San Francisco Giants: 5 December Trades That Worked Out

Oct 24, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Ernie Riles goes to Oakland for Darren Lewis and Pedro Pena

No wonder the Oakland A’s and Giants don’t make too many trades together. Along with getting Rod Beck for Charlie Corbell in 1988, the team swiped Darren Lewis and Pedro Pena for utility infielder Ernie Riles. The date was December 4 1990.

Riles was a good player for the Giants. He appeared in 293 games for the team hitting .264 with 18 home runs, good defense and was the man who recorded the 10,000 home run in Giants franchise history.

He ended up hitting .214 in 108 games the next year with the A’s, and played two more seasons (One in Houston and finishing in Boston).

Pedro Pena was a player to be named later in the deal. He didn’t make it past High-A ball.

The coup in this deal was a defensive wiz from the East Bay. Selected originally in the 6th round by the Los Angeles Dodgers coming out of Chabot College in 1986. He decided to attend Cal Berkeley after another year at Chabot, and was selected in the 18th round by the A’s in 1988.

Known more for his glove, he hit .249 with 138 stolen bases in his five years with the Giants. Lewis was a key figure on the team in 1993 that won 103 games (still one of the best teams in franchise history).

Lewis on the defensive side was amazing, and he didn’t make his first error with the team until 1994. Up until last year, Lewis held the record of consecutive games without an error (392 games, broken by Nick Markakis of the Atlanta Braves.)

Lewis is the influence for Dusty Baker to have named his son Darren, as he was the manager of the team during Lewis’ time there.