The Hillenbrand saga appears to have concluded with Brian Sabean and the Giants swinging a deal with the Jays for Shea as well as relief pitcher Vinnie Chulk. In exchange, J.P. Ricciardi got reliever Jeremy Accardo.

• Jays ship Hillenbrand, CBC.ca
• Giants pick up Hillenbrand from Jays; San Francisco gives up Accardo for infielder, reliever Chulk, MLB.com
• Hillenbrand and Chulk to the Giants for Accardo, Bluebird Banter

I thought Shea would fetch a little more than a reliever, but conversely, some feel the Giants got the short end of the stick on this deal.

Baseball Prospectus notes that Accardo "finally made The Show on the basis of a mid-90s fastball, a developing slider, and a filthy cutter that some compare to Mariano Rivera's bat-sawing Frisbee."

I'll be keeping a close eye on Accardo's appearances and will be interested to see if this deal helps or hurts the Jays in their pursuit of top seat in the East. 

This post was added on Saturday, July 22nd, 2006 at 8:27 am and is filed under Player Acquisitions, Blue Jays . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.