribe. His best season came in 2008 when he had 15 HR and 54 RBI in 121 games.

Francisco also had a great chance to ascertain his spot in the lineup at the beginning of last season. B-Fran was essentially keeping the seat warm for 5-tool prospect Domonic Brown. The recently turned 30-year old started off strong with four home runs and 18 RBI in the month of April alone. You can see where his season went from there.

The man going the other way is Frank Gailey, a 26-year-old lefty who split time between A and AA, going 5-6 with a 3.41 ERA in 45 relief appearances.

This move is puzzling as the Blue Jays already had a bevy of outfielders who were looking for playing time. Perhaps we can deduce that this move is being made in the wake of another move that ships out some of our outfield depth (say Thames or Snider?).

The Blue Jays also made a few roster moves, claiming Jim Hoey off of waivers from the Twins, sent Brian Jeroloman and Drew Carpenter to Triple-A Las Vegas and designate Jesse Chavez for assignment.

At the current time, we are unsure as to what AA’s motivations to acquire B-Fran, but we will give him the benefit of the doubt as I am sure he knows something we don’t. The price was obviously quite low, so it is not the biggest deal.

At worst, we received a major league hitter for a reliever that will probably never make the show.