Under the heading, Signing of Renteria a wise decision by Giants, Keith Law smears the following horseshit all over his computer:
…. The signing of Edgar Renteria makes the Giants more competitive in 2009 and probably 2010, but at no cost to the generally bright long-term picture in San Francisco. He doesn’t cost them a draft pick and won’t be blocking any major prospects.
…. The point worth emphasizing here is the complete change in operating philosophy for the Giants over the past 12 months. GM Brian Sabean and his staff appear committed to a rebuilding project, and are working to fit short-term contention (or at least respectability) into the rebuilding plan, rather than following the old plan of deliberately giving away draft picks and fielding the oldest team permitted under American labor laws.
What? Complete change in operating philosophy? Are you fucking kidding me?
In what world does signing an old player mean you’re not signing old players anymore?
For a team that has had to deal with one albatross contract after another over the last decade, contracts that have then been used as an excuse for not going out and getting the one or two players they’ve needed to solve their problems, the one or two players who could have been the difference between a championship and not, a team with no chance whatsoever to contend next season, and who absolutely have to do everything they possibly can to begin the process of fielding a team that is younger than me; signing the soon to be 34-year old Renteria is making the exact same mistake they’ve been making since they passed on Vladimir Guerrerro because they were paying his salary to JT Snow and Marvin Benard.
Last off-season, we needed a shortstop, so we went out and signed a center-fielder to a $10 million dollar a year contract. This year, we clearly need offense, so why not throw $15 million dollars a year at two relief pitchers and a shortstop? Who cares about getting around to addressing the actual needs of the team?
Now, we’re gonna hear that we can’t afford a player like Texeira because we have to pay $15 million for Zito, $10 million for Renteria, $11 million for 31-year old Rowand, $9 million for 34-year old Randy Winn, $4.5 million(!) for 35-year old Rob Howry, something like $6.5 million on 35-year old Benji Molina; all players whose production can be replaced for at or near league-minimum pay. This story has been going on since Sabean got here. We couldn’t retain Bill Meuller, or Ellis Burks, or David Bell, we couldn’t go after Guerrerro, A-Rod, Giambi, or any of the top free agents these last 10 years, because we keep signing mediocrity to these wasteful, thoughtless, albatross contracts.
Law says that he didn’t cost them a draft pick. Well, so fucking what? Since when is saving draft picks a reason to throw $18 million dollars at a problem that doesn’t exist?
The Giants have no power at virtually every position on the diamond, no youth ANYWHERE; and the first thing they do is throw $18 million dollars at a 33-year old shortstop who hit 10 home runs last season? That’s a wise move? Doing nothing would have been better, a whole lot better.
He’s not blocking any prospects? Then go out and get a YOUNG shortstop. Trade some pitching for a bunch of prospects. Or better yet, get a real player, one that is, you know, entering his prime, and pay him whatever the fuck he wants, and actually solve a problem. I mean, for crying out loud, is it that hard?
No, instead, we get to read how the Giants are in the running for C.C. Sabbathia (and now, Randy Johnson!?). What? We’re gonna spend another $125 million dollars on one starting pitcher, and sign a fucking fossil of another, when starting pitching is is the one thing we actually have.
The Giants haven’t had a real first basemen since Will Clark was traded, and one of the best ones in the game is a free agent. I don’t know, maybe you could go and sign that guy.
Texeira’s looking for something like 7 years, $160 million, right? Well, if you’ve got money to burn, why don’t you GO GET HIM!!!!! (It’ll never happen, I know) Even with the horrible team you already have, adding Texeira alone could push the team’s run production up 80 or even 100 runs, which would put them right around a .500 team. A little luck, and in the weak NL West, they might even be competitive.
What’s Renteria gonna do, help ‘em score 700 runs?
And then when he gets hurt, as virtually all 33 and 34 year old players do, we’ll be pouring those millions of dollars on the ground, and consequently, we’ll be unable to address that, or any other problem all teams face during the season.
Put another way, there is no way you could argue that Renteria is worth 20 times what Burriss is. The Giants have huge offensive black holes at first base, third base, and the outfield, as well as the worst bench in all of baseball. Additionally, the team actually has a shortstop who is young, fast, and healthy.
Deciding that shortstop is the first area to address is ridiculous, a testament to the poor planning, lack of vision, and complete incompetence that the front office of this team has been demonstrating for most of the last decade.
And, not for nothing, for Keith Law to actually sit down and write an article declaring that he thinks that this was a “wise move” is laughable.
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someone needs to remind me why sabean wasnt fired at the end of last season
[...] Only Baseball Matters disagrees with Keith Law over the Renteria signing. [...]
Rentaria’s problem is that he does one thing very well with the bat, and that’s hitting line drive, but he has only mild power and very little patience.
so he’s at the whim of fate a lot more than most other good players, when line drives fall like they should, he’s above average, when they fall more then they should, he’s awsome, when they just keep flying right at guys, he’ll look terrible.
to compare, Robinson Cano is a sort of similar calibler guy, though Cano appears to have somewhat more pop. and still has significant upside and at least shown stretches where he was a good fielder. but Cano in 08 also demonstrated the same fallacy of a guy who doesn’t walk but hits a ton of line drives, sometimes they just keep falling into gloves.
Just a question, which young pitcher within the Giants organization would you suggest trading for a young short stop in another organization.
While Renteria is a borderline signing, it’s not a terrible one. He’s not going to block the Giants from signing or moving in for another player. He’s not going to block anyone of conceivable worth. And yes, maintaining draft picks is a big deal.
I’m just not sure I understand the fuss.
[...] see a lot of Giants fans upset about the Renteria signing (here and here) and I’m not quite sure why. Well, I have an idea why… my gut reaction to [...]
This problem (like all the other IF positions) should have been addressed years ago. Now they’ve forced their own hand, though Renteria will be an above league avg place-holder.
http://tinyurl.com/8ok8r
Predicting Renteria’s line drive rate is perhaps the easiest thing to do in baseball as he’s one of the most consistent line drive hitters in baseball.
For the last five years, his LD% has never been lower than 22.2% or higher than 23.3%.
GB%: 2008 – 45.8%, Career – 46.2%
FB%: 2008 – 32.0%, Career – 31.0%
LD%: 2008 – 22.2% Career – 22.8%
HR/FB%: 2008 – 7.1%, Career – 7.4%
His 2009 projection is 285/.345/.417 with average defense.
That makes him not easy to find and quite valuable, a league average hitter while playing shortstop.
Renteria is a sled in the field now – he get’s to nothing – maybe he’ll hit like he has in the NL in the past – more likely not – can someone explain why he can’t hit in the AL – he played in boston in ’05 and hit about 7 line drives all year
someone needs to remind me why sabean wasnt fired at the end of last season