Class Moves Again
Edgar Renteria's trade to the Detroit Tigers for two prospects this week has kicked off baseball's off-season with a bang. Renteria has been a solid shortstop since his first year in the majors in 1996 and with 1,934 hits to his name after his age 31 season he looks like a good bet to reach 3,000 hits.
A pro's pro, Renteria has been willingly employed up and down batting lineups for four different teams throughout his career. Renteria's batted 2nd the most in his career -- 963 games. He's batted 6th and 7th the next most -- 273 and 245 games. He's also played in 200+ games batting 1st, 3rd and 5th in the lineup. Throughout all those changes Renteria has performed consistently at the plate as a good doubles, batting average and on-base average hitter. He'll serve as a nice upgrade to the Tiger offense and defense in '08.
One of the great things about successful veterans being traded for prospects is that many times it introduces me to minor league prospects I've never come across. With well over 4,000 minor leaguers plying their wares each year I'm bound to miss a few during my daily baseball studies. Two such prospects that I hadn't heard of are the two traded for Renteria -- Gorkys Hernandez and Jair Jurgens. Zach Jett provides a nice synopsis of the two. As Jett says this will help replenish the Braves somewhat depleted minor league system after the surge of Brave minor leaguers that graduated to the majors during the impressive 2005 season and the trade for Mark Texeira this summer that sent five Brave minor leaguers to Arlington.
The trade of Renteria also frees up money for the tight Atlanta budget so a free agent starting pitcher can be signed. And Yunel Escobar should slip in at short nicely for the Braves in '08. Especially at a sub 500k salary.
And what would a Brave's post be without comment from Rowland's Office regarding Renteria.
Still, it's sad to see such a classy pro leave so quickly. Has there ever been such an excellent, popular, solid citizen and winning player who's changed teams so often? Vagabonds like Sheffield and Lofton are fine players. But popular? Good in the clubhouse? Not quite.
Detroit will be Edgar's third club in four seasons, after stints here and in Boston. In appreciating Edgar, I struggled to recall standout moments. And maybe that's the point with Edgar. He's not a player who hits a game-winning homer, or makes a spectacular play that defines a season or career. Rather, he's a guy you need to watch daily to truly appreciate.
Edgar is more Columbo than Magnum PI: an unassuming genuis, a player of pure substance.
I would offer that Edgar, in his two seasons here, established himself as the best shortstop in Atlanta Braves history. It's no landslide and maybe you don't achieve that in just two seasons. However, I think it's proper in this case.
My sentiments exactly.
2 comments:
Welcome back and hope you are feeling better.
I think of MLB as one company and Renteria is still with the organization, but moved from one department to another. Some guys might actually like the frequent relocation.
I have a concept for you to comment. Is it time to elevate the long or middle reliever spot? Starters are having trouble reaching the 5th inning nowadays. Bill Campbell and Rollie Fingers benefited from the restrictions on salary negotiations in the late 70s and started getting large contracts. Is it time and a good strategy for teams to 'overpay' for a high caliber pitcher willing to come in for 3 to 4 innings a little more frequently than a mop-up guy. For example, someone like Schilling might help to shut down the opposition in the middle innings, while keeping his workload low. But a team would need to overwhelm him with an offer.
I love the idea of an accomplished long-man to pitch the middle innings of a game.
While this means nothing to real baseball I currently employ the second best pitcher on my OOTP simulation game in this manner. Often times he comes into games in the 5th and pitches through the end of the game.
The bigger hinderance to plugging a Schilling or other pitcher into the role is the blow to the ego of the former starter. Most starters want the ball to begin the game so they can get the W. Baseball's awash in money right now so I don't think teams would have a problem over-paying.
In addition to your idea I'd like to see a return to the four man rotation. Not all teams would go this route but I believe eventually a team will try it again. It'll have to be an organizational effort with homegrown players because there would be resistance from veteran hurlers who were already on the team or free agents. The three biggest benefits to a four man rotation is that 1) fifth starters today are mostly garbage, 2) the four starters will have a better opportunity to stay sharp and 3) teams could move to 10 or 11 man rotations (especially with the accomplished middle inning long-man) and create more dynamic offenses with the extra offensive players either through more platoons or having a pure speed/defense guy on the bench.
Additionally, a four man rotation would work perfectly with an accomplished middle relieving long-man to pick up the slack for a four man rotation when they tire a little over the course of the season.
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