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It's Finally Official, Renteria Signs

Although the initial report came about 2 weeks premature, the inevitable did finally happen officially on Thursday afternoon as the Giants signed shortstop Edgar Renteria to a 2 year, $18.5 million contract. I've gone over Renteria in depth over the past couple posts so I can't say much that hasn't already been said. I don't love this deal by any stretch, but I don't hate it either. Again, I would have rather seen Rafael Furcal sign since they were insisting on adding a shortstop, as I think his ceiling is a lot higher at this point that Renteria's (yes, even with the back concerns). That said, I fully expect Edgar to return to closer to his career averages next season after a sub-par year in Detroit. Renteria, by far, is better offensively than anyone the Giants have had at shortstop since earlier in the decade when a younger Rich Aurilia was playing all-star quality baseball for this team. The good news about Renteria is that he's supposedly working out diligently in order to right himself after last years disappointment, so he seems determined to rebound. Remember, he is just 2 years removed from an all-star season in Atlanta (.332 12 home runs, 57 RBI, 11 SB in 124 games). His best season came in 2003 in which he hit .330 with 13 home runs, 100 RBI and 34 stolen bases with St. Louis. Now 33, I doubt he has any breakout type seasons like that left, but I do expect an average around .290-.300, with 10-15 home runs and 60-70 RBI at the top of the Giants order while being a steady hand in the middle of the infield. I see him as the shortstop equivalent to Randy Winn, without as much speed. Again, not a game changer, but should be fine over the next 2 seasons and an upgrade to what they previously had. He should be fine here, I just would have rather gone in a different direction and targeted a game changing type shortstop (Hardy, Furcal) or given Burris the reigns for 2009 and looked into someone like Felipe Lopez or Jerry Hairston Jr. as insurance.

The Giants have been the most active team in baseball this winter and they aren't done yet, so active it's been hard to go a day without having something to post about. In addition to looking for more offense at the infield corners, they also have their eye on this years big fish. It appears C.C. Sabathia is very much on their radar and the consensus around the league is that Sabathia's two most likely destinations are San Francisco and New York (Yankees). Or course if the Giants did land C.C., they would likely trade Matt Cain for a power hitter, so you need to take that into account when assessing this situation. Still highly unlikely, but this story is starting to play out very similar to the Barry Zito two winters ago. More on this to come!

Comments

Anonymous said…
I don't think they would have gotten Furcal for 2 years, but rather for something in the range of 3-4 years. And I'd rather have Renteria for 2 years than Furcal for 4 years.
Anonymous said…
C.C. C.C. C.C. C.C.!!!! All of SF should start the chant encourage. Him and Lincecum would be sick together. Imagine that rotation!!! Isn't he from the Vallejo or Oakland or somewhere like that as well, and who wouldn't want to come home? Then maybe they could trade barry zito.
Anonymous said…
I can not believe the Giants made this move, all off season about getting younger was a crock. Renteria would have been a great signing 5 years ago. This has the matt morris deal all over it, giving morris 30 mil for 3 years and keeping him only a year and a half before cutting him. And giving renteria 18 mill is freaking crazy.
Jeff Oscodar said…
What I don't understand is why Zito would not volunteer to restructure his contract so that the Giants could get Teixeira (who they need more than CC). Teixeira is PERFECT for them, and if Zito went from 126M to say 50M, they could offer 15M for 5 years to a 27 year old. 50M buys a lot of surfboards and incense.
Trevor Cole said…
Jeff, it's coll to think like that, but would you give over half of your salary back to your employer to add another good worker to the team. It would be nice since he makes millions, but it doesn't really work that way.
Trevor Cole said…
Supposedly other baseball officials around the league were quoted as saying that no other offer in baseball came close to what the Giants were offering Renteria, and no other team was willing to go more than 6 million per over 2 years. That has to raise some flags a big, although I do think Renteria will rebound offensively. Though this makes me wonder about his abibities at short. I didn't see him play to often last season as he was in the AL. I need to go watch some video from him last year to get a better idea as to what they're talking about.
Jeff Oscodar said…
Trevor - Of course it works that way. I actually have sacrificed my salary to get other good teammates in my company. I did so in order to increase the value of my stock in the company. That's simple. For Zito, he gets a chance to play for a winner and my point about the $75 million is that there is diminished marginal utility for that money (i.e., how much use can you get out of another $75M once you already have $50m?). Given a choice between being a multi-millionaire and a winner or being a multi-millionaire and a loser, I would take the former.
Anonymous said…
anyone who thinks Zito is going to give money back to the Giants needs to have their head examined!!!
Trevor Cole said…
Jeff-
Again, your talking about something completely different with "your" company than what's going on with Zito's contract with the Giants. No baseball player has done this in recent history and it isn't going to happen. Look at Kevin Brown and Mike Hampton, those guys got injured, couldn't even pitch for years at a time and didn't give a penny back to their respective teams.

And also you sad "I did so in order to increase the value of my stock in the company." So you sacrificed some now to make more in the long run, that cetainly makes sense. asking Barry Zito to give 70 some odd million dollars back to the Giants "so they could use it towards other players" is wishfull thinking. As much as Zito wants to win, that's not happening, and things like that don't happen in baseball. The only option in restructuring his deal would be to get a portion of his money payed in the years after his contract, like the team did with Barry Bonds (deferred money), but I still don't think that is likely. And I'll just leave it at that, cause I could go on forever.
Anonymous said…
CC Sabathia's wife wants him to pitch for the Giants. That's really cool means the Giants have a chance. Let's hope he makes the misses happy.
rxmeister said…
Zito would probably defer some of his money if asked, but what makes you think the Giants can't afford to pay CC right now?? There might be a problem down the line, when some of the young studs like Cain and Lincecum get to their FA years, but the Giants have plenty of money right now. Look at all the salaries coming off after 2009. Winn, Molina, Roberts, Howry, and I believe Noah Lowry. The Giants can easily give him a low base salary for 2009 and then start giving him large amounts in 2010. If they don't sign Sabathia, it will only be because they're afraid of another Zito mistake, not because they don't have the cash.
Trevor Cole said…
Yeah, Zito probably would defer some money if they asked him to, but your right, that probably wouldn't make or break any potential CC or Tex deal. The problem there is that the giants have Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum who will be due significant raises over the next few years and you have to take that into consideration as well. Your talking about tying a potential 40-50 million dollars into 4 starting pitchers in just a few seasons unless they plan on letting LinceCain go down the road which probably aint the plan.

CC could be done, but unless the Giants are willing to raise payroll over the next few years (which isn't out of the questions) it won't be the best financial move. And there is no question that their recent large deals given to Rowand and Zito are weighing heavy on them too as neither have done much of anything yet.
rxmeister said…
I see your point about Cain and Lincecum, but by the time Tim is due the big money, Zito's contract should be about over. If not, the Giants' can take a hit for about a year. As for Cain, he's going to have to turn these tough losses he's had over the last two years to wins before he proves he deserves to be talked about in the same financial stratosphere as the others. If you want to win in 2009, you can't worry about what happens in 2013. The worst problem the Giants' should have in the future is that they have too many great players making huge money!!
Trevor Cole said…
rx-

This Giants new ownership may have more dough than the last regime though, as it looks that way. Not saying I wouldn't like CC, but adding him alone and nobody else does not make this team a championship contender and could strap them in the long run.

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